FARMINGTON – One way to keep the attention of middle school students is to have their peers teach them how to make bread.

That’s what eighth-graders Richard Armstrong and Miranda Voter, award-winning student bakers, and Paula Gray, life-skills baking instructor for King Arthur Flour Co., did for seventh- and eighth-graders Thursday.

The demonstration was part of the Eat Smart Eat Local Now You’re Cookin! program, said Alyce L. Cavanaugh, SAD 9’s school health coordinator. She designed it in collaboration with the Western Mountains Alliance in Farmington, she said in a statement.

“The program focuses on teaching students the importance of healthy eating through fun and creative learning as well as teaching the students about social awareness and the importance of eating locally,” Cavanaugh wrote.

“When you’re ready to bake bread, you have to be around for 3 hours because that’s how long it takes,” Gray said as she began the process. “You don’t have to be busy all of that time.”

But once the bread dough has baked for 20 minutes, you need to keep an eye on it, she said.

Students sat quietly and watched intently from the bleachers as the three instructors demonstrated techniques and shared some secrets to successful bread.

Each student received a bag of ingredients Thursday donated by the company, including 4 pounds of flour, a package of yeast and a dough scraper.

Students are expected to bake one loaf at home to be distributed to nine local food pantries.

To start, you need to read the recipe twice, Gray advised, before you gather ingredients, pull long hair back, tuck hanging objects away, and wash your hands.

Now you’re ready.

Gray poured two cups of warm water into a bowl.

“If you have really hot water, you’ll kill your yeast,” Armstrong said. “If you have cold water it will take forever.”

He checked the water with his hand and determined it just right.

“Yeast is a living thing,” Gray said, and you need to give it something to eat.

Voter showed how to measure one-quarter cup of sugar using the dough scraper – a tool that is the key to making bread – to level it off.

Next you add a packet of yeast.

Armstrong stirred that mixture while Voter measured the organic flour to add to the mix.

“It looks pretty gross,” Gray said, as she looked in the bowl. “Actually that’s good.”

You let it rest for 10 minutes, then add one-quarter cup of vegetable oil.

The oil makes the bread soft and squishy, she said. Add a teaspoon of salt and four cups of all-purpose flour to bowl and mix it up.

Then came kneading as instructors demonstrated the process.

“Fold, push, turn. Fold, push, turn,” Gray said as they worked the dough. She suggested covering the bowl with plastic wrap and then a dish towel to keep it warm and put it on the top of the refrigerator or in an oven that’s off to help it rise. Make sure to take the plastic off before you bake it, Gray warned.

She then took out premade dough that had risen to twice its size.

That drew “ooohhs” from the audience.

She dumped the dough onto a lightly floured work board, and Armstrong gently punched out the air.

“You have beautiful soft dough,” Gray said.

After demonstrating how to make different shaped loaves, Gray, Armstrong and Voter moved on to show students how to toss pizza dough.

Armstrong tossed it high into the air, catching it on the back of his hands, before throwing it up twice more.

His expertise brought applause from the bleachers.

“I enjoyed it,” Armstrong said after it was over. “I thought tossing pizza was the best.”

Alex Chandler, 13, of Farmington said he helps his dad make bread, and he planned to make some this weekend.

“It’s a lot of fun. It’s a lot of hands-on, and that’s what I like,” Chandler said.