baking bread with toddlers : eating dough?

[noahs_wings]

Havent baked bread with dd in a while but this has been a problem since we started when she was very young. I assume it cant really be avoided...

I think eating raw yeast is pretty bad for her belly right? Can cause gas and all kinds of tummy aches, head aches... she is pretty sturdy now but when she was younger she had bad reflux and stomach issues and it used to really bother me


Now i let her mix the dough together, pour in all the ingredients, sometimes i give her her own big mixing bowl with some ingredients to mix her own dough and then we knead. Usually she mixes together in my bowl and then i give her a small but of dough about 2 tablespoons or so to knead because i know she will eat it all

by the time its time for the bread to rise the first time she has no dough left...


I dont really want to make a big issue of it because i dont think she is capable of waiting to eat the dough till its cooked, I've tried having snacks out to eat, but when we cook anything else she does eat the dough and the prep stuff vegies, fruit even cookie dough... which im not a big fan of but licking the mixer thingys are sort of a part of cooking right? I mean i have fond memories of that and i think most kids who helped mom bake do


so how much is this a problem for you? Do you let them eat the dough and not worry about it? do you make it an issue and if so how? I've said a few times that if she is eating t he dough it means she is not old enough to have her own piece of it yet and can help knead in my bowl but cant have her own, but its just such a big part of making bread... i dont really want to not have have knead her own piece

[crowcaw]

My dds are almost 5 and were in preschool last year. When making bread with me they could never restrain themselves from eating the dough. When making bread in school, somehow they manage to control themselves. I remind them of this as we bake and it has cut down on some nibbling, but they still "nip" (their word). They don't seem to have stomach troubles because of it, so I let them nip. When younger I gave them their own bowls and ingredients without yeast. With cookies and batter things I keep reminding that scraping the bowl and beater comes to those who wait; I know the raw dough is not neccessarily a good thing, but I can't imagine not letting them eat it. As far as nibbling during prep, I almost encourage. The eat more volume and variety of vegetable at that point than any other time through the day. Again, they manage to keep their fingers to themselves when prepping the soup at school.

[kittywitty]

We always nibble on it and it's never been a problem...unless they eat so much we don't have enough to bake it!

[onyxravnos]

i would worry more about the raw egg then about the yeast but i've never been good myself about not nibbling. perhaps since you know she is going to anyway remind her to take small little 'mouse bites' / 'fairy bites' something like that so they she is only taking teeny tiny nibbles>?