Category: Baking & Pastry Arts

Basic Elements & Parts of a Meal Lesson

by K.Graybill • July 31, 2015 • 0 Comments

Does it really matter how food looks on a plate? Why do chef’s at restaurants, especially, go to great lengths to make your meal look so aesthetically pleasing? It’s all about presentation, the basic meal elements…whatever it takes to keep you coming back to enjoy another meal. Can we do the same thing at home, with an ordinary meal? Absolutely! We just need to know what makes up the basic elements of a great looking and tasting meal. This lesson strives to teach students the basic elements and parts of a meal as well as give them an opportunity, not only to analyze meals for the elements, but to take an ordinary recipe and make it extraordinary on a plate using the concepts learned in class.

Equipment Activities: What am I?

by K.Graybill • June 26, 2015 • 6 Comments

My classroom runs much smoother when my students are engaged in interactive activities. That’s one of the reasons why I POST.IT.NOTESlove these activities! The first is a fun little game that gets students up, moving around and tests their knowledge of basic equipment used in the kitchen, the sewing room, or the nursery. All you need is a list of equipment and some post-it-notes or index cards. This activity can be prepared as a one time use activity or you can make reusable cards with yarn. This activity is very versatile and can be used like a pretest to see what students know about the basic equipment used in each area or it could be used as a review activity after teaching about them. Another fun review game is played on the laptop or electronic devices such as phones, ipads, tablets, etc. using a web-based technology called Kahoot. Students beg to play this fun, interactive game and are very competitive. Try them out and be prepared to see your students engaged, learning and having fun all at the same time!

Basic Baking Ingredients: What’s My Function?

by K.Graybill • June 19, 2015 • 6 Comments

When I teach my quickbread unit I like my students to know the function of the basic ingredients they are working with. InIngredients.Foldable order to do this, I like to do a mini-pancake demo made up of rounds. Each round adds a new ingredient to the mini-pancakes. Students must taste test the mini-pancakes during each round and try to figure what the purpose or function of the basic ingredient is and describe the pancake’s taste, texture and appearance. After sharing their guesses, students create a foldable of ingredient function notes and then apply it to the pancake demo in a follow-up review.

Time to BAKE the Doughnuts!

by K.Graybill • May 15, 2015 • 0 Comments

Whether you are celebrating Fat Tuesday, National Doughnut Day or just need a fun, tasty dessert or snack, this lesson brings you donutsome healthy ideas for incorporating this usually unhealthy treat into your class. Continue reading for some historical background on these mini-pastries, along with how they are commercially made and then bake up some sweetness by preparing a healthy version of the baked vanilla doughnut. And don’t forget the healthy topping too!

Desserts in a Jar: Lab Ideas

by K.Graybill • March 13, 2015 • 1 Comment

Who would have thought that the age old canning jar would be perfect for dessert food labs! When choosing recipes for labs I try to select recipes so students get a nice sample to taste, but leave very little, if any leftovers. Not only does this cut down on waste, money spent on ingredients, but it also forces students to practice portion control and eliminates arguing over who gets the extras.

4th of July Cake

by M.Sandoval • July 3, 2014 • 0 Comments

It’s always fun to make something festive for the different holidays throughout the year. This is a 4th of July cake made with different jello flavors mixed into ordinary white cake mix. Make sure you think about how the flavors you choose will taste together.

“Cupcake War” Inspired Lesson

by M.Sandoval • March 14, 2014 • 4 Comments

Students love the variety of food related shows that are on TV. One of the most requested is the Food Network show, “Cupcake Wars.” I personally don’t like to have competitions be graded but rather to be fun and to…

Whoopie Pies

by K.Graybill • February 8, 2014 • 0 Comments

Looking for a fun, simple, delicious dessert with many variations to make in class or at home? Look no further! Depending on where you grew up, you may or may not have experienced this wonderful treat called a “Whoopie Pie”. …

Baking & Pastry Equipment Tips

by M.Sandoval • February 7, 2014 • 0 Comments

Sometimes there are seemingly obvious tips and tricks that we know about baking and pastry equipment that might be really helpful for others. I know when I was developing a brand new baking and pastry arts class, I knew nothing about commercial baking and every tip and “obvious fact” was hard to come by. So here is a list I’d like you all to contribute to so we can make it easier for new teachers.

Cake Decorating Unit

by M.Sandoval • January 17, 2014 • 0 Comments

There are lots of cake decorating classes students can take at the local craft store so I thought I was off the hook when it came to cake decorating, but my students begged me so I gave in. I didn’t want it to be so complex and more of an overview so I planned a week (3 blocks) of instruction with practice then I had them work on their own cake for another 3 blocks and present the final results. In fact there was so much excitement from this unit, students actually came to class early. Ha!

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