Bread Making – Learning from scratch
There is one homework assignment Darcy Hancock can’t wait to get started on.
She and her classmates, after a program at school on bread making, have been given ingredients and instructions on how to make their own bread at home.
Labeled the “diva of dry ingredients,” Hancock, a fifth-grader at Emerson Elementary School, got to help demonstrate to her classmates how to make bread from scratch during a special presentation Thursday by King Arthur Flour Co.
Her duties included measuring out flour and sugar.
“It was really a fun experience,” she said of getting to be a chef. “I’ve never made bread before, but I like making things.”
Based in Vermont, this is the second time in recent years the flour company has visited Seymour to share the lesson, which incorporates several life skills in math, science and reading. Other elementary schools, including Seymour-Redding and Seymour-Jackson, also were getting to participate in the program this week.
Led by Paula Gray, a teacher and representative of King Arthur Flour, the 45-minute demonstration proved to be educational, fun and tasty for fourth- and fifth-graders as it walked them through the simple steps of making bread dough.
There are three basic goals of the Life Skills Bread Baking Program, Gray said.
“First of all, fewer people are baking these days, especially this generation,” she said of the fourth- and fifth-grade students. “So we want more people to learn that skill so they can pass it on.”
But along with learning how to bake, Gray said making bread dough teaches students to use many other valuable skills, such as math to measure ingredients, science to mix and get the bread to rise correctly, reading comprehension and critical thinking to be able to follow a recipe’s instructions, time management and planning.
“Hopefully, they can use skills they already have learned in order to learn something new,” she said of baking bread.
By using their senses of sight, smell and touch, Hancock and classmate Jack Roberts were able to make sure they were following instructions correctly throughout the process so that their bread would turn out right.
“You’re a scientist when you bake,” Gray said. “You have to be observant of everything.”
But not only are you a scientist, she added. “You’re a mathematician, an artist, a nutritionist and an architect. Bread baking is pretty cool.”
Both Roberts and Hancock said they were surprised by how easy it was to make bread.
“Anyone can do this,” Hancock said.
Besides making just a regular loaf of bread, Gray showed the students how to roll the dough into pretzels, cinnamon rolls and even pizza.
Roberts said his favorite part of being a volunteer chef was showing the proper technique for making pizza dough.
“You just have to throw it up in the air and keep turning it so it stretches out,” he said.
While Roberts was busy making pizza crust, Hancock got to make a bread braid by twisting three pieces of dough together.
At the end of the school day, each student was to receive a packet with ingredients and instructions so that they all could make the recipe at home.
But there was still one goal of the program left for Gray to explain.
“We want you to share your bread with someone else, so we’ve given you enough to make two batches so you can have one for yourself and you can make one to give away,” she said.
Hancock said she planned to make some bread for a woman who lives near her or make a whole bunch for all her neighbours.
Roberts wasn’t sure who he would make bread for, but he did know what he was going to do with his own bread.
“Eat it, of course,” he said.
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