Bread Unit field trips

We didn't really find a satisfactory field trip to go on for this unit. There's a really cute little bakery in our neighborhood, and I really like the ladies that own it, but they don't have a bread oven so I tried to find somewhere else. (Someday we'll ask if we can visit their bakery, though.)

I emailed Great Harvest Bread, and they said they'd do a field trip for us, but then never got back to me to confirm our time, even after multiple calls/emails. Lame.

So, I asked Harmon's if we could come---they have a bakery in the store near us, and they make great bread. They said they could do a tour focusing on just the bakery. But then they didn't even let us behind the counter! The customer service guy was pointing vaguely back into the back ("You can see the mixer back there!") and the children were jumping up and down trying to make themselves tall enough to see. Malachi and Daisy couldn't even SEE over the counter. The baker in charge did come to talk to us briefly, but she clearly didn't think the children knew anything ("Did you know bread has something called yeast in it?") so it wasn't very interesting. We DID really like seeing the steam-injection ovens---from afar---and one of the other bakers showed us how the racks slide up and down and what buttons you push to inject the steam. So that was pretty cool.

Then there's another Harmon's in Draper with a bigger bakery and a cafe and pizza bakery in it, so I called there and asked if they did tours---hoping they'd be more equipped to let us back into the actual bakery part. But when we got there, due to a mixup in who I thought I was talking to on the phone, they sent us to the other Draper store---which is exactly like our own store. There, the customer service manager walked us around the whole store telling us how much better their food is than every other store's and advertising their products. So THAT was also really lame. I feel sort of bad criticizing him because he was really nice to us, and he gave the children little tastes of things along the way and they had a fun time, but honestly, as a field trip, it was a waste of time. He mostly was talking to ME (advertising) and when the children asked him good questions he didn't even usually have answers to them. Plus it wasn't focusing on the bakery which is what I'd asked for in the first place. So . . . it's not something I'd do again, for sure (unless we were doing a unit on Marketing Through Schoolchildren).

Oh, and they did get balloons. :)

Soft Pretzels

I love soft pretzels! My friend Rachael and I made them for our 11th-grade book report on The Scarlet Letter. In the shape of letter A's, of course. We also made homemade "wine" that sort of turned into real wine over a long weekend in our teacher's office . . . but that's another story. Anyway! These are SO delicious. They turned out even better than we anticipated. And the children got really good at making the pretzel shapes (or other shapes . . . Daisy kept making shapes that looked exactly like those "awareness" ribbons you see for breast cancer or what-have-you. They were actually quite nice. And Sebby made a tram which he was very proud of). I chose to make pretzels during this unit because they allowed me to teach the children a new technique: the alkali solution "bath" to improve browning and gelatinize the crust. Bagels are the only other bread I know of that uses this technique, although they use a malted sugar bath instead. I hear pretzels are really good when you use the original solute: lye! We didn't attempt this . . . :)

We read this book about pretzels (cute) first, and then we referenced the recipe from here. Since we ended up modifying it and combining it with this recipe, I will reproduce our version here to save you the trouble.

Soft Pretzels

1 1/2 cups warm water
1 T sugar
2 tsp. kosher salt
1 T yeast
22 ounces all-purpose flour, approximately 4 1/2 cups

2 c. boiling water

1/4 C. baking soda

4 ounces butter, melted

Combine the water, sugar, salt, yeast, and flour in a stand mixer and beat until they form a soft, not-too-sticky dough. Knead the dough for 5 minutes in the mixer or by hand. [We always do the last couple minutes by hand; I love to knead and so do ALL the children, who each have to have their turns]. Then let it rise for an hour. [The KAF recipe says just to let it "rest" for 30 minutes, but we went ahead with the longer rise.]

*NOTE: Some recipes have you immerse the pretzels in a boiling water/baking soda solution for a minute or two, and others use just hot water---but the KAF recipe is the only one I've seen that actually calls for a "soak" in the soda bath---not boiling, just lukewarm.  I've used the boiling-water-dip in the past, but with kids helping, the soaking option seemed easier, so we gave that a try. And I was very pleased with the results! So I think I'll use that method from now on.

While the dough is rising, prepare the soda bath. Mix 2 cups boiling water with 1/4 c baking soda, stirring until the soda is totally (or almost totally) dissolved. Set the mixture aside to cool to lukewarm (or cooler). Then pour it into a cake pan or other shallow pan.

When the dough is puffy, divide it into pieces and roll out each piece into a long snake. Let the "snake" rest for 5 minutes (to let the gluten relax) and then twist it into a pretzel shape.

In batches of 6-7 at a time (however many you can fit in the soda-bath pan), put the shaped pretzels into the soda bath. Spoon the solution over them so their tops and bottoms are covered, then let them sit for 2 minutes. Remove them from the bath, place them on a greased baking sheet [they say use parchment paper, but that didn't work well at ALL for us---it stuck to their bottoms terribly!], and sprinkle them with kosher salt. Let them rest for 10 minutes, and then bake them at 450 for 8-9 minutes or until golden brown.

When the pretzels come out of the oven, brush them immediately with melted butter. Then eat them while warm. They are SO GOOD! You could make dipping sauces too (mustard? flavored mayonnaises?) but we loved them so much just plain, we had no time for such nonsense. :)

Rolling

Shaping

Brushing

Done!

Challah, Pita, Cinnamon Rolls, Amish Friendship Bread

Challah is a bread I've never made before, although I did have a great Home Ec class at BYU where I learned how to make some fancy braided breads. We went with the simple three-strand challah so the older boys could do it themselves (Abe and Seb both know how to braid) and it looked very pretty, we thought! We used the challah recipe from this book (which was fine---though I've never been a fan of the cumulative-type of rhymes---like This is the House the Jack Built, you know---) and we liked it, but I wouldn't be opposed to trying other recipes (there are a million of them online). The best part of the bread was the pearl sugar on top (the same type we used for our lussekatter). It's an eggy bread, not very sweet, and reminded me of the lussekatter in taste as well, actually. We made the leftover bread into French Toast the next day, and it was really, really good. The children loved it, and they loved making it.

