By Audrey Sears
Sticky spoons, a kitchen scale, and mason jars littered the O’Hara basement kitchen countertops as students of Best if Used By gathered on Thursday night to begin their sourdough ‘starters’, the beginning step of creating the dough that will eventually be baked into bread.
Students worked in pairs to carefully measure out their flour and water, combining them in mason jars that would be alternated between the pair throughout the week for safekeeping.
Students were in for a lot of work- but not typical homework assignments. The starter’s first week would be the most intensive portion of the semester, with 11 ‘feedings’, adding of more water and flour, scheduled before the next class meeting.
“It’s almost like having to remember to feed a dog,” said Shannon Corcoran, ’25, while stirring the mixture together.
Best if Used By: Sourdough, Service, and Food Equity, is a single-credit course taught by student Joshua Moniz, ’26, focused on the art of bread-baking, learning about food scarcity, and implementing the value of service.
“I took the class because I found I was a credit short for the semester and it worked with my schedule. I’m also interested in baking, so why not?” said Eden Craig, ’25.
The course is a part of the Integrating Democratic Education at Stonehill (IDEAS) program, an “interdisciplinary, student-centered program that fosters engagement and active learning by creating an environment for students to share their passions, wisdom and knowledge with one another through student-led courses,” according to the Stonehill IDEAS webpage.
“I always had an interest in teaching an IDEAS course on bread ever since I started baking sourdough as my ‘Covid project,’” said Moniz. “I had a sourdough starter from that time that I named Sam. He ended up growing mold last semester, but I was able to get part of it back to make a new starter… kind of like Sam’s grandchild. Now my starter’s name is ‘No Name’, pronounced like ‘Nonna Mae.”
No Name made a guest appearance at the starter-making class as an example of what the students’ starters would eventually look like.
After mixing together the preliminary ingredients, students participated in an activity that chose a name for their shared starter. Some pairs expressed excitement for their starter, calling the mason jar of the mixture their ‘children’ of which they ‘shared joint custody’ of. Butter, Hermes, and Otto were only a few of the chosen affectionate names.
Lola Palm, ’25, and Katie Lanzillo, ’27, brainstormed ‘baby names’ and were giddy about making a shared iCloud photo album of their starter, Otto.
Moniz also drew his inspiration for the course from his participation in the H.O.P.E. program, a ‘service immersion experience’ where students “learn how to promote peace and equity by living in solidarity and serving with underserved communities,” according to the H.O.P.E webpage.
Moniz traveled with the 2024 spring break group to West Virginia, where students learned about the effects of the natural coal industry and the value of charity in a space of food scarcity.
“Seeing what food access issues looked like first-hand really opened my eyes to how important the community aspect is. I got the chance to learn about what a food desert was and the vision for my IDEAS class really came together,” said Moniz.
Donating the baked goods to a local organization, My Brother’s Keeper, is another crucial part of the Best if Used By course, implementing service to the community in the class module.
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