Baking up a Storm

Its another dreary day.  What to do, what to do?  Well, seeing as how all my baked goods have been long gone, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to do a little baking.  And as you can see from the pictures below, I recruited some help along the way...



First, let me introduce you to my best friend in the kitchen.  Bread Machine....People.  People ....Bread Machine.
Even though it will bake the bread, I find that the breads turn out much better if I use it just to make the dough.  Then I do all the shaping and bake the bread in the oven.



And my helpers.  Sarah's dumping in the yeast from the precise measurement of the yeast jar lid.




Once the bread was going, we started in on the cookies.  The kids know the routine...they take turns, every other ingredient the other gets to dump in.  They get along pretty well and have a blast helping. 




We baked half of the cookies and rolled the other half of the dough into balls to be frozen and brought out later to bake when fresh cookies are requested. 




Bread is rising.  Cookies are baking.  Next on the list: homemade noodles.  I know several people who make their own noodles, including one fella that buys eggs off us that claim that the noodles he makes are better than ever with our eggs. SO.... we gave the noodles a try.  Here they are drying by hanging on a string I stretched between cabinet handles.  They're still drying so we haven't tried them yet, but I hope they turn out okay!




And the goods from almost ten pounds of flour, five sticks of butter, two bags of chocolate chips, 17 (I think) eggs, and a days work in the kitchen:  cinnamon rolls, two loaves of white bread, two loaves of cinnamon bread, a cake (to be decorated tomorrow night - if it turns out like I want it to, I'll post pictures later), some cupcakes made from the leftover cake batter and what's left of the cookies after coffeetime. All this...and it'll be gone by early next week (and I don't eat it, just Josh and the kids!).

I turned on the oven a little before 8:00 this morning and finally turned it off at 4:42 this afternoon.  It wasn't baking the entire time (I leave it on to keep the stove top warm to help the bread rise on cool and dreary days), but MOST of the time there was something in it... and that's just a long time.  I asked the kids as they had milk and cookies for snack if all the hard work was worth it.  With the look of approval in their eye, I got a very happy yes.  And I agree...totally worth it to keep my family happy!
Now off to all the laundry that's been waiting all day to be folded....