FARMINGTON — Seventh- and eighth-graders at Mt. Blue Middle School on Thursday were assigned to bake their homework.

An after-school cooking club sponsored a bread-making demonstration for students. All 371 of them went home with a kit containing flour, yeast, dough scraper and a recipe.

The activity is part of King Arthur Flour Co.’s “Life Skills Bread Baking Program,” said Gina Ciancia of Vermont. The company has three representatives who travel across the United States providing demonstrations for middle school students. A recent culinary school graduate, Ciancia started working for Norwich, Vt.-based company in October.

The weekend homework is to make two loaves of bread, one for themselves and the other to bring back Monday. These will be included in the Share and Care Food Closet’s Thanksgiving baskets, said Alyce Cavanaugh, school health coordinator, who along with Connie Otero, serve as advisers for the Now You’re Cookin! club.

Club members performed a variety of behind-the-scenes preparation duties,  including assembling bread kits, helping the King Arthur Flour representative cook and introducing her to their peers.

She has developed an entertaining and instructive style for the students as they prepare dough and turn it into bread loaves, cinnamon rolls and pizza dough.

As a camera projected her every move onto larger screen for the assembled students to see, she and student helpers Russell France and Cordell Ellis prepared the dough, showing the students what they will do this weekend.

It becomes more than just a cooking lesson as students use math to measure amounts and use proportions, reading skills to follow recipe directions and science as they learn about yeast and why it causes dough to rise.

The young cooks are also developing self-esteem, team-building skills and the ability to work with different people as Cavanaugh switches cooking partners frequently, she said.

The 18-member club is divided in two groups that each meet every other week because of kitchen limitations. It holds labs on different recipes or food items. One week it was pizza but not just a regular pepperoni pizza. Cavanaugh shared what she learned on a trip to Italy trying to expose the students to different tastes and ingredients. The labs include the history of the food and nutrition with one goal being to introduce healthier versions of some convenience foods.

The next lab is a chocolate one with Pam West, owner of Mountain View Chocolate Shoppe in Farmington. Students will learn about the history of cocoa, the benefits of dark chocolate, and they will make peanut butter cups and chocolate-dipped bacon rolled in nuts, she said. A pie lab is planned before Christmas.

Several volunteers and guest chef William “Bucky” Leighton, the food services production manager for Aramark Corp. at the University of Maine at Farmington, assist the cooking club, she said.

Three years ago, Cavanaugh brought a King Arthur Flour Co. representative to the school. The 358 students at that time brought 300 loaves of bread back.

“We’re hoping everyone will do their homework,” she said.

She also hopes parents and families will become involved using the baking time for quality family time and the opportunity to give back to the community as the bread is shared over Thanksgiving.

While France convinced Cavanaugh to include him in the already full club because he wants “to become a famous chef,” another couple club members enjoy the fact that “we get to eat,” Adrienne Chandler said, and “be with our friends,” Sarah Loewen said.

[email protected]