Bread Baking Process for Large Groups

 Last night I had a classic anxiety dream--I was in a class, and something was due, but I thought it was due the following week.  I woke up and made a list in my head to make sure I'm not missing something.  I'm still feeling anxious this morning, even though I haven't missed anything.

I am in that time of the term where I'm thinking of all the balls I'm juggling and trying not to think about it.  If I just keep going, I'm less likely to drop a ball.  If I look down, I may drop all the balls.  So, in an effort to calm my jittery self, let me reflect a bit on bread baking with a huge group of easily distracted middle school confirmands.  I accidentally created a successful approach that I want to remember.

I wanted to talk about yeast and bread in general, but I also wanted to make quick breads for our Communion bread.  So I decided to do both.  The first thing we did as a group was to look at yeast.  I walked in front of each child and held out a spoonful, commenting on the small grains.  

Then I sprinkled 5 spoonfuls in a bowl of water and showed the bowl to each person.  I commented on how it looked like lake water with algae in it.  I set it aside.

I had the bread making supplies on two tables, and my vision was that one group would make quick bread with regular flour and one would make it with gluten free flour.  

That part of the process went fairly well.  Each table had 8-10 children, and we dumped the ingredients in the big bowl, stirred and stirred, and then made the dough into rounds.  

At a certain point, restlessness happened, so I had everyone line up against the back wall to look at the bowl of yeast and water.  It was bubbly, and we talked about what yeast does, and why Jesus had the parable about the yeast.  What does it mean to be leaven in the loaf?  Why does Jesus call himself bread?  We talked about how lots of people have sustained themselves with not much else but bread.  We talked about the other types of food we know that ancient people ate, olives and lamb and small birds.  Bread is much more affordable and sustainable.

We came back to the table to finish up the quick bread and to add ingredients to the yeast bread bowl.  We added oil and honey, along with milk and more flour.   The confirmands had a chance to mix and knead with their hands (not required, since I know not everyone likes to get their hands messy).  The first group even got a ball of dough to shape.

 

The first group, a smaller group, did a good job of sharing the tasks, but the larger group was not skilled that way.  So I changed course.   I had everyone line up to take a turn at the bowl.  I said, "Mix, mix, move aside."  So everyone stirred 3-6 times and stepped aside.  Every so often, I dumped some flour or milk in the bowl.  I did the same thing with kneading.  The quick pace kept people focused.  They seemed to have fun, but more important, everyone got a chance to participate.

I didn't give the second group a chance to shape their own ball of dough.  They needed to get cleaned up and back to the main group.  But I also didn't want to risk what might happen if they had much more than a quick encounter with the dough:  dough in hair, dough flung across the room, not enough dough for bread to bake.  Once the confirmands went back to the main group, I washed my hands and took the trays in to the large group.

I said, "Look how much your bread dough has risen in the last half hour.  This is what it means to be leaven in the loaf.  This is your task, to be leaven in the loaf of your community."  I said it in my loud booming voice, and it got everyone's attention.

Then I went back and finished shaping the loaves and watching over the baking of them.  The kitchen staff and some of the grown ups helped me clean up.  

Once the bread cooled, I decided it was wise to slice the loaves in advance.  We were giving people a chance to taste the breads with their dinner, and I didn't want everyone waiting while I sliced bread.

I was pleased that everyone had a chance to try whichever kinds of bread they wanted and even to come back for seconds.  

It was very neat to worship the next day with the bread that we had created as part of communion.  I didn't have a chance to see if the confirmands found it as moving as I did.  

What I'd really like to be able to do is to check with them in 20 years to see if they remember, or who remembers what.  But most of us don't get to do that.  We do the work and we hope that some of it takes.