As our Chefologists know, cooking is like science. It involves testing, a little risk taking, and a lot of hoping for a successful outcome. The Galileo Summer Quest Chefology Major teaches campers skills that will serve them for life, including knife skills, menu planning, recipe reading and adjustment, and for Quasars, an introduction to the local food movement. While the GSQ Major is designed for rising 5th-8th graders, it’s never too early to get comfortable cooking in the kitchen at home. My daughter has no interest in learning to cook, but her younger brother thinks it’s great fun. He may be only four years old, but recently he helped make yummy soft pretzels to satisfy his carb cravings.

I picked this recipe to follow, mostly because the word easy was in the title. Thankfully it delivered on that promise. My son loved the proofing. Watching the changes as the yeast mixed with warm water, turning into a foamy, unappealing beige, was a science experiment for him. He couldn’t have guessed how two simple things – a dry yeast and water – would have reacted together.

The good thing about baking a pretzel (or a bread) with someone so young is that there are plenty of breaks included in the process. We took a break while the yeast proofed, and then we took a longer break while the dough had a chance to rise. During that time, he kept checking the progress and he loved when he’d return after 15 minutes to find the ball significantly bigger than when he last left.

Finally it was time to form the pretzels. We divided the dough into about 15 pieces (I wanted small pretzels for the kids) and started rolling them into “snakes.” I thought my son would need help with twisting the rolled out pieces into pretzels, but that part he handled fine. His problem was rolling the dough out. It seemed hard for his little hands to apply enough pressure to lengthen the pieces and because he was quickly losing interest, I stepped in to prevent the project from lasting the entire weekend. Once I rolled out a piece, he carefully twisted it into pretzel shape, and pressed down on the edges. We brushed them with an egg wash to make them shiny and he sprinkled a little sea salt on top.

When the pretzels were finished, my son offered one to everyone in the house. He was so proud of himself for creating something that everyone wanted to eat. This was a great confidence booster for him. For my part, I’m hopeful that this will encourage him to keep trying new things in the kitchen, and that when he is older and moves away, he has an important skill to help take care of himself. His sister better hope that she’s successful enough to hire a chef.