The Power of Bread Baking

Bread baking

Home baking has probably never been more popular in Britain since the 1940s. In April 2020, as the lockdowns began, sales of flour and yeast soared [https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2020/04/08/home-baking-is-on-the-rise-thanks-to-coronavirus-lockdowns] as millions of people turned to the twin advantages of not having to rely on supermarket supplies while at the same time finding a very satisfying and practical way to fill some of the long lockdown hours.

Baking our way through lockdown

Sourdough mixtures blobbed and bubbled in countless kitchens across the country. Social media channels exploded with recipes and hundreds of thousands of photos of proud results, still hot from the oven. The nation had rediscovered home baking - and we found we liked it very much indeed. And it was far from being only about bread.

It's not just bread we've been baking...

Kitchens across the land were busy making a whole range of baked goods - from brioche to cupcakes, cookies to pizza bases. Baking was back with a vengeance. Britain's kitchens, may of which has lain mostly dormant for years, were suddenly very much alive again, as bubbly, yeasty mixes rose in countless bowls throughout the land.

Perhaps the only downside to this particular aspect of the Covid restrictions is that we are not able to have unexpected guests turn up to appreciate the warm, welcoming aroma of something baking in the oven. But whether we are baking just for ourselves or our very close family, baking is such a rewarding use of our time. Home-baked bread is very rarely wasted - even when stale; almost forgotten recipes for bread pudding and bread and butter pudding are reviving too.

Bread baking made easy

At Britain Loves Baking, we're working with our home baking kits to offer new and innovative ways to help people easily share the joy they may have found for themselves in home baking - even if it's not practical to send them a box of your prime cupcakes. Our Christmas Baking Gift Boxes make it easy to send a memorable present that may continue delivering long after the decorations have been packed away for another year.

Covid has made life extremely hard for many of us, not least in being forced to stay apart at a time like Christmas. Baking at home has a unique power to transport us all back to happier days - and is a powerful medicine to help keep our spirits up until the current storm has passed.