Teacher Resources

Breadmaking & the Curriculum
    Breadmaking is a rich, multi-faceted learning activity that can be connected to virtually every subject area including language arts, math, social studies, history, art and science. What follows are some ideas of how breadmaking and the topic of bread can be linked to various aspects of the curriculum.

Reading and Language Arts
    In the course of the breadmaking activity students will read and follow a recipe and learn wonderful new vocabulary words like yeast, knead, and dough. It is an activity easily enriched by exposure to various literary genres including folk tales (The Little Red Hen), other works of fiction (see the reading list), poetry, proverbs, and non-fiction. Breadmaking also lends itself to follow-up writing exercises that could entail a description of the breadmaking process and an account of what was learned.

Math
   Following a recipe provides an opportunity to measure volumes and to use arithmetic operations to make adjustments in the number of loaves produced.  Calculations involving time are also required, since the breadmaking process takes hours to complete.  Some sample problems follow:

• If you have a recipe for 2 loaves, how much of each ingredient is needed to make 4 loaves? 3? etc.
• You set the dough to rise for 90 minutes at 10:15. What time should it be ready?

  Math problems can be organized around the practical questions that arise for bakers, farmers , and bread consumers.  Questions like the following can be raised:

• How much does it cost to produce a loaf of bread (based on the list of ingredients for your recipe)? What does it cost to make a pound of bread?
• How much would it be necessary to charge for a loaf of bread in order to make a profit?
• If so much wheat (measured in bushels) can be grown per acre (consult agriculture statistics) how many pounds of wheat are produced (there are 60 pounds per bushel)?
• What costs would we take into account to figure out how much it costs to grow a bushel of wheat?
• How many loaves (or pounds) of bread does your family eat in a week? What is the price per loaf? per pound? per slice?
• Which bread is more expensive: a 1 ounce slice that costs 10¢ or 2 ounce slice that costs 15¢?
  
              

Social Studies and History
   With the vast diversity of bread types from around the world and the incredible range available in this country (often freshly prepared in neighborhood bakeries in large urban areas), the possibilities for follow-up studies about bread and culture are limitless.

• Students can use their familiarity with Italian bread, bagels, pretzels (the large, soft kind), pizza, tortillas, rye bread, and pita, etc. as a springboard to learn about various cultures from around the world.
• Since breadmaking depends upon grain, this topic can help increase awareness of agriculture (even among urban dwellers) and its importance as a human endeavor.
• Learning about how grains are grown and how they are prepared as food provides a window onto the diverse cultures of the world. Particular emphasis can be placed on wheat, rice, and corn.
• Since agriculture, milling and breadmaking have all evolved over time, they are wonderful topics for learning about history.

In 1664, when the English took New Amsterdam from the Dutch and renamed it New York, the tallest building on Manhattan Island was a windmill for grinding grain into flour.

Go to Professor Bread visits Oklahoma Wheat Country

   One of the most fascinating facts about the raised breads we enjoy so much is that one of the necessary ingredients is a living, microscopic organism called yeast. Breadmaking can serve as a useful introduction to the world of beneficent microorganisms.

www.homebaking.org Interesting site with plenty of material for educators.

www.kswheat.com and www.state.ok.us/~wheat These sites for the Wheat Commission in Kansas and in Oklahoma respectively contain lots of information about grain and many useful links.

www.hodgsonmill.com Hodgson Mill provides excellent flour and yeast for our school programs. Site contains useful information on nutrition and nice collection of recipes.