Home baking is a fun pastime for many households to enjoy and even more so for a family. Whether you have inquisitive little ones asking to bake cookies, or you’re trying to provide your teenagers with the basic life skills needed once they become adults, home baking is worth encouraging.
With that being said, here’s everything you need to know to encourage home baking as a family.
Why home baking is good for the family
Why make the effort of home baking in the first place? Baking is a lot more enjoyable when you’re doing it with loved ones, especially little children who perhaps haven’t spent much time in the kitchen up until now.
Home baking is not just about the food but it helps to build relationships between loved ones. It’s a great bonding experience and one that can build core memories in those who partake in it.
With baking, you’re getting life experience but also a healthier relationship with food itself. It’s often thought that baking and cooking from an early age in general, helps toward healthier eating habits.
So how can you encourage home baking as a family? Here are a few ways to help
Invest in recipe books
Recipe books are a great insight for those who want to learn the ropes from scratch. They help inspire you when you need creativity in the kitchen and depending on your preference, you might find you become a certain type of baker with a niche area you find yourself enjoying the most.
There are lots of recipe books out there, with most professional, celebrity cooks having their own books published. It’s worthwhile investing in recipe books so that you have some direction when starting afresh. Why not bake these vanilla cupcakes, for example?
Create the right ambience in your kitchen
When it comes to getting non-bakers into the kitchen, you want to set the scene and have the right type of ambiance within the space. Replace the lighting with something warm and inviting for example.
A kitchen space should be more like a living space when you’re trying to encourage bakers in your household. You may want to open the windows to let in some fresh air and to allow that air to become scented with the wonderful smells of the bakes you’re making.
Buy the right baking equipment
The type of baking equipment you buy is essential to the success you have with baking and with cooking in general. Those that try to bake and don’t have much luck with it, will often lack the utensils needed to do the job properly.
From rolling pins to roll out dough, to loaf tins for baking bread. These types of utensils and tools are essential to making it work the way it should do. If you’re not using these utensils then you’re likely going to run into issues and have failed bakes.
That doesn’t mean you need to spend a fortune on new equipment. There are plenty of affordable options and dupes of typically expensive kitchen appliances.
Choose kid-friendly bakes
If you’re looking to encourage smaller kids into baking, then bake something they’ll enjoy. Sugar cookies or cupcakes are a simple option that will entice little ones with a sweet tooth into the kitchen over something like pastries, which might not be the go-to option for kids looking to bake for the first time.
There are a lot of kid-friendly bakes that you can get stuck into and perhaps you might find a nostalgic recipe of a bake that you had when you were little. There’s nothing like passing on recipes for future generations to enjoy!
Let others take the lead
Finally, make sure you’re not always hogging the mixing bowl or kitchen aid when it comes to making these bakes. Sure, it’s fun to be in charge or to do the fun bits of baking, but it’s also good to share the responsibility.Â
Encourage others in the household to take the lead on a bake or two. For those who are beginners, it’s the only way they’re going to learn how to bake and enjoy the process for themselves, whether it goes well or not.
Baking is a fun activity, and sometimes it doesn’t always go to plan, but that’s the enjoyment that can be had with this type of cooking in the kitchen. To encourage home baking as a family, use these tips and explore the endless creations you can make in your own kitchen this year.
