Bakery Study Highlights

Our second project theme we explored was opening a bakery! We introduced the project by brainstorming about different types of bread (sandwich bread, bagels, baguettes, pita, etc.) and some of their countries of origin (France, United States, Egypt, etc.) through a read aloud of Ann Morris' book Bread, Bread, Bread.

After discussing different types of bread, we revisited the scientific method through an experiment using sandwich bread, milk and food coloring. We made a hypothesis about what would happen when we used droppers of milk mixed with food coloring on plain bread and toasted it.

Some thought that maybe the colors would absorb into the bread and disappear. Others thought maybe the colors would seep into the bread and make the bread different colors. That was what happened! We even tried toasting the bread first and then putting the colored milk on top, which had the same effect.

We had been practicing understanding area and perimeter in our planting unit, so we returned to perimeter using bread!  We found the perimeter of a slice of bread by measuring the crusts using materials like rulers, base ten blocks, or small pebbles.

 

We were all so excited to begin baking! Our first recipe was plain white bread. We realized that we would have to know how to tell time, as the recipe called for a lot of waiting for dough to rise! We worked on some time telling skills, such as understanding what each hand on the clock stands for and the increments of minutes between numbers on the clock. We were so happy when the bread was finally done, and it was certainly tasty!

 The next bread we decided to bake were pretzels, in connection with Eric Carle's Walter the Baker. This story teaches about honesty and perseverance, as Walter had to work hard to impress the Duke of the Kingdom with a new type of bread after he admitted his old recipe didn't taste as good because he used water, since he had run out of milk. His new creation ended up being a hit! Pretzels! After reading the story, children brainstormed some of Walter's qualities and created Eric Carle style collages to illustrate a scene where Walter demonstrated this quality in the story. 

When making the pretzels, the kids had fun making all kinds of different shapes.

During our bakery study, we went on our first field trip to Cinderella Cakes! The people there were so nice and let us go into the kitchen and see what working in a bakery is all about!

 

We even got to see some of the bakers decorating special cakes for Dia de los Muertos and Halloween!

And we got to leave with a special sweet treat!

After seeing what it looks like to work in a bakery, we were ready to open our own shop! We decided on the name One Cup of Flour and quickly got to work making signs and menus.

In the days prior to our grand opening, we baked Challah bread, chocolate chip cookies, Nutella Crownies and vanilla cupcakes. We also mixed up some beautiful frosting colors!

One Cup of Flour Bakery was a HUGE success! Thanks to all who helped bring up ingredients and materials!