Rachel’s Food for Living. Rachel Allen

those experiences with our own children and teaching them new skills that they will hopefully pass on to their own children. Even simple tasks, such as mashing potatoes, can plant the seeds for future memories. It’s more about spending time together and helping children gain confidence which will carry over into so many other parts of their lives. It helps to choose recipes in which they can take an active part or get creative so they can be proud of their work. Have fun and enjoy!

       Cheesy Sodabread

       All children love playing with dough, and with this Irish soda bread dough you can be as creative as you like. I often leave out the herbs; sometimes I leave out the cheese and replace the herbs with a handful of chopped milk or dark chocolate, or even raisins or dried cranberries. These scones can be cut into any shapes that your little ones like, though if handled and kneaded too much they will get slightly tough.

       MAKES ABOUT 16 SCONES VEGETARIAN

      450g (1lb) plain white flour

      1 level tsp salt

      1 level tsp bicarbonate of soda

      1 tbsp chopped fresh herbs, such as rosemary, thyme, sage, parsley or chives

      400ml (14fl oz) buttermilk or sour milk (to sour milk, add 3 generous tbsp natural yoghurt or juice from 1/2 lemon to 400ml/14fl oz fresh milk)

      About 75g (3oz) Cheddar or Gruyère cheese, grated

      1 Preheat the oven to 250°C (475°F), Gas mark 9.

      2 Sieve the dry ingredients into a bowl, then mix in the chopped herbs. Make a well in the centre. Pour in all the milk at once. Using one hand, with your fingers outstretched like a claw, stir in a full circular movement from the centre to the outside of the bowl. The dough should be softish, though not too wet and sticky.

      3 When the dough comes together, turn it out onto a well-floured surface. Pat the dough until it is about 2cm (3/4in) thick. Cut into round or square shapes about the size of a scone, then place on a floured baking tray. Generously sprinkle each sodabread scone with the grated cheese.

      4 Place the tray in the oven. Cook for 10-20 minutes (depending on size) until golden and sounding hollow when tapped on the bottom. Turn the oven down to 200°C (400°F), Gas mark 6 after 10 minutes if they are already golden.

      Variations

      To make chocolate chip sodabread, omit the cheese and replace the herbs with 75-100g (3-4oz) of chopped dark or milk chocolate or chocolate chips. You could also add an egg to the buttermilk and 1 tablespoon of caster sugar to increase the richness. It’s also delicious with 100g (4oz) of raisins or dried cranberries.

       Wholemeal Honey Bread

       Making yeast bread from scratch is becoming a lost art, but it is the perfect thing both for teaching new skills and for having fun with your children. Even if you’ve never made bread before, why not spend the time together as a family learning to get it right? Children always have such fun watching and waiting for the dough to rise and then punching it down. Although you should put aside a whole morning or afternoon for this, you’ll be able to get on with plenty of other things while the bread is rising. This is a simple and tasty bread, and once you have mastered it you’ll want to move on to other flavours and combinations (see variations, opposite).

       MAKES 2 X 900G (2LB)

       LOAVES

       VEGETARIAN

      450ml (16fl oz) warm water

      3 tbsp honey

      3 tsp dried or fast-acting yeast or 40g (13/4oz) fresh yeast

      600g (1lb 7oz) strong white flour

      300g (11oz) wholemeal flour

      2 tsp salt

      100g (4oz) butter, cut

      into cubes

      1 In a small bowl, mix the warm water with the honey, add the yeast and leave to stand for 5 minutes until slightly frothy.

      2 Place the flours in a big mixing bowl (or the bowl of an electric food mixer) and mix in the salt and then rub in the butter. Pour most of the frothy liquid into the flour and mix to a dough – it should not be too wet and sticky; if it’s too dry, add more warm water and if it’s too wet, add more flour.

      3 Knead by hand on a floured surface or in the mixer for about 10 minutes (it may only take 5 minutes in the mixer) until the dough is smooth and springy. Place in a lage oiled bowl, cover with cling film and leave somewhere warm (like a warm spot in your kitchen) for 2–3 hours until it’s doubled in size. It has risen enough when it does not spring back when you push your finger onto the dough.

      4 When it’s risen, knock it back by punching it down in the bowl (my children love this bit!) and kneading on the floured surface for 1 minute. Allow to rest on the work surface, covered with a tea towel for 5 minutes before shaping it. I usually shape this into two round or oval loaves but, of course, you can make individual rolls if you wish (you would get about 20 rolls). Slash the loaves four or five times over the top with a sharp knife (I don’t do this with rolls). Do make sure you flatten the loaves and rolls to about 4cm (11/2in) high because they will rise.