Making Bread

I've made another baking video for you all. You'll be glad that I actually have all the ingredients in this one!

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon active dry yeast

• 1 tablespoon sugar

• 1 tablespoon salt

• 2 cups warm water 

• 5 cups Flour

.. A more successful set of loaves

I made Jenny's bread all by myself and it was delicious!

Baking with Jenny

I've been so inspired by your wonderful videos, I had a go at my own.

The World is My Audience #5 TWIMA5: What are you cooking?

The Global Cookbook!  #twima5 has been published!

The idea was... "what did you and your students cook up in the classroom last year?  The project is a global cookbook.  Let the world know what you are cooked up in the classroom."  

You can read the book on itunes:

https://itun.es/us/s8Sohb.l

Kitchen chemistry

What a week! In small groups students have chosen a food product to explore the chemical changes that happen when they are made or cooked, and over the last couple of days they have made the products themselves. Products made include:
 - ginger beer
 - oreo ice cream
 - banana ice cream
 - smoking warehau
 - cooking meat
 - bread
 - souffle
 - meringues and
 - dried apples.
Another group has explored whether food is acidic or alkaline, and what happens when two types are combined.

There's been a development of reading skills, focusing on the method of the recipes, development of culinary skills, development of taste buds and development of curiosity (wondering how they could have improved their recipe), as well as lots of fun. Things haven't always worked out exactly as expected but, like all good cooks, we've learned lessons along the way about the importance of following a recipe, measuring and careful observing.

Turning cream into...

 We have been learning a little about fats. We need to eat them to keep our body healthy, and our body stores them.  We discussed how scientists are reconsidering how much fat is bad for us, and comparing it with questioning how much sugar is bad for us. We learned how oil is the name for a liquid fat.

We practiced using our thinking as scientists ideas: predict, observe and explain; by predicting what would happen to cream if it was shaken hard. We took turns shaking it and stopped it every minute to observe what changes had happened. Within four minutes of very vigorous shaking it had turned into cream and buttermilk!

Some of us had predicted this and others were surprised. The fat molecules in the cream stuck together and the product was cream, leaving some buttermilk left over.

Those of us who wanted to had a taste - it was pretty good!

Have a look at this video to see a Russian fairy tale about this, and the value of persevering, one of the character strengths we're learning about.

Zucchini Writing

Zucchini Cooking Shared Writing.

(We imagined that we were reporters from the New York Times reporting on the Zucchini cooking at Worser Bay School.)

Reporter from the New York Times on the Zucchini Phone

Smoke rising up, drifting across the playground, children chattering excitedly, a delicious aroma filling the air.  Flames flying high, the smell of charcoal, so strong and sweet you just want to eat.

A pizza oven in the corner of the courtyard has a group of students standing around it. They have their heads down, talking.

Kids run around the corner, there is cheering in the distance.  What are they cheering for? What’s that smell? They come back with green around their mouths.

“John the Zucchinis are sizzling!”

“Let me see,”

“I hope these are going to be nice - I mean we did invent the recipe.”

“Eh, they’ll be fine.”

It's exciting and surprising what's cooking them. A pair of flame powered pizza ovens, mounted on a small structure holding wood. The one that is active is like a furnace. You don’t see that every day.

Today the senior students are cooking up a storm, and the ovens are attracting a lot of attention from the junior pupils. There is discussion, preparing, and cooking galore.  

It all started with the one question: What can you do with a Zucchini?

Students compiled long lists of Zucchini recipes.  There were Zucchini and black bean Quesadillas, Zucchini brownies, Zucchini chocolate cake, ¨Hidden¨ Zucchini pasta, Zucchini  Zucchini pancakes, Oven baked  Zucchini chips,  Zucchini soup, Herb turkey burgers with  Zucchini,  Zucchini parmesan

Zucchini pizza, Zucchini bread, Zucchini juice, Zucchini Quiche, Zucchini with pearl pasta, Zucchini mac and cheese, Ratatouille, Zucchini fries,Tomato and Zucchini bake.

And, Zucchini fritters!  The only thing they didn’t consider was how a Zucchini could be used as a weapon.

Did you know that Zucchinis are biologically fruits but are culinarily treated as vegetables.

Also not many people know that zucchinis can kill people. However, if you have particularly bitter  zucchini, STOP EATING IT IMMEDIATELY! The poison has a bitter taste so if it is bitter there is still hope because you are still alive to taste it!

More fascinating information from our News Team.

What Can You Do With a Zucchini

What Can You Do With a Zucchini?

I don’t know; what can you do with a Zucchini!  It sounds like a joke doesn’t it but our Zucchini challenge was a very serious matter involving sizzling cheese, bread dough, batters and fire.

We did some research about all the possible uses of Zucchinis.  There are thousands of Zucchini recipes!  And, we invented a few more.  Worser Bay Kids are nothing if not creative!

What was the best part?  Probably the tasting.  Have you ever seen kids so enthusiastic about eating their vegetables?  I think turning things into fritters is a great way to overcome a fear of greens.

Firing up our pizza oven for the first time...

A few weeks ago we fired up the Worser Bay pizza ovens and made our own pizzas.


Making pizza for the first time! from Matariki on Vimeo.

Maori Rotations - A full day of it

Today we explored Maori cooking, art, dance, singing and drama. Have a look at what we did! 

Maori Fun day from Matariki on Vimeo.