Plantpot bread – great cooking activity for kids (The Kids Only Cookbook recipe)

To keep us busy over the Christmas holidays, we were sent The Kids Only Cookbook by Sue Quinn. It’s an illustrated recipe book, packed with 50 simple cooking ideas with a slightly irreverent edge, such as ‘kick’n’roll tin can ice cream’, which involves packing a large tin can with ice and rock salt, insert a sealed ziplock bag containing cream, sugar and vanilla and kick it to the park or the beach for 25 minutes to produce homemade ice cream!

All the recipes are written in child-friendly language with plenty of photos and easy-to-follow captions, making it an engaging and fun read.

We gave the ‘Flower pot bread’ a go, which was really easy and quick as it contains no yeast. The kids really enjoyed themselves, with JD (6) reading the instructions and sharing the weighing and mixing with Miss J (2). They were delighted to have taken the lead and very proud of their flower pot bread.

Here’s what to do to make this fun flower pot bread if you’d like to try it.

Ingredients

• 1 clean, unused flower pot approx 10cm (4in) wide
• 40g (1.4 oz) butter, plus a bit more for greasing
• 225g (7.9 oz) self-raising flour, plus about 1 teaspoon more for flouring the pots
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 125ml (4.2 fl oz) milk, plus extra for brushing

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 200C (180C fan assisted, 400F). Grease the insides of the flowerpot with butter and use a bit of kitchen roll to spread it round. Hold the pot sideways and sprinkle in about ½ teaspoon of flour. Turn the pot, shaking it as you go, until the insides are covered in flour.
2. Tip all the flour and salt into a large bowl, then cut up and add the butter and rub it into the flour with your fingers. You don’t want any lumps of butter left.
3. Make a hole in the flour so that you can see the bottom of the bowl. This is called a “well”. Stir in the milk and the flour bit by bit. Gradually add in just enough milk to make a sticky dough.
4. When the dough begins to look a bit scraggily, start using your hands. Add a tiny bit more milk to the mixture if the dough is too dry. Shape into a large ball. Shape into a ball and put into the flowerpot and brush the top with milk.
5. Wearing oven gloves, put the pot into the oven and set the timer for about 30 minutes. The exact time will depend on the size of your flowerpot so keep an eye on their progress. When it’s ready the kitchen should smell like bread and the top of the loaf should be hard and golden.
6. Leave it to sit in its pot for at least 10 minutes. When the pot is cool enough to handle, very carefully run a flat, blunt knife around the sides between the bread and the pot. Tip upside down. Ta dah!
7. This is best with butter and some honey or jam. It doesn’t stay fresh for long but it tastes brilliant toasted.

Here’s the recipe for this flower pot bread again in an easy to print format.

Flower pot bread

Servings: 1 loaf

We gave this ‘Flower pot bread’ a go, which was really easy and quick as it contains no yeast. The kids really enjoyed themselves, and were delighted to have taken the lead and very proud of their flowerpot loaf.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Metric - Ounces

Ingredients

• 1 clean unused flowerpot approx 10cm (4in) wide
• 40 g butter plus a bit more for greasing
• 225 g self-raising flour plus about 1 teaspoon more for flouring the pots
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 125 ml milk plus extra for brushing

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 200C (180C fan assisted, 400F). Grease the insides of the flowerpot with butter and use a bit of kitchen roll to spread it round. Hold the pot sideways and sprinkle in about ½ teaspoon of flour. Turn the pot, shaking it as you go, until the insides are covered in flour.
• Tip all the flour and salt into a large bowl, then cut up and add the butter and rub it into the flour with your fingers. You don’t want any lumps of butter left.
• Make a hole in the flour so that you can see the bottom of the bowl. This is called a “well”. Stir in the milk and the flour bit by bit. Gradually add in just enough milk to make a sticky dough.
• When the dough begins to look a bit scraggily, start using your hands. Add a tiny bit more milk to the mixture if the dough is too dry. Shape into a large ball. Shape into a ball and put into the flowerpot and brush the top with milk.
• Wearing oven gloves, put the pot into the oven and set the timer for about 30 minutes. The exact time will depend on the size of your flowerpot so keep an eye on their progress. When it’s ready the kitchen should smell like bread and the top of the loaf should be hard and golden.
• Leave it to sit in its pot for at least 10 minutes. When the pot is cool enough to handle, very carefully run a flat, blunt knife around the sides between the bread and the pot. Tip upside down. Ta dah!
• This is best with butter and some honey or jam. It doesn’t stay fresh for long but it tastes brilliant toasted.

* Note: nutritional information is estimated, based on publicly available data. Nutrient values may vary from those published.

Course: Bread

Keywords: bread, cooking with kids, flower pot bread

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Are you tempted to try this flower pot bread?

For more ideas try my bread recipes, like this honey and oat bread.

Disclosure: we were sent the Kids Only Cookbook for review, along with the materials to cook the flowerpot loaf. No payment was received. All posts are 100% honest.