Baking is not simply about doughs and flours. Your rolling pins probably know that more than you do!

Truly, it is a great pleasure to engage in activities that relax your mind and body while you set aside for a bit the responsibilities that make your head ache. Baking is one of them. Many people consider it as their stress-buster because they get to veer away from negativities and problems even for the moment. What’s more, baking becomes a delightful recreation for a lot of families.  

Indeed, baking has positive therapeutic effects, enhancing one’s mental well-being and relieving emotional distresses; it also has great benefits in terms of strengthening relationships and bonds. These are just some of the reasons why many people choose to become professional bakers or consider baking as their favorite hobby. 

But what’s extra amazing about baking is that its goodness does not just end there and definitely is not over after the baked goods are cooked! Know that baking teaches meaningful life aspects and lessons to those who bake. Yes, these are virtues that will make you grow into a wiser person and not only into a better baker!

Discover these 5 essential values that baking teaches you beyond kitchens. Read on!

1 – DISCIPLINE

Many bakers choose to go with their gut feelings when it comes to measurements, however, most of them are already trained experts at what they do; that’s why they do that. But keep in mind that before all baking pros become the masters that they are, they can never skip learning about discipline. 

In baking, there’s an orderly method to be followed, or else, you will end up failing at your attempt of producing certain goods. Recipe books and how-to-bake tutorials contain the list of ingredients and the step-by-step baking system. This teaches you the importance of obeying the proper processes in order to succeed at something. It makes you realize that you cannot simply ignore even the littlest of details. 

The discipline that baking teaches you can be significantly applied in life because at times, you want to overtake and hop over some steps to accomplishing something, yet that’s not the best way to obtain the best results! Baking improves how you follow directions, respect rules and accept instructions wholeheartedly and cheerfully.

2 – PATIENCE

If you are looking for an activity that hugely requires patience and augments the same, baking has to be among the top options! 

Buying a box of chocolate cookies is easy. Picking up a pack of croissants is effortless. Ordering a delectable strawberry shortcake is without hassle. All these can be done in just a few minutes or even in an instant, but baking them yourself lets you wait a bit more.

You will need an ample amount of flour, chocolate chips, brown sugar, baking soda, eggs and more you’d want to add to your chocolate chip cookies. Dry yeast, bread flour, vegetable oil, sugar, butter, milk and more you will have to buy for your croissant. Cake flour, cream cheese, sour cream, strawberries and more, you will need to purchase them for your homemade strawberry cake.

And that, listing and buying the ingredients, is just a part of the beginning of the whole baking process. Not to mention, some pastries take an entire day or overnight before completion. Even when you want to finish and eat them already, you inevitably have to wait for hours or days first for them to be perfectly edible!

Don’t forget ingredients

Sometimes, you forget to add a particular ingredient and realize it only after a few minutes. A cup of bread flour drops to the ground. Your cookie cutter gets broken in the middle of shaping your almost-done cookies. You accidentally bump into the hot pot of vanilla cream. It’s your tenth attempt of making the brownies more moist. These are just some familiar scenarios that make people who bake scratch their head in frustration or annoyance, yet they need to continue and be patient. 

Baking tremendously teaches the value of patience both in waiting and in accepting some hurdles that may happen during the process before doing something to fix them. You may get a little grumpy or even disappointed for a short while, but you have to keep going until you triumph. 

3 – RESOURCEFULNESS 

Many people are hesitant to try baking because of the demands of this activity, especially in terms of finances. It can’t be denied that most baking ingredients, apparatus and machines are quite expensive. 

That’s true, but baking also enlightens you that it’s not just for those who are well-off and wealthy. It teaches you about resourcefulness! 

There are times when you can use an alternative for actual icing pipes. You may use an ordinary transparent plastic, punch a hole at the pointy end and tightly lock the open end with a rubber band. When bread flour is not available at the nearby baking supplies store, you may think of another way to cook your cheese breads using the all-purpose flour they sell. 

Resourcefulness is a clever value that baking teaches. You cannot simply give up when the resources you have are insufficient or inefficient or when you can’t find them. You can be creative and practical utilizing what you have or crafting a different yet relevant use for them if they’re not exactly what you’re searching for. With this, you will not waste things and time, and you are driven to think out of the box too!

4 – CLEANLINESS

Baking makes more mess than mere cooking. It teaches you how cleanliness is substantial in the kitchen and generally, in life. 

Commonly, it’s impossible to see a used baking counter that’s clean, without a hint of flour, dough, sugar and other innumerable grained ingredients. With none of their remnants, did you even bake?

Sanitation and hygiene are crucial in baking. The baking area must be free from dirt. Baking tools and equipment should be washed thoroughly. Bakers must be clean and healthy from head to toe, internally and externally. All these are necessary for the finished confections to be safe from contamination. Food must always be clean, so people who make food must be the same!

Besides that, baking teaches that cleanliness is chief in the beginning, in the middle and in the end of the complete formula. The mess you made, clean it up! Start clean. Bake clean. Finish clean. 

5 – GENEROSITY

You probably did not expect to find this one in this list, did you? Baking teaches you generosity. In what way? 

As mentioned earlier, baking has become not only a solo pastime that individuals enjoy but also a group leisure for families. It emphasizes how sharing your time with your family and loved ones is priceless that even a seemingly simple kitchen doing can bring you closer together. You become more generous with your time by spending it baking with the people dear to you. 

And of course, baked chows are thrice much better when eaten with others and tasted by your chums! The beauty of baking does not end when you bring out the pastries from the oven or after decorating them. It continues to the joy of giving them away for people to munch on and enjoy! How heartwarming it is to hear and see them excited and happy being able to take a bite from your specially made with love baked goodies!

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BEYOND KITCHENS

Baking is an art that happens in the kitchen, and you are the artist. But at the same time, baking can be the artist too. It can bring out your artistic juices and can enhance your personality and character in the humblest ways!  

Planning to bake soon? Do not hesitate! Take pleasure in the fantastic fun and in the essential values that baking teaches people beyond kitchens!