Baking

I bake because I love it. I bake because I like tobecause it relieves me of all my day’s stresses, even as it piles up the number of dishes I have to wash. I bake because I love the smell of melting chocolate and sizzling butter, the smell of brownies baking and bread dough fermenting. I bake because I like to share with people, to share it with friends, family and the people who love food, maybe as much as I do.

I bake because I like mixing and stirring and folding and kneading ingredients- watching gloopy egg whites become thick, white clouds. Watching an ugly mass of dough become one smooth, elastic and shiny one, and then growing into a big ballon in the oven. Watching such simple ingredients become something whole and new. Watching things transform right before your eyes – its magical. It’s not just a physically pleasing experience, it’s a mindfully enriching one.

I love to bake because when I’m baking I’m like in a whole new world (cue Aladdin). No worries, no troubles, no stresses. Its just me, the mixing bowl, the work table and my ingredients. Its like I have my own little class going own- I coax the ingredients together, smoothly and steadily, and help them to get to know their other ingredients better. Nothing stops me from baking, and while I do make a mess (quite often I do – spilling flour and sugar all over the table, dropping dollops of cake batter on the floor), it’s all part of the fun of it.

I love to bake because I like eating, because I like food. Nothing comforts me more than a large slice of moist and light chocolate cake covered with smooth, bittersweet ganache. Or a slice of apple pie – the buttery, crumbly shortcrust pastry, and the sweet, tart, cinnamon-y apples- loaded with a scoop of good vanilla ice cream. And a good hearty breakfast to give me the energy and motivation for the day- a nice banana muffin (with the oatmeal crumble on top!!) or a crunchy chunky homemade vanilla almond granola over a bowl of yogurt, fruit and a drizzle of honey. Yum!

I love to bake because I like to know what I’m eating. So many baked goods out there are filled with chemicals and preservatives and heavily processed cheap flour and sugar. Baking at home means I know what I’m eating, and I can choose what kind of ingredients I want to use- cheap commercial sugar and white corn syrup or less refined raw sugar, honey and wholewheat flour. Baking at home means I’m in better control of what goes into my tummy, and I feel safer and better knowing that what I make is better for me than those commercially produced ones.

But the real true reason why I love to bake is just because I love it. I know I’m not answering the question, but that’s true- I love to bake because my face glows when I do and my eyes shimmer when I think of baking and even when I’m tired every inch of my body leads me to the kitchen to get out the mixing bowl and the spatula and the weighing scale and start baking. Because I’m happy when I bake, and when I’m baking I’m someone new and different and special. The greatest pleasure from baking is seeing your creation – simple, but stunning, beautiful, magical. And seeing that people appreciate what you do, and seeing their smiles and their enjoyment from eating what you bake is the greatest accomplishment of all.

I still have the scar - two long burn marks on my right arm, one year on. I’ve failed before, and I will fail again, but it’s okay. Because my passion has been ignited, and it’s still burning on.