Shrove Tuesday AKA Pancake Day AKA Mardi Gras falls on Tuesday 12 February 2013 and is the last day before Lent. Lent is a time of abstinence, of giving things up – so Shrove Tuesday is the final chance to indulge oneself and eat foods that aren’t allowed during Lent. Pancakes are eaten on this day because they contain fat, butter and eggs which were forbidden. Today Christians traditionally give up one thing, such as chocolate, for Lent. In days gone by there was a whole week of celebrations and in other parts of the world the celebrations are still very extravagant. The carnivals held in New Orleans and Rio de Janeiro originate from the celebrations preceding Lent. In fact the word carnival comes from the Latin meaning ‘removal of meat’ which refers to the early Christian Lentern diet.

Why don’t you make a mask to wear in the Mardi Gras festival and/or try out one of our pancake recipes. The savoury and sweet mini pancake recipes even have an accompanying video.

Savoury pancakes

Sweet mini pancakes

Pancakes and summer berry compote

After all that cooking why not visit our section Making and Baking: The Science and Technology and discover what makes bread rise; how making bread at home differs from commercial bread making; some of the different types of bread available; and what the symbols and numbers on the label of a loaf of bread mean.  Or why not watch a video on the industrial bread process.

 

And don’t forget, before you begin any cooking session please make sure you are familiar with the health and safety checklist.

grainchain.com is delighted to announce the return of the Schools Bake Off. Paul Hollywood will once again judge the event, which will be held at the Cake & Bake Show at Manchester Central in April 2013.

The event in London in September was brilliant; we had some fantastic entries, fantastic prizes and fantastic fun.

If you bake with your students head over to our competition page and sign up now. You will need to tell us about your best bake and why you love baking. You could be in with a chance to meet Paul and even bake for him.  

Use the time over the holidays to brush up your baking skills in time for the event. For some inspiration try some of our tried and tested children's recipes.

grainchain.com have been invtited to give a talk on their education resources, with particular emphasis on inspirational and interesting ways to use them in the classroom. 

Barbara Monks, award winning teacher, author, deli-chef, who is passionate about cooking, family and work-life balance will be giving the talk.

So if you are looking for ideas for cover lessons, five-minute fillers, or extension activities for students who have finished their work early then come along to this free session.

The session is run as part of the branch meeting of the London D&T Assn, and will take place on Monday 3 December from 4.30pm at the Cass School of Education and Communitites which is on the Stratford Campus of the University of East London.

Anyone is free to attend, you do not need to be a member of the D&T Assn. The session is be designed for secondary school teachers, but primary teachers who feel it may benefit them are welcome.

For directions; further information; or to confirm your attendance, please contact Kate Jones at the University of East London.

We hope to see some of you there!

We have recently launched an after-school cookery pack which themes baking around worldwide festivals. From birthday cakes to pancakes; Yule log to fortune cookies baked products play a central part in celebrations all over the globe. And by connecting baking with celebrations we hope to impart the joy of cooking to the younger generation.

Festivals are grouped with an emphasis on comparing and contrasting similarities and differences in the same type of festival throughout the world – for example harvest, new year, birthdays and fasting occasions are explored. Suggested recipes are included along with activities which can be completed while the dish is being baked.

The pack includes guidance on how to set up a successful cookery club, but is equally suitable to an established club.

Download your free copy here.

grainchain.com spent an exhausting and exhilarating weekend running the Kids Kitchen at the Cake & Bake Show at Earls Court Exhibition Centre.

The children had a fantastic time in our hands-on workshops which were held every hour on the hour. They learnt how to make dough, shape bread, make cake-pops, animal cakes and gingerbread men. We would like to thank all the fabulous bakers who ran sessions for us including Anthony Kindred, Annabel Karmel, Jill Collins, Natalie Saville, Paul Barker, Juliet Sear, Andrew Kojima, and Aidan Chapman. We were even joined by Mary Berry!

Over on our other stage Paul Hollywood compared our Bake Off competition. On this very website, we offered schools and families the chance to enter the Bake Off. Sixteen lucky teams were chosen to take part and after a qualifying round and a live baking final four teams were judged Bake Off Winners.

