Baking

I don't talk about this very often, either on here or in my normal daily life, but I actually thoroughly enjoy baking - specifically bread, if you didn't assume as much from the word "baking." It's not like I'm ashamed of enjoying it or something - I don't talk about it much because I don't think about it much. Every once in a while I'll go somewhere and see some bread, or play a game that has a cooking section in it, or something else along those lines, and I'll think to myself, "Oh yeah, I like baking." I enjoy the act of mixing the ingredients, kneading the dough. I enjoy being able to eat something that I made that will last for more than the ten minutes it takes me to eat a meal. Simple but enjoyable.

I'm not one for the bread machines, though. I don't even use a mixer. I do everything by hand because I enjoy the motions of it, the textures, the little bits of dough that I can nibble off of my fingers once the bread is set aside to rise because it got stuck there while I was kneading. Plus I'm just the kind of person who likes to do things on my own anyway. I like to know that I possess the ability required to get something done - I can pass things off to someone else who knows better, but I consistently don't feel good about it. So it may sound a little silly, but I'd really rather not have a machine do all of the mixing, kneading, and baking for me.

And it's nice, because there are so many different kinds of breads out there, so many different flavors and textures, but they more or less come down to the same ideas as far as making them goes. There's not too much precision in the order of operations like there is in regular cooking. You get your dry ingredients, you mix them together. You add your wet ingredients, you mix it together. You knead the crap out of that dough until it looks nice and isn't a sticky blob. Then you wait as it magically becomes bigger. You punch it. You wait for it to magically grow again. Then you heat the hell out of it until it's suddenly bread. It's simple. It's fun. It's delicious.

I'm not gonna pretend like I'm amazing at it. I don't know any of the logic behind what ingredients to use or how much of them. I just find recipes and follow directions. But it's fun. I enjoy it. And any kind of food making skill is a good one to have in life. Plus I think a lot of people underestimate how good straight bread can taste. Most people will only have white or wheat or something, just on a sandwich, and it's just a vehicle for them for other food. But bread in and of itself can be delicious.

And despite what some people may try to convince you, carbs aren't evil. You kind of need them for your body to run. Idiots.