Baking is better. There. I said it. I like baking better than cooking.
Yes, I know I write a food column every week, and yes, I know the irony of complaining about cooking almost every time that I write that column. But hear me out.
Cooking is a routine-oriented activity. Cooking has to happen. It’s a fundamental part of life: keeping yourself and your family fed three times a day, seven days a week every day until you die. Sorry, I don’t mean to get morbid on you, but that’s the long and the short of it.
But baking… baking is about the irregular parts of life. And it’s a skill, not just a habit.
See, I believe that certain people are bakers, just like certain people are artists. You can be naturally skilled at it, but mostly, it comes from investing your time and intentional practice. Plus, an acceptance that flour just will get on everything, eventually.
When I cook, I think about my mother and my father making meals for me growing up. What would they do? What would they add? How would they enhance this a little to make everyone enjoy it.
But when I’m baking, I think of my Mimi, my mom’s mother. She moves slower these days, but without her, a party isn’t really a party. After all, there’s no birthday without a cake from Mimi. And for the past few years, when my brothers and I have been getting married, there hasn’t been a wedding without a Mimi cake either.
A few weeks ago, I started getting the itch to bake again. I hadn’t in a while, and my Kitchen Aid was feeling neglected. But I didn’t want to go straight for a whole cake, because of the aforementioned brother’s wedding that was on the horizon.
I had gotten reports, which proved to be accurate, that Mimi was making a four-tiered cake and two additional nine-inch round cakes for my older brother’s wedding. I was sure I would have my fill of chocolate, strawberry and banana pudding flavored cake soon.
But I hadn’t made bread in a while, and there was no fresh bread in the forecast. So, I dug up a recipe that looked doable for focaccia bread.
Let me just say this right now. I do not believe that I am perfect at making bread. I have enough humility to admit that this time, the bread came out more focaccia-style than a true focaccia. But there’s something so intoxicating about hot, delicious bread right out of the oven. I’m a sucker for it.
And this recipe was just the fix that I needed, both for my tastebuds and my heart. Mixing together the ingredients on Sunday morning and then getting to take it out of the oven and serve it Sunday night, with a big resting period for both myself and the bread in between, helped me to slow down and enjoy the whole process without spending the whole day working.
Now, this recipe makes two loaves of bread. The first vanished almost immediately after it came out of the oven, dipped in olive oil and seasonings by myself and my husband. The other, we got to bring over to a friends’ house and share together.
See, that’s why ultimately, baking is better than cooking. You can surprise people with cupcakes or a loaf of bread. But try to surprise someone with a pot of spaghetti? People are less enthusiastic.
FOCACCIA BREAD
(Makes 2 loaves)
Ingredients
4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
2 cups warm tap water
1 teaspoon soft butter, for greasing pan
4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
Italian seasoning or finely chopped fresh herbs
Flaky sea salt
Directions
■ In a large bowl, combine flour, salt and instant yeast. Stir well. Add the warm water. Using a wooden spoon, mix until all of the flour is well incorporated (there should be no small pockets of flour.) Cover the bowl with a plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 8 hours and up to 24 hours.
■ Lightly butter two 9-inch cake pans. Line pans with parchment paper. Pour one tablespoon of olive oil into the center of each pan. Divide dough in half and place one piece of dough in each pan, turning to coat with oil. Tuck edges of dough underneath to form a rough ball.
■ Cover each pan tightly with plastic wrap and allow the dough balls to rest for 2 hours (it may take as long as 3 hours, depending on the warmth of your kitchen). The dough should cover most of the pan.
■ Preheat oven to 450 degrees with a rack positioned in the center of the oven. Drizzle another tablespoon of oil over each round of dough. With oiled fingers, using both hands, press straight down and create deep dimples that go all the way through the dough (in other words, you’ll actually be making deep holes.) If necessary, gently stretch the dough as you dimple to allow the dough to fill the pan.
■ Sprinkle tops with Italian seasoning (or fresh herbs) and flaky sea salt.
■ Transfer the pans to the oven and immediately reduce the temperature to 425 degrees. Bake for 22 to 28 minutes, until the tops are golden and the undersides are crisp. Remove pans from the oven. With a metal spatula remove bread rounds from the pans and transfer to a cooling rack.
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