Baking Bread

Fresh bread, who can resist?  I am determined to add bread making to my baking repertoire. After all, it looks so simple, just a few ingredients, a bit of kneading and some time in the oven. Ja right! I think perhaps I chose the wrong recipe for my first few attempts. I am keen to be able to bake a nice big white sandwich loaf but it seems like this is probably one of the most difficult types of bread to make. The yeast needs to be just right and I don’t think that instant yeast will work for make a really nice light loaf.  The loaves I made tasted good but were very cake-y and dense and very small. After three failed attempts I gave in and tried easier recipe.

Now, beer bread is way easier to make, the kids made this loaf and it turned out beautifully.  We are going to make this whenever we have a braai. It also made mouthwatering toast.

Ingredients:
330ml bottle of beer
1/4 cup white sugar
3 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup melted butter (to brush on top of loaf while baking)

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees.
2. Grease a small loaf pan with cooking spray.
3. In a large bowl, mix together the sugar, flour, baking powder and salt.
4. Slowly pour the beer in and mix.  The dough will be quite sticky, but this is correct.
5. Transfer the dough to the loaf pan and leave it to rise for 30 minutes
6. Bake in the 180 degree oven for 45-50 minutes, brushing with melted butter halfway through the cooking time. Bake until the top is brown and crunchy and the center is soft.

Slime, Glorious Slime

During one of my regular Pinterest trawls for holiday activities for the kids, I stumbled onto a recipe for homemade Slime.  The original recipe calls for Borax – another of the mystery ingredients that I have no idea where to find.  Further investigation into Borax showed that this is a terrible cleaning chemical used in Laundry detergent – definitely not suitable for small children.  Undeterred, I kept searching and I did find a better recipe. 

We had awesome fun making it. Its easy, fun, tactile and quick. Its also not sticky!

Homemade Slime

Two tablespoons Psylum Husk – I found this labeled as “colon cleanse” at the health shop.

1 ½ cup water

Food Colouring (I used both gel colour and powder colour, both worked fine)

Mix the husk and food colouring in a big pot. I also added some edible glitter for some sparkle. Add the water. Boil the mixture on the stove for six minutes. It will stiffen up and stick together. Once the time is up, transfer the gloop to a bowl and let it cool. 

It did leave a bit of sludge on the bottom of the pan but it came off with a bit of soaking.

If the slime sticks to your fingers, try a little less water.

UShaka Kids World

Perhaps I have been living with my head under a rock for the past two years, but I didn’t realize that there is more to our Ushaka than Wet and Wild and Sea World.  I read about Kids World and decided to give it a visit. Wow, what a fantastic discovery!

The Pirate jungle gym is amazing, definitely the biggest one I have ever seen. My girls had the best fun shooting the water cannon at the Wet and Wild visitors on the Lazy river. The sprinkler park was great safe water fun.

The park was quite empty when we visited so they didn’t have any shows, instead we were able to touch the Birds and meet and greet with the Ushaka mascots.

Tip: Unlike the other sections of Ushaka, you are allowed to take in food purchased at certain outlets in the Village.

We spent a great day at Kids World and will definitely visit again.