Making bread together is a lesson in measuring and weighing. Older children can double the recipe or translate foreign recipes. Different measurement systems can be compared. Compare ingredients and talk about health aspects with different bread types.
Bread making is a complex process involving a leavening agent. Different leavening agents can be used to make different types of bread. Yeast are microorganisms and their role in making bread rise can be investigated. Differences between biological leavening agents and chemical agents such as baking powder can be explored. Chemical agents release gases such as carbon dioxide when they react with moisture and heat.
Cornbread, scones and biscuits are baked using chemical agents such as baking powder. These breads rise quickly and are delicate. Yeast is a live organism, requiring warm water to become active. Yeast feeds on sugars in the bread and carbon dioxide is released, which makes the bread rise. Observing the differences between how quickly baking powder makes a bread rise compared with the slow rising when using yeast is a lesson in chemistry that can be tasted. The yeast provides a distinctive flavor, which can be compared with breads made with baking soda or other chemical agents.
Historical fights over lack of bread can made history come alive. Lack of bread was one of the reasons behind the French Revolution. The process of bread making improved during the Industrial Revolution and the North American prairies provided wheat for the growing population of Great Britain. Breads from different countries can be made and different grains can be tasted. Spices and ingredients in different types of bread can be linked to certain parts of the world. Bread can offer a literal taste of different cultures.