Pretty!

The pita are not nearly as pretty, but I wanted a picture of how they (ideally) puff up in the oven

You can't talk about the history of bread without making pita, and it's been years since I've made it, since I always get so frustrated with pita that doesn't puff! We had a book called Pita the Great (ha! get it?) which promised "pita that puff every time!", so we tried one of those recipes. It had a pretty good success rate. I would say about 65% of our pita were puffy enough to use as sandwich pockets, which was a good ratio because we were eating sandwiches on some of them and using the rest to dip in hummus, so we didn't mind some flat ones. I'm still baffled as to what makes the difference, though. The lack of a second rise, and the super-hot oven temperature, are supposed to create a big air pocket that forms quickly and bakes before it has time to fall. If most worked, then I feel like we should have had ALL of them work right, since they were all handled the same way. Hmmph.

We got up early on another day and made Cinnamon Rolls for breakfast, which is always fun. So nice to start the day with warm bread.

And we also greatly enjoyed making Amish Friendship Bread, which is a batter bread that uses a starter. It takes 10 days to sit before you can make it (although I think I could modify the recipe to make fewer starters to share, and therefore take less time . . . but then it wouldn't be friendship bread, would it) but it was worth it, the children assured me. They liked sharing the starter with their grandma and they LOVED the sweet cinnamon-y bread! We used the recipe from Loaves of Fun (which can't be authentic, as it calls for Instant Pudding Mix---or can the Amish use Instant Pudding Mix?) but a similar one is here.

Sourdough

Sourdough starter

Sourdough bread is one of those things I've always been interested in. I was experimenting with it (or, just starting to learn about it, really) way back when Abe and Seb were tiny, and I sometimes wish I could have a real bread oven and unlimited time/resources so I could REALLY get into it. But then I find SO much information and SO many opinions online and I think, "hmm, maybe I'm not THAT interested. . ." :)

But still! I think the idea of wild yeast---just waiting around in the air to be captured!---is so fascinating. The children found this equally fascinating. But sourdough is tricky, too. I don't think I've ever been completely pleased with a loaf of sourdough I've made purely from starter. Maybe I just don't quite have the knack yet.

During the week, we had two starters going---one made with a pinch of commercial yeast to get it started, and one that was just buttermilk and flour. I also have a dried sourdough starter my mother-in-law brought me from San Francisco a long time ago, but we didn't break that one out---we'll do that another time. Anyway, the buttermilk starter had problems. It it never really started bubbling and it totally dried out eventually. I'm not sure what went wrong. But the other starter came along pretty nicely and we were ready to bake with it after about 5 days.

The bread we made with that second starter surprised me with its flavor. It was really quite strong, but in a sort of unfamiliar way---which I suppose means it had attracted some local yeasts and bacteria to make it unique. We all really liked it. The texture wasn't perfect, which is where I've had problems before---it did rise nicely, and it was soft, but just slightly denser than I like it. Almost like a soda bread or something? So I'm not sure what we could have done differently there. We gave it plenty of rising time, and it looked soft and pillowy when it went into the oven, so I don't know how we could have done that part differently.

It did make a very nice-looking loaf.

I really do love having starter around to use for pancakes and breads, so I may get back into working with sourdough sometime, if I can figure out a good system to keep it fed and contained. (Back when I was using it more, it would drive me crazy to always have the jar of starter surprising me from dark corners of the fridge. I need a better labeling system, maybe? :)) And I'd like to learn more about how to keep a whole-wheat starter happy.

We watched this (rather self-congratulatory, but it comes with the territory from these foodie-types, I suppose) video: http://vimeo.com/14354661
and this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5xOpss4j5E

A site about how sourdough works
And here's a good explanation of using steam to bake bread.

Bread Bowls

The children were quite intrigued by the idea of eating on bread "trenchers" (a common practice in the Middle Ages), so one night we made the modern equivalent: bread bowls. I've made these many times before, but I guess not much recently, since everyone acted like they were the novelty of the century. I must say, using the no-knead artisan bread recipe rather than ordinary white bread was a good choice---the bowls were soft yet crusty, and held up nicely to the potato chowder inside.

These pictures are terrible (dinnertime is too dark! especially if you're eating at 7, as we always are) but look how happy Abe is! He was the dinner helper on this night and SO proud of our yummy bread bowls.

Bread Unit and Lesson Plan

Bread! Could there be a better subject to study in the cold, dark depths of winter? Behold, I answer for you: there could not. We baked and baked every day. And we loved it.

My favorite two books were The World in Your Lunch Box (there were only a few parts specifically about bread, but it's just an interesting book all around!) and Loaves of Fun. The history in Loaves of Fun was really comprehensive and well-written---lots of interesting facts I didn't know before!

The children were so AMAZED with yeast and what it can do (and that it's aliiiive!). Though I know I've told them how it works while we've been making bread in the past, I guess doing some of the experiments/demonstrations this week really brought home the point in the way me telling them hadn't. This book had a few good experiments to try, and I also found several good sites online:

Red Star Yeast had some interesting projects

Here's a simple one (members only, but let me reiterate how much we LOVE The Happy Scientist---WELL worth the $20 subscription fee)

This experiment with gluten was kind of messy and interesting. There are some others on this site too.

It would have been fun to go to a grist mill for this unit if we hadn't already done that---actually I would have considered visiting again, but they aren't open in the wintertime.