Thursday, February 8, 2007 Older Editions

St. Augustine and Wood Hill students' loaves baked to feed the homeless

By April Guilmet

Reading, writing, arithmetic and bread baking were among the homework assignments for middle school students in Andover last week.

Bread baking as homework? It's no easy task, said Paula Gray, who taught a bread breaking program to the students. Gray visited St. Augustine School and Wood Hill Middle School on Feb. 1.

Her visits were part of the Vermont-based King Arthur Flour Company's Life Skills Bread Baking program, which encourages youth to learn how to bake bread, while feeding the homeless.

According to Valerie Shippen, St. Augustine School's middle level education coordinator, 200 St. A's students in grades 5 through 8 will participate in the program as part of Catholic Schools Week. Students took home ingredients given to them by Gray and planned to make their own loaves at home. Each student will make two loaves: one to donate to Lazarus House and one to enjoy themselves.

"So we're making and donating 200 loaves of bread," Shippen said.

Gray led last Thursday's demonstration at St. Augustine, with eighth-graders Jessica Salley and Brian Charlesbois showing their peers, step by step, how to bake the perfect loaf.

As Brian was quick to note, yeast can be tricky. To dissolve it properly, the water should be warm, but not hot.

"The trick you should use is to put your fingers in the water," he said. Brian appeared pleased by the temperature in his bowl.

"It's perfect," he declared.

"The yeast needs something to eat," Gray said as she added sugar to the mixture.

'That's kind of nasty looking," Brian said, wrinkling his nose towards a mixture resembling dirty water.

Meanwhile, Jessica prepared the flour. "It's important to fluff out the flour first," she said. "Scoop it into the cup so it's not too flat."

After a 10-minute wait, Gray was pleased.

"You should see bubbles on the top. That's how you know you're on the road to success." Jessica added a tablespoon of salt, then some oil. "The oil keeps your bread soft and squishy," Gray told the students.

Finally, the dough took form. Gray warned the fledgling bakers not to attempt this recipe with a bread machine.

"It will ooze out over the top and take over Andover," she laughed, continuing the lesson.

The entire process of baking bread takes somewhere between three to four hours.

Following the demonstration, each student at St. Augustine School was given a bag of ingredients to take home over the weekend. The plan was to present 200 fresh-baked loaves to Lazarus House, a Lawrence soup kitchen and shelter, sometime this week.

Wood Hill Middle School students planned to donate their bread to the Bread And Roses Soup Kitchen in Lawrence.