Making bread in a bag, kid-friendly and fun

The girls and I have spent a lot of memorable hours in the kitchen, especially when they were younger (they seem to be old pros at baking these days, especially G., and don't need me around to help much anymore). The first year they joined 4-H (at 5 and 6 years old), the first projects they entered in to the county fair were baked goods. The girls have also made their own 4-H cookbooks with dinner and appetizer recipes as well. The cookbook projects required that the girls make each recipe and photograph the results before including it in their respective cookbooks (so like I said, we've spent a lot of time together in the kitchen). But one thing I've avoided all these years is yeast recipes (a category at the county fair for the more advanced 4-H bakers) because I've never been any good at it myself (except for soft pretzels, which are very forgiving -- and my bread maker, which doesn't really count because the machine does all the work). But last weekend the 4-H club made their own yeast bread and the great thing about this particular recipe was that not only was it easy for the kids to follow, the mixing method - done in a bag - was a lot of fun for them. The kids loved squishing the ingredients around and it really minimized the mess (I know, not so green but with 18 kids of varying ages, it made the teacher's/parent's work oh so much easier to manage). Every 4-Her left the class with a mini-loaf and by the time we got home, the dough had doubled in size and was ready to bake. And man, that was some really tasty bread!

 
I emailed the girls' 4-H leader asking for the the recipe so I could share this very kid-friendly - and yummy - bread recipe here.

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 package rapid-rise yeast
3 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons nonfat dry-milk
1 cup hot water
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup whole wheat flour

Directions
1. Combine one cup all-purpose flour, yeast, sugar, dry milk and salt in 1 – gallon zipper freezer bag.
2. Seal bag. Squeeze upper part of bag to force out air and then seal the bag.
3. Shake and work the bag with fingers to blend ingredients.
4. Carefully add hot water and oil to dry ingredients in the bag. Reseal bag and mix by working with fingers.
5. Add whole-wheat flour. Reseal bag and mix ingredients thoroughly.
6. Gradually add remaining cup of all-purpose flour to bag. Reseal and work with fingers.
7. Work dough until it is stiff and pulls away from the sides of the bag.
8. Take dough out of bag, and place on floured sheet of waxed paper.
9. Knead (push and pull) dough 2 to 4 minutes, until smooth and elastic.
10. Cover dough with a moist cloth or towel; let dough stand for 10 minutes.
11. Divide dough in half.
12. Roll each piece of the dough into 5-inch x 32-inch rectangle.
13. Roll up from narrow end to form loaf. Pinch edges and ends to seal.
14. Place each loaf in a greased mini-loaf pan; spray with cooking spray.
15. Cover loaves with a cloth and place in a warm place; let dough rise until doubled (twice as big).
16. When ready to bake loaves, preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
17. Place loaf pans in oven and bake at 375 degrees F for 15-20 minutes or until baked through.
18. Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly; removed from pan and rub top of loaves with butter or margarine. Let cool before slicing.

Recipe source: Exploring the Treasures of 4-H