With so many people remaining indoors due to the coronavirus, it has been amazing to see that they’ve all turned to our favourite occupation – baking! Mindful and therapeutic, the process of baking has many benefits, least of all the delicious and tangible results which can keep a family’s mind off the strange times we find ourselves in. So what’s trending on the baking charts? Here are some of the popular bakes that caught our eye when we trawled social media:
Banana Bread
Top of the baking pops is, naturally, banana bread. We’re not entirely sure why, but we really don’t blame anyone for baking this truly delicious bake – not only is it simple and affordable to pull together, but it uses up any bananas that would have gone to waste otherwise. We’ve also seen some lovely banana bread additions – there’s the traditional walnuts, but other add-ins include chocolate chips, brown butter replacing traditional butter, brown sugar on top of the loaf, and placing two banana halves on the surface.
Sourdough
Most of us have a lot of extra home time on our hands these days, so it was natural that with an increased interest in baking came a surge of sourdough! Relatively simple to make (just mix flour and water and allow the wild yeasts to do their thing) but time-consuming and fraught with potential issues if the conditions aren’t correct, sourdough has until now been the realm of serious bakers. Sourdough can be used in any bread-based recipes and is often used in conjunction with traditional yeast to add a tangy note.
Bread
The two most popular google searches in New Zealand at the beginning of the lockdown were Tiger King and bread, and we’re sure those trends are pretty similar around the world. Whether it’s because many were avoiding the shops, or for the reasons we’ve mentioned already, bread baking has skyrocketed around the world – from simple white bread and soda bread, to ryes and brioche.
Baking Fails
It hasn’t all been roses on the baking front, though! There’ve been a huge number of baking fails over the last couple of months – take a look at some of the examples here. Luckily there’s plenty of time left to perfect your baking skills, although I’m sure that many are looking forward to bakeries re-opening!