Baking with children – into the woods

It’s early afternoon and we – that is, my wife Petra, our children Yannis and Giulia, and I – aren’t sure what to do with the day. The weather is changeable, and staying at home would be the smart choice in case of rain. But I’m a firm believer in going outside, even in bad weather. This is when nature often truly comes to life and you see animals that would never be visible when the sun’s shining.

After a brief chat, we come up with the idea of heading into the forest and baking an afternoon snack. We don’t need to persuade the children: when they hear the words ‘apple tart’, they’re usually raring to go.

Baking in the forest

We’ve got a box of apples in the cellar and we’ll make the pastry ourselves in the wood. We cycle to a nearby firepit on the edge of the forest, where we can make a fire safely and access enough firewood, too.

A whole-family endeavour

We make the pastry together. For this, Giulia delicately separates the eggs and Yannis stirs with great vigour until a smooth dough forms. We don’t have tools like kitchen mixers in the forest, but we can help each other and turn our baking session into a family experience. We use our own pocket knife to chop the applies into thin slices. We have a quick taste of them from time to time, of course – or as we say here in St. Gallen, they’re ‘gschnöchset’.

Children love baking in the forest – doubtless because we do it less often than BBQ-ing sausages. And it probably has something to do with the fact that sweet treats always go down well. The Omnia camping oven makes baking cakes, bread or even muffins child’s play.

Spending time with children

The children are free to do what they like while the cake is baking: we play hide and seek, climb trees and watch the fire. Although it only takes 20 minutes, they ask ‘Dad, how much longer?’ more than once.

Of course, we’re not able to precisely control the temperature, so we lift the lid of our Omnia time and again to see how our snack’s getting on. To keep it from burning, place the oven a little way away from the fire.

The clouds have now cleared and we enjoy our apple tart: its subtle smoky flavour is just delicious. I love it! The biggest mistake was taking some of it home with us to eat later: when cold, the taste of smoke is very strong.

For me, this is the most beautiful moment of all: full stomachs, happy children and the wonderful feeling that comes from having spent time outside.