Whether it’s summer vacation or a weekend off from school, parents across America dread the sight of their children hanging around the house saying, “I’m bored.” While there are many great options for wholesome activities that will keep children entertained and teach them something along the way, there’s one you may not have thought of: baking bread.

Baking enjoyed a temporary spike in popularity in the early days of the Covid pandemic. In those uncertain times, many Americans found some comfort in mixing up familiar ingredients like flour and eggs, eventually lifting a delicious product out of the oven.

Today, most of these home bakers have reverted to buying their bread at the store. That’s a pity because baking bread has a lot to offer, particularly to children.

Here are three reasons why you should take some time this fall to bake bread with your children.

1. Baking Teaches Patience

Baking bread is the opposite of instant gratification. The child must carefully measure the ingredients, combine them, then knead the dough. Then it’s time for the bread to rise, often for hours. Many recipes require bread to be reshaped and then rise again. Finally, the loaf has to bake and cool down. In my family, we like to start making a loaf of bread first thing in the morning and it’s usually ready around dinner. But in the end, despite all the waiting, the child gets a tangible product for their efforts.

Some recipes don’t include all these steps and can be made much faster. But even these require more patience than convenience food. The baking process teaches children that good things take time and effort.

2. It’s a Feast for the Senses

Every aspect of making bread engages the senses. The dough feels pliable and sticky in the children’s hands as they knead it. The yeast in the dough smells delicious, offering a preview of the aroma that will waft through your home when the bread is in the oven. When the bread comes out, it’s a beautiful brown or golden color. The sound of the loaf crunching when you cut into it is unique. And at the end, you get the pleasure of eating the homemade bread.

Twentieth-century American chef James Beard reserved some of his highest praise for the simple loaf of bread. “Good bread is the most fundamentally satisfying of all foods; and good bread with fresh butter, the greatest of feasts,” he wrote.

You can make bread at home from a small number of basic ingredients: flour (preferably unbleached), yeast, water, and salt. This teaches your children that delicious food doesn’t need to come in a fancy package.

3. Bread Is Healthy

Bread from the supermarket is such a staple of our diets that we sometimes overlook the fact that it is generally an ultra-processed food. That means the industrial processing destroys important nutrients.

This bread is also often full of ingredients like azodicarbonamide, a kind of powder used to make foamed plastics like yoga mats. Public health organizations in other countries have studied azodicarbonamide and linked it to asthma.

Supermarket breads also contain chemical dough conditioners, added sugars, artificial flavorings, and coloring. Many supermarkets do stock healthier types of breads, but they can be very expensive.

Ultra-processed foods comprise 60-70% of many Americans’ diets. It would be nearly impossible to cut all of it. But making your own bread at home is a simple step in the right direction that will help boost your children’s health.

The internet is full of recipes and video tutorials that make home bread-baking accessible to even the most inexperienced person. Why not try to make bread with your child this week?

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This article was made possible by The Fred & Rheta Skelton Center for Cultural Renewal.

Image credit: Pickpik