Activity Plan 4-5: Pita Bread

Bread making offers children the opportunity to explore math and science concepts and traditions of other countries - watch them rise to the occasion!

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Ready-To-Use Teaching Ideas: Cooking/Science.

Materials:

• pita bread ingredients
• cooking utensils
• chart paper and markers
• pita fillings
• glue

Objective:

Children will engage in a bread-baking activity that encourages the development of math, science, and multicultural concepts.

ACTIVITY

1 Explain to children that they will be baking a special type of bread called "pita bread." Pita bread is also called "pocket bread." Can they guess why? Ask them to share what they may already know about pita bread.

2 Engage children in gathering the baking utensils, washing the cooking surface, and washing their hands. Review the recipe and discuss the different processes with children. Encourage children to notice how the ingredients change during the cooking process.

Pita Bread Recipe (Make an illustrated recipe chart for the children to follow.)

• 2 cups flour
• 2 1/2 tsp. quick rise yeast
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 1/2 cups hot water
• 1 to 1 1/2 cups flour
• cooking oil and cornmeal (for greasing cookie sheet)

You can double your recipe and freeze or regrigerate the bread to use on a different day in a different way!

Combine the first four ingredients in a large bowl. Beat well for about one minute. Mix the remaining flour, using just enough to make the batter soft, not sticky. Turn the dough out on a floured board and continue to knead for five minutes. Divide into 10 balls. Roll out each one to 1/2-inch thick and 6 inches in diameter (use paper plate circles to measure).

Place the circles on a very lightly greased cookie sheet and sprinkle with cornmeal. Let the dough rise in a warm place for 25 to 35 minutes. Ask children to carefully observe the dough before and after it rises. What ingredient do they think caused the dough to rise?

Bake at 450°F for four minutes. Turn the bread over and bake for an additional four minutes or until lightly brown. Wrap immediately in a dishtowel for three to four minutes. Cool before eating.

Pita bread can be eaten a variety of ways:

• Open the pockets and fill with favorite sandwich stuffers or try traditional hummus spread.
• Make pita bread pizza with tomato sauce and shredded cheese.
• Make wraps by using favorite spreads and rolling up the bread. 
• Invite the children to experiment by eating pita bread in their own inventive ways.

Curriculum Connections

Social Studies/Literacy:

Pita bread is eaten in countries like Greece, Israel, Syria, and Egypt. Assist children in locating these countries on a map or globe. Then share a book with children about varieties of bread. Create a list of all of the different types of bread listed in the book, the countries they come from (if the information is available), and the characteristics of the breads (flat, long, fluffy, white, and so on). Ask the children to describe the different types of breads that they have eaten. You may also want to take a class trip to a local bakery.

This activity originally appeared in the November, 2000 issue of Early Childhood Today.

Risa Young is the former director of two early childhood programs in the New York City area, the Children's Aid Society's Greenwich Village Center and the Innovative Learning Center at the Long Island College Hospital. She has been a consultant to Early Childhood Today for more than eight years.

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