We felt so lucky to have the opportunity to be part of the Kids Kitchen and get out there and meet you all. The Cake & Bake Show will be in Manchester 5-7 April 2013 ....

Schools Bake Off winners in the 8-13 age category: Priory Acadamy (L-R Karen Barnes, editor of delicious. magazine, Paul Hollywood, Rosie Summers, Lorcan Honour and Salli Humphreys)

 Schools Bake Off winners in the 14-18 age category: Chapel-en-le-Frith High School represented by Trudi Mayo and her team.

"Bread is more important than something you eat - it's part of our identity"

So, who are you today?

See http://bit.ly/NuKlnz for dozens of fabulous bread recipes

 

 

The winners of the 2012 grainchain.com Inspire! competition have been announced. The judges were impressed by the very high standard of entries all round and particularly delighted that the call for inspiring entries was heeded. From cupcake wars to edible hedgehogs children throughout the land have been entertained and educated in equal measures by a stirling group of food tech teachers.

So a big well done to everyone who entered, we were impressed by all of you.

The four winners represent England, Northern Ireland and Scotland and the winning lessons cover baking for celebrations (themed with local culture and exercise to keep healthy); celebratory baking from around the world as well as local heritage baking; developing a Mexican themed restaurant complete with special Mexican Christmas bread; and perfecting the design of a bread swirl, with particular attention to vitamin and mineral content.

The winning schools, in alphabetical order are:

• Antrim Grammar School, Northern Ireland
• Cansfield High School, Wigan
• Chenderit School, Oxon
• Preston Lodge High School, Scotland

The winners will all receive £500 to go towards enhancing practical work in their school as well as attend a prize day at Heygates Flour Mill, Bugbrooke.  Each winner can bring an exceptional student and will take part in a baking master class with Paul Hollywood as well as receive a tour of the mill.

 

 

 

There is still time to enter our fabulous cooking competition but be quick, the deadline is Friday 25 May. Four lucky winners will each receive £500 for their school PLUS a day baking with Paul Hollywood.

Open to food tech teachers from all over the UK, the grainchain.com Inspire! competition is looking for inspirational teachers to inspire their colleagues. 

To enter you must submit a single lesson plan including a recipe. The themes include:

• Baking for celebration events; 
• incorporating local ingredients;
• celebrating bread making and/or cake making skills
• exploring a variety of different flour and grains;
• making the most of seasonal foods.

With the Jubilee coming up why not look at our section on baking for celebration events and come up with a lesson plan. We have developed a range of starter activities to kick start your creative journey. Our Street Party Challenge presentation includes a direct challenge for your students along with bright photography and topical information.

Give it a go today - with four prizes up for grabs you could be in luck.

Rain rain go away come again another day ...

Oh the irony of a housepipe ban and a week of rain!  Learn more about the growing cycle of wheat including an investigation of  average monthly rainfall and sunshine throughout the year via grainchain.com’s Farming Our Food activity sheet.  It was designed for 7-11 year olds though with a word version available it can be easily adapted to suit younger or older children also.

We have recently completed work on reissuing our most popular resource: Wheat into Flour.  It is an A4 booklet with small samples of different stages of the milling process which shows children of all ages how wheat gets converted into flour.  To help bring the whole process to life we have also filmed inside a modern flour mill to show you the machinery behind your food.

 

To order a copy of the booklet please email us: grainchain@nabim.org.uk.  The booklet is stricly limited to one per school.  The video can be viewed on our YouTube channel.

 

 

We will also be attending the Schools Farm and County Fair on Thursday 26 April. Once again grainchain.com will be making bread rolls with the children of Suffolk and also promoting our new resource to their teachers.

 

The Inspire! Competition is still open to food tech teachers of 11-14 year olds.  We are looking for just a single lesson plan plus a flour-based recipe. There will be four winning schools who will each receive £500 to go towards enhancing food tech in their school; plus all winners will be invited to a baking day with Paul Hollywood, which will take place on Friday 22 June in London.