By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Science never tasted – or smelled – so good.
On Tuesday, third graders in the gifted class at Crim Elementary fed jars of bread starters and took the “living, breathing” concoctions home to grow.
Unlike the classic “it’s alive” shriek about about a science project gone awry, this “it’s alive” stirred feeling of hunger, not horror.
But this was one science project not to be left in a locker or backpack.
The concept of living bacteria and yeast – that needs regular feeding – intrigued the students in Laura Weaver’s PACE program. And one slice of the finished product of sourdough bread left them wanting more.
The bread lesson was conducted by Kim Grunwell, whose daughter, Emily, is in the gifted class. She brought jars of sourdough starter for each student and their teacher – with notes on how to care for concoctions.
“You are now the proud parent of a living 6½-year old sourdough starter. Feel free to give it a name, put it in a larger jar when you get home, and get excited for all the possibilities you can make with it,” Grunwell wrote.
But as with all living things, there are responsibilities that go into the care of the bread starter, Grunwell explained.
“It’s a living, breathing, eating thing,” she said.
If fed flour and water, and maintained properly, the starter can yield countless loaves of bread, pizza crusts or other baked goods.
As the third graders ate pieces of sourdough bread made using the same starter they would be taking home, Grunwell read aloud the book “Bread Lab,” which she discovered while in Sicily.
The book, by Kim Binczewski and Bethany Econopouly, painted the picture of the dough bubbling and rising after being fed. It described the dough kneading process as being similar to making mud pies, with the dough oozing between fingers.
The students in Weaver’s class weighed each jar of yeast, poured in water and flour, stirred, and placed a rubber band around the clear glass jars so they could watch it rise and fall throughout the day.
The students were very attentive to the bread making process – but also wanting more of the already baked sourdough bread from Grunwell. Some students gave their starters names like Sarah or Stanford.
Weaver cautioned the students to take care of their bread starters.
“You have to keep up with it or it will die,” she said. “It’s live cultures in there.”
Weaver suggested the bread lesson may continue, with students baking loaves at home and bringing them in to share.
“We’ll have a taste test,” she said.
Students in the third grade gifted class come from all Bowling Green elementaries of Conneaut, Crim and Kenwood. They included Emily Clemens, Ryann Dennis, Jessa Donaldson, Samuel Forman, Emily Grunwell, and Rano Rakhimova.
