OAKLAND — If Messalonskee Middle School sixth-graders rise to the challenge this weekend, school counselor Kris Croteau will deliver about 170 loaves of homemade bread to area food cupboards Monday.
Gina Ciancia, a life skills instructor for the King Arthur Flour Company, gave a bread-making demonstration Tuesday to Messalonskee’s sixth-grade class, then presented each of the 170 students with all the ingredients they need to bake two loaves at home — two bags of flour, a recipe book, yeast, a dough scraper and a bread bag.
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The sixth-graders were encouraged to share one loaf with their families and deliver the other to school Monday to be donated to three local food pantries.
Sixth-graders Parker Poulin and Madyson Foster assisted Ciancia with measuring, mixing, rolling and kneading dough during the hour-long demonstration in the cafeteria. And they got first-hand lessons in how to twist pretzels, tie garlic knots, braid bread, use dental floss to cut cinnamon rolls and toss pizza dough.
Ciancia is a baker in Vermont when she’s not giving demonstrations at schools throughout the Northeast.
Baking bread hones math skills, teaches science concepts, improves vocabulary and gives youth a chance to strengthen their culinary artistic flair, Ciancia said.
Throughout the program, Ciancia peppered children sitting at the lunch tables with questions:
“What does dormant (yeast) mean?”
Asleep, hibernating, inactive.
“What does yeast like to eat?”
It likes flour; it loves sugar.
“What is given off when yeast eats sugar?”
Carbon dioxide.
“What is gluten?”
Protein in wheat flour.
Ciancia also gave simple, repetitive directions for the budding bakers. When kneading bread, Ciancia directed, “Fold it, nudge it, spin it.”
When students complete the three-and-a-half-hour homework assignment, Ciancia said they’ll be able to see, smell, feel and taste their creations.
And they’ll be helping others who are less fortunate.
“They’re learning the value and the joy of giving something back to the community,” Ciancia said in a release. “Food pantries are delighted to have loaves of freshly baked homemade bread to offer the people they serve.”
In a letter that Croteau and Principal Mark Hatch sent home to parents they wrote, “With your support, everyone benefits: One loaf will be donated to several local food cupboards and you’ll enjoy the other delicious loaf at home, and your ‘newly inspired baker’ will experience the satisfaction of helping others.”
Since 1992, King Arthur Flour instructors, based in Norwich, Vt., have taught more than 155,000 schoolchildren how to bake bread, according to information provided by the company.
That translates into a lot of bread loaves donated to pantries.
Croteau said that one woman who volunteers at the Oakland pantry told her “‘It makes me smile knowing that kids are going to make the bread.'”
Beth Staples — 861-9252
bstaples@centralmaine.com
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