Rotation.org Writing Team

ELIJAH AND THE WIDOW OF ZAREPHATH

COOKING WORKSHOP

PASSAGE

Story: 1 Kings 17

Key/Memory Verse: 1 Kings 17:24 (NLT)

PURPOSE

In the cooking workshop, children will learn to make sourdough starter, how to grow it and share it. Just as the Widow of Zarephath shared from what seemed a tiny amount of food, sourdough starter can be shared from even a small amount of starter, and passed on for generations.

Objectives for Rotation

See Bible Background.

Objectives for Cooking Workshop

Participants will:

Find the story of Elijah in the Old Testament of the Bible.

Consider the widow’s generosity and also her willingness to trust that Elijah spoke for God.

Discuss how God provided for Elijah as well as how God provides for us.

PREPARATION

Read Bible Background.

Materials List

• Bibles
  
• Bowl & mixing utensils (NON metallic!) per person
  
• Cookie Ingredients (see recipe below)
  
• Cookie Sheets
  
• Flour (preferably wheat or rye flour)
  
• Icing (if desired)
  
• Large Bowls
  
• Measuring utensils
  
• Quart jar or Ziploc tub w/ lids for each person
  
• Water
  

Advance Preparation Requirements

Read the Bible Background.

Please note: preparing the sourdough starter will take a minimum of six days preparation, though only a very little bit of time in each day. If you prefer, sourdough starters which are already established are available by order from numerous places through the Internet. Some of these starters have been passed down for decades!

Prepare cards to send home with the children explaining how to refresh the starter (begin with instruction number six below). Make a double recipe so that there will be enough pieces of the starter to go home with each child at the end of class.

PRESENTATION

Open – Introduction

Welcome the children warmly as they enter the Cooking Workshop. Open the class with prayer.

Invite the children to share with each other what they already know about the story of Elijah. If this is the first week of the rotation, relate to the children a simple background regarding who Elijah was. Help the children to find 1 Kings 17 in their Bibles. Invite older children to take turns reading the story, or if they are unable to read, read the story to them.

Dig - Main Content

Explain to the children that sourdough is a way of making bread using the “wild” yeast that is already in the flour and water and air rather than purchasing yeast from the store. To make sourdough, bakers use a “starter,” a piece of dough in which yeast is continually reproducing with the help of regular doses of flour from the baker. Many sourdough starters last for years or even decades if they are used and fed frequently.

Have part of the class work together to mix the wet ingredients for the cookies while the others mix the dry ingredients. Combine all the ingredients, allowing several children to take turns stirring. Divide the dough between the children to roll and shape/cut their cookies. Drinking glasses make good rolling pins for a small amount of dough.

While the cookies bake, divide the remaining starter and extra starter dough between the children, encouraging them to feel and smell the starter. Have them place their starter in their jar/container. Take note of how little starter is needed to begin a loaf of bread. Explain that if they maintain their starter, they can share it with other people, who can then also use it all the time to make bread and share with even more people. If the starter that is shared was acquired from an outside source, tell the children about the history of that starter.

Wondering questions to discuss with the class:

I wonder what it would be like to depend on this starter and only a little more flour and water as our only source of bread?

I wonder how the Widow of Zarephath felt about using up her only supplies to feed someone else?

If this little piece of starter was all you had to feed your family this week, would you be willing to give it away?

I wonder why the woman was willing to trust Elijah?

How would it feel to be Elijah and ask someone to take care of you with their last amount of food?

What happened when the widow trusted God to provide?

Sourdough starter, if taken care of – fed and used regularly, can be used to make bread, pizza dough, cookies, and more, for years. I wonder how the woman felt when she realized that God was making sure her bread-making supplies lasted for such a long time?

How does God provide for you?

How will taking home some of this sourdough starter remind you of how God provides?

Reflect - Closure

When the cookies are done, enjoy God’s provision together while continuing to talk about the wondering questions.

Make sure each child has some of the starter in a container and instructions for keeping it going. Starter could be sent home in a ziploc bag, but will need to be placed in a non-airtight container at home.

Close with Prayer.

ADDITIONAL SUGGESTIONS

Adaptation – Younger Children

For an additional activity or instead of cooking: provide several different kinds of bread, including regular bread made with yeast, a loaf of sourdough bread, and a flat bread made with no yeast of any kind. Encourage the children to smell, taste, and feel the breads.

Adaptation – Older Children

If class time is too short to make cookies, have the children start the sourdough from scratch, and send a recipe or two home that they can use once the starter is ready.

SOURCES

http://www.exploratorium.edu/cooking/bread/recipe-sourdough.html

http://www.recipezaar.com/50811

Harbison, Elizabeth M. Loaves of Fun. Chicago, IL: Chicago Review Press, 1997, pages 44-45.

CONTRIBUTOR: Kim Trimboli

SOURDOUGH STARTER RECIPE

Please note, this sourdough starter is a little different than many starters as it is more dough-like than soupy. If the alternative choice of purchasing a starter from someone else is used, different instructions for feeding and using the starter will also be needed.
An alternative recipe for making a sourdough starter is found in Loaves of Fun by Elizabeth Harbison.

