Why bake together?

Baking your own bread is creative, sensuous, messy, fun and tasty. Commercial bread
contains unnecessary ingredients such as emulsifiers, stabilisers, fats and enzymes and
too much salt to make up for the lack of taste. Home-baked bread contains only natural
ingredients, is given plenty of time to rise and if you’re baking with others contains that
extra dose of love. Baking together is also a great way to slow down and share time
together.

How do we get started?

Join in with The Big Bake on July 5 or pick another nice lazy afternoon. Invite a few
friends and a friendly stranger. Find a good recipe – start with something easy if
you’ve never baked before, which you can find here. Baking bread isn’t that difficult,
but if you’re really not sure you can ask a friend who bakes to come and show
you and your circle how. Ask around and you’ll find there are a lot of closet bakers
out there.

Who’s the friendly stranger?

It’s that woman you pass on your way to the office that always gives you a lovely
smile, it’s the guy at the check-out who you started a conversation with that you
never got to finish, it’s that person who lives on your street that you would like
to get to know better, it’s that friend of a friend that ‘you really must meet some day’.

What to do while the bread rises?

• Make soup. Ask everyone to bring a vegetable to put in the pot, let it simmer while you bake and serve with freshly baked bread.
• Tell stories. You can find myths and folktales about bread and baking here, but you can also tell jokes, personal anecdotes, urban myths or anything else that takes your fancy.
• Swap clothes. Well, not the ones you are wearing (though that could be an interesting experiment too) but clothes that you no longer wear that someone else might really love.
• Share an idea. Maybe you have an idea you want to bounce off people and get some constructive feedback.
• Ask a question. This is a great way to get a conversation started. It can be anything from ‘Why is the universe accelerating?’ to ‘What became of the Blue Peter elephant?’
• Give each other shoulder massages. All that kneading can be hard work. Deep breath….Mmmmh.
• Put some music on and dance around the room. Great for when you are baking with kids of any age (5, 12, 43, 74?)

How do we keep the circle going?

The idea is to keep on baking and sharing time together, so everyone who comes to
a baking circle makes a pledge to host one at their home within a month. The original
host is invited to encourage the next host (a phone call or an email to remind them!)
and, if necessary, offer some support in the process of organising.

I’ve baked a loaf – now what?

Click on ‘Bake and Be Counted’ to add your name to the list of bakers and watch the
baking circles grow and grow.