Oven Full of Lovin'

The first thing you think of for Valentine's Day is bread, right?

Maybe not, but that didn't stop us from making some for Sarah and Will's teachers for this day of love.  Let's back up.  No-knead bread is kind of phenomenon that was all the rage last year.  Naturally, I jumped on the bandwagon waaaay after the fervor died down.  (You watch, I'll be rockin' the skinny jeans in, like, 5 years when wide-leg is back in style).  Even though we have the 20-year-old bread machine that I stole permanently borrowed from my mom, this no-knead thing seemed like a good way to dump even the smallest bit of work onto the kids.  So, I did.

The real clincher was the fact that I came up with a cheesy pun to go along with our valentines. Cheesy sayings are kind of my thing. 

We tried two methods, but this one was the best. (Sorry, Martha, you know I love you, though, right?) 

Here's the thing: my teacher training (and natural ability to delegate) has put me in the mindset of "Why do it myself, when I can get a kid to do it?"

So, I let the kids measure and dump (and squish, and make a mess), and then we put the dough down for a nap.  Apparently, this bread can sleep through ANYTHING because Will kept yelling at it to,"WAKE UP!!!".  Here at the House of Brown, we excel at many things, but waiting patiently is not one of those things. 

While the bread was in the home stretch, I decided to try a little something I saw on Martha's page for packaging Christmas gifts.  So, I punched out a bunch of construction paper hearts, sandwiched them between two pieces of wax paper, and ironed them together on low.  That, combined with some baker's twine and a hand-stamped tag, made for a festive little package to give to the teachers. 

Seriously, you can't mess this bread up.

And here's the finished product, complete with kitschy saying:

Will "loaves" you very much!  (Get it?)

Even though Valentine's Day is over, these would make a great end-of-the-year teacher gift.  Maybe even with some homemade butter.  (Hmmm, I think I know how I can get the kids to churn some butter for me...)