The Daily Herald Article: "Brockbank Elementary Bakers Make and Donate Fresh Bread"

Submitted by brenda.johnson on

This article was printed on the front page of The Daily Herald on March 31, 2011.

Pam Jensen, an employee of King Arthur Flour, America's oldest flour company, taught America's youngest bakers how to make healthy bread on Wednesday. Jensen is one of three King Arthur flour Life Skills Bread Baking Program representatives in the country. She visited Brockbank Elementary in Spanish Fork and taught students how to bake from scratch.

Principal Alison Hansen introduced Jensen.

"I was impressed with the program," Hansen said, explaining she'd seen it at a convention.

About 220 fourth-, fifth- and sixth-grade students learned how to mix and knead bread. Jensen and three Brockbank students demonstrated the process. Mark Heward was Jensen's cameraman; Olivia Smith and Wyatt Baum actually made bread for the demonstration. The rest of the students watched them on a large screen displaying a live feed of the action.

The baking activity is a hands-on way for kids to learn math, science and cultural traditions.

Each student went home with ingredients and instructions for making two loaves of bread. They will return one to school on Monday. Loaves baked by Brockbank students will be donated to Tabitha's Way food pantry in Spanish Fork or the students will take them to someone they know who might benefit from the gift.

"I thought it was awesome," said student Kayla Rivest as she picked up her bread ingredients. "I liked the easy way she showed how to make cinnamon rolls," added her friend Katie Schaugaard.

"This is a combination of everything I love," Jensen said, "teaching, bread baking and service." Life Skills Bread Baking program teaches kids what whole grains are, why they're important in a healthy diet, and how to use them in everyday baking. The students were tickled when Jensen described the process of forming loaves "like play dough for adults."

Each student receives a bag of King Arthur All-Purpose Flour and King Arthur 100% Organic White Whole Wheat. White whole-wheat flour is made from golden wheat and produces white flour.

"It also produces enough gluten that bread made solely with white whole wheat will be light in texture," Jensen said.

The King Arthur Flour Life Skills Bread Baking Program in the past decade has taught more than 120,000 schoolchildren how to bake bread. The three instructors for the program will visit 150 schools this year. "This is the first year we've done any schools west of the Mississippi," Jensen added.

Jensen folded math, time management and art into the lesson. She even taught bread trivia. Bread is often marked with slashes on the top. Jensen said in early history a village only had one oven. Every housewife brought bread to the communal oven and marked the top so she'd get her own loaves back when the baking finished.

King Arthur Flour, founded in 1790, is America's oldest flour company and the largest educator of home bakers in the world. To learn more, visit kingarthurflour.com.

Attributions
Article by The Daily Herald - Lana Creer-Harris