The Rise of Baking During Lockdown Are we becoming a nation of bakers? Whatever you achieved this year, the chances are that you turned your hand to some form of baking during the lockdown months. Perhaps you were one of the 45,000 people who posted images of their beautiful bananabread on Instagram during April. Or one of the many thousands captivated by the wonderful world of sourdough. Or more recently one of over 10 million plus viewers watching the opening episode of Great British Bake Off’s 11th series in September. Baking has quickly become one of the nation’s top coping strategies during a time of crisis this year. It can give a wonderful sense of accomplishment, being part of a process with a tangible end, and not forgetting the meditative nature of kneading and shaping dough if you are making bread. Of course, bread making takes time and refuses to be rushed but the end results are always rewarding. And if you are having a bad day it is always worth remembering that everything is better with freshly baked bread. It just is. I run Daly Bread, a microbakery in Old Isleworth, teaching bread-making and baking from my kitchen in the Bread Shed at the end of my garden. During
lockdown I stopped all my teaching classes and wondered how my business would cope during the pandemic. Within days I saw a surge of new customers wanting to buy freshly made bread locally. There were times when I really struggled to keep up with the volume of orders, the increase in new customers, the admin behind this and the neverending struggle to ensure I had enough ingredients in place – not to mention coping with home schooling for two teenagers. I adapted my working practices to cope, offering more bake days, adding an online shop and streamlining the choice of bakes on offer. I am extremely grateful for all the support, encouragement and understanding I received from customers throughout lockdown - the texts of appreciation, the posts on social media, the reviews, the understanding when things didn’t quite go to plan and to those who have remained loyal as I moved house over the summer. As the clocks go back, the days get cooler, wetter and darker – and who knows if we may have further reason yet for staying at home more - it is an ideal time to consider bread making and expanding your baking repertoire. A quick search online is always fruitful for recipes and inspiration. And then there’s Instagram. If you are interested to learn, bonkers about babka, simply must have sourdough or craving cinnamon twirls, consider signing up for a short hands-on socially distanced course.
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