Bread Day

The kids were out of school and wanted to go skiing.  I felt like I had too much to do, and baking bread was one of the things.  So I talked them into doing some deep cleaning instead.  They were really excited.

As usual, Nathan wanted in on the excitement that was going on in the kitchen.  He had a lot of homework to get caught up on though, so we made a deal.  He had to do a page every half hour and when he was done with his page, he could help in whatever stage we were in on the bread.
His favorite thing is to punch down the bread after the first rise.

He also loves to cut it.

He's a great helper.

As for the new kitchen, it was lovely!  Having two ovens was so nice.  I could have two sets of bread rising and two baking.  I made more bread in the time I was baking than I ever have.  I also love that the counter is 12 inches longer so it felt so much less cramped and I can fit more loaves on after they're cooked (until I run out of wire rack space).  The only downside is that one of the ovens didn't bake things as thoroughly.  The bread looked the same on the outside, but when I went to slice it that night, I found that some of the loaves were a bit doughy and I don't know if it was the top oven or the bottom.  Eek.  I'll have to figure that out. 

Anyway, first bread day in the new kitchen was pretty awesome!  Now, to clean up the dishes.  I sort of left them there so I could do the more important thing and tell you all about it.  :)