November: Parable Bread
Jesus often taught in parables, and this is one of the shortest - but it’s incredible how much we can learn from it! We make a lot of bread in our house, and our children have been intrigued by yeast since they were little. We often would quote this parable (or sing a song based on it - “A Little Bit of Yeast,” by Bryan Moyer Suderman) when making bread, and as our children get older, it’s kind of amazing to watch this parable take on meaning and come to life for them. Yeast is so tiny, and works microscopically to create big, visible effects. And that’s what Jesus compares the Kingdom of God to. Something we sometimes can hardly see, that is quietly working in the surrounding world to bring about big change.
Read It: Matthew 13:33
33 He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds[a] of flour until it worked all through the dough.”
Pray It
God, you work in ways that are mysterious, ways that we sometimes can’t even see. Even a Glittle bit of something can have a big effect, like this yeast. Thank you! Amen
God, you work in ways that are mysterious, ways that we sometimes can’t even see. Even a Glittle bit of something can have a big effect, like this yeast. Thank you! Amen
Make It
This is the simplest yeast bread recipe I’ve found, and the first one our children ever made without help. The dough is versatile enough that you can shape it however you like (including as slider buns or cinnamon rolls), and you can add herbs or cinnamon to the dough to change it up. As you make this together, say/read the scripture a few times, and if you want to sing it, here’s a Spotify link for Suderman’s song. (https://open.spotify.com/track/4oZxnDjp9d6CO4dro6eQBj)
Ingredients
1 ½ cups warm water
1 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp dry yeast
4 ½ cups flour
1 ½ tsp salt
Instructions
This is the simplest yeast bread recipe I’ve found, and the first one our children ever made without help. The dough is versatile enough that you can shape it however you like (including as slider buns or cinnamon rolls), and you can add herbs or cinnamon to the dough to change it up. As you make this together, say/read the scripture a few times, and if you want to sing it, here’s a Spotify link for Suderman’s song. (https://open.spotify.com/track/4oZxnDjp9d6CO4dro6eQBj)
Ingredients
1 ½ cups warm water
1 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp dry yeast
4 ½ cups flour
1 ½ tsp salt
Instructions
- Combine the water, honey and yeast in a bowl. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes, until there’s foam on top.
- Combine the flour and salt in a large bowl.
- Stir the yeast mixture into the flour mixture. Mix it very well!
- Knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes.
- Grease the container you’ll bake your bread in (cookie sheet, cast iron pan, baguette pan…).
- Shape your loaf (or two loaves, if you prefer).
- Cover and let rise until doubled, 20-40 minutes (it all depends on the temperature and humidity of the air). Set the oven to 400 F
- After the bread has doubled in size, cut slits in the top. If you like, you can brush olive oil on it and sprinkle on some sea salt.
- Bake for 16-25 minutes, depending on the shape and size of your loaf. When you knock on it, it should sound hollow.
- Put your bread on a cooling rack.
- Mixing and measuring
- Yeast is fun. Let them look at a little granule. If you have a microscope or magnifying glass, let them explore it. Then they can watch it begin to foam. Heat activates yeast, and sugar (honey in our case) lets the yeast release gas - in other words, honey makes the yeast fart. Told you yeast was fun.
- Kneading the dough is a great job for a toddler or preschooler! It’s a bit like playdough! Don’t be surprised if you need to finish it off, though.
- Check the dough together to see if you think it’s doubled.
Explore it: A Note from Tami
This may seem a little bit off-topic to you….. But as I reflected on the huge effect that yeast (something that appears small and trivial) makes on the other bread ingredients I began to reflect on how little practices that we may consider to be trivial in our lives can make a huge impact for our children. A few examples might be: saying “I love you” on a regular basis, pausing what we are doing to look at our child when she is talking, offering a compliment every day, doing the hardest task first, asking open ended questions, adding a raw fruit or vegetable to a meal, sharing good-night hugs…. What is your list? What makes your day with your child go a little better for both of you? This article may give you some good ideas: 5 Little Things You Do For Your Kids That Make a Big Difference
Our short parable is about yeast. Have some fun exploring yeast with your child. One thing to remember is that you don’t see the results of the yeast immediately. It takes about an hour for the yeast, warm water, and sugar to activate and fill the balloon with air. Is that also true with the “yeast” in our lives? We often don’t see the results of our actions and attitudes immediately.
Here is a simple yeast science experiment for kids
For even more fun watch this youtube and try it out for yourselves. Sugar and Yeast Fermentation Experiment
This may seem a little bit off-topic to you….. But as I reflected on the huge effect that yeast (something that appears small and trivial) makes on the other bread ingredients I began to reflect on how little practices that we may consider to be trivial in our lives can make a huge impact for our children. A few examples might be: saying “I love you” on a regular basis, pausing what we are doing to look at our child when she is talking, offering a compliment every day, doing the hardest task first, asking open ended questions, adding a raw fruit or vegetable to a meal, sharing good-night hugs…. What is your list? What makes your day with your child go a little better for both of you? This article may give you some good ideas: 5 Little Things You Do For Your Kids That Make a Big Difference
Our short parable is about yeast. Have some fun exploring yeast with your child. One thing to remember is that you don’t see the results of the yeast immediately. It takes about an hour for the yeast, warm water, and sugar to activate and fill the balloon with air. Is that also true with the “yeast” in our lives? We often don’t see the results of our actions and attitudes immediately.
Here is a simple yeast science experiment for kids
For even more fun watch this youtube and try it out for yourselves. Sugar and Yeast Fermentation Experiment
Help Keep Building Faith Alive!
Building Faith, a ministry of the Mennonite Early Childhood Network, operates on a limited budget funded totally by personal donations.
Would you be willing to donate to keep it going?
A small regular donation of $5.00 or a larger one time contribution would be greatly appreciated. Click below to make a tax deductible contribution to Mennonite Early Childhood Network through the Mennonite Education Agency, our parent organization.
(An anonymous donor is matching contributions right now!)
Building Faith, a ministry of the Mennonite Early Childhood Network, operates on a limited budget funded totally by personal donations.
Would you be willing to donate to keep it going?
A small regular donation of $5.00 or a larger one time contribution would be greatly appreciated. Click below to make a tax deductible contribution to Mennonite Early Childhood Network through the Mennonite Education Agency, our parent organization.
(An anonymous donor is matching contributions right now!)