Adapted From http://www.exploratorium.edu/cooking/bread/recipe-sourdough.html

Ingredients

1/4 to 1/3 cup, a small handful, flour
1 or 2 tablespoons of water
a small non-metallic bowl
a towel, napkin, or other piece of cloth
a non-metallic spoon

Instructions

In a mound of flour, make a small well and add the water.

Slowly mix the flour and the water, bringing more flour into the center of the well. The mixture will gradually transform from a paste into a small piece of dough.

Knead this small piece of dough with your fingers for about 5–8 minutes, until it becomes springy.

Place the dough in a small container, cover it with a damp towel, and let it sit in a warm spot for 2 or 3 days.

When it’s ready, the dough will be moist, wrinkled, and crusty. If you pull off a piece of the crust, you’ll find tiny bubbles and smell a sweet aroma.

Throw away any hardened crust. “Refresh” the remaining piece by mixing it with twice the original amount of flour, about 2/3 cup, and enough water to make a firm dough. Set aside as before.

After 1 or 2 days the starter will have a new, fresh look. Remove any dried dough and mix with about 1 cup of flour.

Once again, cover the bowl with a damp cloth and leave it in a warm place for another 8–12 hours.

When the starter is ready, it will appear fully risen, and a small indentation made with a finger won’t spring back.

Now the starter is ready to be used in virtually any sourdough recipe. Remember to save a small piece of the starter: You can put it in the refrigerator for several days, then refresh it again as above and use it to make another loaf. A good starter will serve you for years to come!

Sourdough Sugar Cookies from http://www.recipezaar.com/50811
Makes 3 - 4 dozen cookies

Ingredients

1 cup Crisco shortening
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 large eggs
1/2 cup sourdough starter
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice or almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Instructions

Cream together shortening and sugar. Add eggs, sourdough starter, and flavorings; mix well.

Stir flour mixture into starter mixture until well blended. Chill dough, if desired.

Roll out dough 1/4-inch thick and cut with cookie cutters. Place on ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake at 350° until very lightly browned.

Remove immediately from oven and transfer cookies to cooling rack.

Decorate with icing, if desired.

Because we didn't want to roll the dough we are using the following recipe:

SOURDOUGH COOKIES [Adapted from http://www.cooks.com]

1/2 c. shortening
1 c. sugar
1 egg
1 c. starter
1 3/4 c. flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. soda
1 tsp. vanilla
Cinnamon and sugar (Mix 1/2 cup sugar and 2 teaspoons cinnamon)

1. Cream the shortening and sugar.
2. Beat in the egg and the starter.
3. Measure out and mix dry ingredients and add to creamed mixture.
4. Add the vanilla. Mix until smooth. (This does take mixing – you may wish to use your hands at the end of the mixing process.)
5. Break off 1” balls of dough. Drop on greased (or parchment covered) cookie sheet. Flatten slightly with your hands.
6. Sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on each cookie.
7. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes.
Makes 4-dozen cookies.


And because I can't even leave a good lesson alone our cooking lesson included the following Open – Introduction:

Say: Our Bible story today is about a miracle; a women whose flour supply never runs out is able to make bread for a prophet named Elijah.

Ask: Who knows what makes bread rise? (yeast)
If we want to make bread we can buy yeast, but how do you suppose they made bread years ago, before there were stores where you could buy yeast? (allow all answers)

Say: The action of yeast has been used by bread bakers for thousands of years. It wasn’t until the invention of the mircroscope that yeast was discovered to be a living organism – yeast is a fungus. These organisms are so small we can’t see them with our eyes; They exist in the air. But in order to have enough of these organisms to raise a loaf of bread we need to multiply them. If we couldn’t buy them already multiplied, in a store-bought package of yeast, we would have to grow them ourselves in what is called “leaven.” Leaven is even refered to in the Bible, especially when the Bible talks about unleavened bread, which was bread that wasn’t raised.
Ask: Do you recall a story from the Bible that talks about unleavened bread? (Passover)
Say: Leaven is a piece of dough that is kept over from a previous baking session. Today we will make cookies using a type of leaven called sourdough starter. We will make our cookies then talk about our story while they are cooking.

Have everyone put on aprons, wash their hands, and gather in the kitchen.

Say: When bakers are going to make sourdough bread they use a starter that has been made from “wild” yeast, yeast in the air. They grow this starter by regularly adding flour to the mixture and allowing it to expand. There is a bakery in San Francisco with sourdough starter that has been used there since 1849. We have some starter here today, it’s not nearly that old, but we are going to use it to make cookies.

Make a show of measuring out 1 cup of the starter and placing the rest aside. Encourage students to smell the starter.

Say: We will set aside the extra starter so that later we can all share it and take some home.

Then we mixed up the dough per the lesson. We told the story while the cookies baked and talked about the wondering questions…though I did add these questions to the beginning of the wondering discussion:

Ask: What was Elijah’s job? (to be a prophet)
What is a prophet? (a messenger of God)

Say: Elijah had the job of telling the people that the Lord was the one and only true God.

Ask: How did God provide for Elijah at the brook? (ravens fed him)
Why did Elijah go to Zarephath (pronounced ZER-uh-fath)? (because God sent him there)

Say: The water had run out at the brook where Elijah had been staying so God sent Elijah to Zarephath so that God could provide for Elijah through the widow. God sure uses strange ways to provide for Elijah.

then the “I wonder” questions continued…

--Carol

This message has been edited. Last edited by: CreativeCarol,