What is it about baking that is so intensely satisfying? I enjoy cooking in general, but when I make savory dishes, it’s primarily for the sake of eating them.
In short, I love the baking part of baking, not just the eating. The slow process of measuring, sifting, and stirring; waiting as the dough rises in the oven and the house becomes saturated with the scents of butter and flour and chocolate; pulling the pans out of the oven and finding the dough transformed into something golden and perfect.
Unlike other types of cooking, baking doesn’t require a lot of skill or intuition. If you have a good recipe, you follow it, and the deliciousness just sort of happens. Everyone thinks you’re a genius, but really you just know how to read and follow orders.
Baking can feel a bit like putting together a magic potion. You combine a bunch of ingredients into a wet, sloppy mixture, put it in the oven, and—SHAZAM!—it’s a cake! How cool is that? Very freaking cool. And it never stops feeling magical, no matter how often you do it. Having constant access to feeling a little like a wizard? Yeah, bakers don’t get tired of that feeling.