Wantagh Students Bake Holiday Favorites

The smell of freshly baked pumpkin bread wafted through the halls of Wantagh Middle School as Ellen Carr’s and Anne Craven’s family and consumer science students learned to make homemade pumpkin bread.

Prior to the activity, the students roasted a pumpkin in order to use the fleshy pulp for their recipe and to compare loaves baked with canned pumpkin to those baked with fresh.

During the lesson, the class was divided into four groups, with each student assigned a specific task. After collectively reading the recipe and discussing the purpose of certain ingredients and the difference between yeast and quick breads, the students measured, scooped and mixed the ingredients into small loaves.

Carr explained that the lesson used a strong math component in that each of the students were required to convert the ingredient amounts to accommodate a greater number of loves. The students also utilized sequencing skills to successfully mix the batter for the loaves.

The next day, the pumpkin’s seeds were roasted and the bread was served during a traditional tea. The students learned about how tea is brewed and how it should be served, as well.

When asked whether canned or fresh pumpkin made a difference in the recipe, Carr said there was not a truly noticeable difference.

“It seems that the canned pumpkin is much darker because the pumpkin in the factory is cooked at a much higher temperature,” she said. “Otherwise, all of the bread was delicious.”