Flour and education

How we piloted the Carrs Breadmaker breadmaking module for schools

OVER a six-week period, groups of children from four primary schools in West Cumbria - Silloth, Allonby, Holm Cultram Abbey and Holme St Cuthbert - devised and baked loaves using Carrs Breadmaker flour in Panasonic automatic breadmakers.

Each school then voted for the best loaf to represent their school in a Battle of the Breads competition at Silloth’s Solway Community Technology College - near the world-famous Carrs flour mill on the west coast of Cumbria.

Allonby (pictured) pipped the other schools to the title of Best Bread with a fantastic Sundried Tomato, Onion & Mixed Herbs loaf.

Julia Cooper, Head of Design Technology at Solway Community Technology College, who worked with Carrs Breadmaker on devising the module, praised all four schools for the high standard of their entries.

“Not only were the loaves delicious but their design folders - explaining how they approached this project as well as the history of flour itself - were first-rate,” she said.

ITV Border and the award-winning educational magazine Learning made Battle of the Breads front page news - see education matters.

Jan Clark of Cumbria Healthy Eating described the module as a “splendid way of getting younger children to think about what goes into the food they eat.”

Below are some excerpts from the school childrens' portfolios from the pilot Breadmaking Module (click to view an enlarged image):

Whilst their loaves were baking, the children visited Carr’s flour mill to see the rare Carel steam engine that powered the plant until the 1970s. It was restored as part of the company’s 175th anniversary in 2006.