Our Grade 3/4 Science class was learning about all the different things you have to do to make bread, and how a gas inside the bread makes it rise. They decided to make their own bread in order to find out more. Thank you to Mrs. Janice Charchuk for allowing us to take these photos. The first step was to mix the ingredients together. This involves a lot of careful measuring, according to the instructions in the recipe. Yeast was added to the liquid part, so it could start to grow. Yeast is a living organism. When it eats the sugar that was added to the mixture, it gives off carbon dioxide, just like you do when you breathe. This gas will form bubbles in the bread, and make it expand. We covered the mixture and left it alone for ten minutes to let the yeast 'wake up' and start to grow. Yeast cells are actually a tiny fungus. Yeast will grow when it's warm and damp, and it eats sugar. As it grows, it gives off carbon dioxide, an invisible gas. More ingredients have to be thoroughly mixed in. Liquid added helps to dissolve the lumps. Now we're going to cover the mixture, and let the yeast grow. The gas it makes will help our bread rise. The dough rose to almost twice its original size! It's full of gas bubbles. Now we need to knead  the dough ... squeeze it and poke it until all the bubbles are spread throughout the mixture. This will make the bread softer and 'springier'. Kneading is the fun part. Now we're making small buns from the dough. They still have yeast in them. After they're made, we're going to put them away and let them expand again. The gas inside makes them puff up even more! Now all the yeast has been used up, and it's time to bake them. We are happy to report that our bread dough buns turned out wonderfully. Someone must be a good cook! If you would like our recipe, you can download it here. (It's a zipped text file that you can unzip and print on any computer.)

Chemistry | Elementary Science & Math | Science & Math | Worsley School

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