Discover Top Posts Tagged with #pandemic baking

I’m reading The Book of Delights by Ross Gay (excellent read, highly recommend!) where the author decided to write one short essay every day about something that delighted him. Curious, I started doing the same thing, and it really cheered up my mid-pandemic, mid-winter mood. So enjoy some things that delighted me over the next week.

Transcript below:

#comic #bread #baking #pandemic baking #journal comic #delight

I’m getting good at this whole bread-making thing.

#sourdough #bread #pandemic baking

Freeform (rustic? Not quite perfect?) apple tart fresh from the oven (slightly overdone) made with gluten free, dairy free puff pastry.

Pretty good after a 30 minute cool.

#pandemic baking

I’m super proud of these pretzels 🥨

#pandemic baking #pretzel #ndr

“This year has been interesting because I am once again baking for nobody. My husband isn’t a huge fan of cakes, so I have nobody to impress and nothing to boast about. I thought I would stop baking so much, but I have doubled down, baking late into the night – no matter that I will receive zero praise and most likely end up eating most of the results myself and crashing off the high sugar content. I really only want to make complicated recipes now. I need the challenge of knowing that there are 10 danger points along the way where I might stumble and fall. That there’s an element of risk in something so cosy is ridiculous really, but there it is. The thing that keeps you watching a cooking show where everyone is nice to each other is the knowledge that someone might drop a mixing bowl on the floor, burn biscuits to a crisp or over-mix a meringue. Despite strict instructions and exhortations to follow the rules, baking is mostly alchemy. Sometimes you follow a recipe to the letter, and it’s a sad curdled mess. Sometimes you throw things into a bowl with gay abandon, and it turns out sublime. (...) Still, I will persist. For the calming stirring. For the focus it takes (which takes me away from less wholesome things). For all the memories a tart can promise to conjure, even if they don’t linger very long. Baking isn’t as wholesome as is often imagined. It would be boring if it was. Nailing a perfect chocolate soufflé first time would give you no opportunity for a cathartic rage cry. That’s also a habit I’ve honed this year that I highly recommend.”

- Bella Mackie’s piece for Vogue UK: “Yes, Baking Right Now Is Comforting – But It’s Also Wonderfully Cathartic,” read here.

#bella mackie #pandemic baking #cathartis of baking #baking #vogue uk #currently reading