From Field Wheat to Banana Bread with Our Granddaughter
Last night my 4-year-old granddaughter and I threshed and winnowed wheat from our field together. We took the wheat from the spike all the way to making banana bread. My granddaughter was completely fascinated by the entire process as we made whole wheat banana bread from the grain we harvested on our property.
Hand Threshing and Winnowing Wheat
I showed our granddaughter how I take a pillow case of wheat and bang it on the wall for about 3-4 minutes. I took the pillow case outside on our back deck and let her stomp on the bag. Then, she helped me pull out the sticks and the empty heads.
We dumped the remaining wheat into a big pot. Then I fired up the fan outside and showed her how we blow away the chaff. I made sure to warn her not to put her fingers in the blades of a fan and had her sit a distance away so the wheat pieces didn’t fly on her. After maybe five minutes of this, we were left with only the wheat heads (aka seeds). (See my recent post with a video of this wheat threshing / winnowing process, click here.)
I let our granddaughter carry the pot back to the kitchen and let her measure how much grain we got. It was right at two cups from one stuffed pillow case. Our little four-year-old loved running her hands through the seeds. She’s a very kinesthetic learner.
Next, I let her load the wheat into the wheat grinder and flip the switch on to make flour. She stayed right with it, watching the flour drop out of the wheat grinder forming two little “mountains” where the flour landed in a long pan.
Making Banana Bread with Our Granddaughter
After we had our fresh ground wheat flour, we made banana bread. Again, she loved the feel of the flour running through her fingers. So I let her massage the flour while I put the other ingredients in a bowl. She smashed the wet ingredients while I prepared the loaf pans.
I substituted a cup of our wheat flour in for the flour in a banana bread recipe and used 1 cup of regular all-purpose.
Wheat Banana Bread Recipe
Mix wet ingredients in a bowl:
- 1/2 cup butter melted
- 3 ripe bananas
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Mix dry ingredients in another bowl:
- 1 cup wheat flour
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
Put in greased loaf pan(s). Makes 1 big loaf or 3 mini loaves. I like to line the bottom of my loaf pans with some wax paper and grease the paper and the sides of the loaf pans. Bake in a preheated 350 degree Fahrenheit oven for about 30 minutes or so for the little loaves or 40-50 minutes for a large loaf pan.
Mixing Banana Bread with Our Granddaughter
I let our granddaughter gradually add a cup of the dry ingredients to the bowl of wet ingredients while I used a whisk to stir it in. She loved the smell of the cinnamon in the dry ingredients. This whole process was very tactile and aromatic for her and this could be why she loved it so much.
I lined and greased three little loaf pans I have. The recipe usually makes one big loaf, but I wanted her to be able to have her own little loaf to take home. Also, we were running out of time and I thought small loaves would cook faster.
She spooned the batter into her little loaf pan while I filled the other two. She took her little loaf home to bake because we ran out of time before she had to leave.
My granddaughter was SOOO excited about this process. I’ve never seen her be more engaged in anything else I’ve done with her. We’ve made pizza before, and she likes that but she often loses interest and runs off to do something else. Our granddaughter was completely fascinated by the process of taking the wheat and transforming it step by step into banana bread. She stayed right with me every step of the way.
