Why is making bread suddenly so popular?

Why is everyone suddenly baking bread?

Why everyone's suddenly baking bread

Interesting reading. CD

I particularly liked this part:

"It's funny because only one month ago, everyone was on a gluten-free diet. Now, suddenly everyone is a baker," says Maddalena Borsato, a researcher in the philosophy of bread at Turin's University of Gastronomic Sciences, and a former baker at several of Italy's most legendary pasticcerias.

And found this interesting - I hadn't realised the craze had extended to France & Italy.
In Italy and France, where great bakeries are around every corner, the rush to make bread at home is particularly unusual. Borsato hypothesizes that it has to do with solidarity despite social distancing.
 
In Italy and France, where great bakeries are around every corner, the rush to make bread at home is particularly unusual. Borsato hypothesizes that it has to do with solidarity despite social distancing.
This very odd, as say good bakery every where. I think it because people have lot of time on hands an it good way to bring family together.

Sarana x
 
Hahahaha I've been asking this exact question for a couple of weeks now....as someone who has baked bread for years (we very very rarely buy bread - I make almost all of the bread we eat) I have to admit that its becoming a bit frustrating trying to buy enough flour thanks to all these newbie bakers *lol*. The BBC had a good article on this topic last week: Flour mills working 'round the clock' to meet demand

But actually its great to see people connecting with their food - on our local Facebook group there's also been a huge increase of people asking for seeds and ideas of what they can grow. Along with bread making, cake baking and gardening are all constructive ways of passing time, spending time with (immediate) family, and teaching children about where our food come from. Who knows, maybe some of them will even keep it up when everything returns to normal?
 
I read somewhere that the shortage of flour in the shops is not down to a wholesale shortage of flour per se, it's because the flour producers are geared up to supplying commercial customers in bulk bags, and don't have the capacity to supply more flour in small domestic size bags.
 
I read that article yesterday, and I wasn't surprised. Things like this always bring this sort of behavior out in some people. For every set of a thousand people who bake their first loaf and post it on FB, only one or two will likely stick with it past that. Part of me cheers people on doing their own baking, and part of me grumbles at what feels like people just jumping on a fad (and lumping me in with the fad group, even though I've been baking bread off and on for 15 years 🙄).

In addition to my brother asking, he's now got another brother asking. That'll go nowhere, though I'm going to do my duty, send them a basic recipe, and take pictures of each step of bread-making. They might get their wives to try one loaf, but these are people used to Wonder Bread that lasts for a month on the counter and never goes stale.

What surprised me was my niece, I mentioned talking to her and giving her bread tips earlier, which was nice and sweet, but it caught me off-guard, because even though she's all organic and vegan and all that, she doesn't care that much for hardcore cooking and baking, so she uses convenience items like instant pots and and meal kits and she has a bread machine. In fact, she's told me before that I'm a bit of an idiot for making bread by hand...and yet she suddenly wanted to know how to make bread by hand. :laugh:
 
Hahahaha I've been asking this exact question for a couple of weeks now....as someone who has baked bread for years (we very very rarely buy bread - I make almost all of the bread we eat) I have to admit that its becoming a bit frustrating trying to buy enough flour thanks to all these newbie bakers *lol*. The BBC had a good article on this topic last week: Flour mills working 'round the clock' to meet demand

But actually its great to see people connecting with their food - on our local Facebook group there's also been a huge increase of people asking for seeds and ideas of what they can grow. Along with bread making, cake baking and gardening are all constructive ways of passing time, spending time with (immediate) family, and teaching children about where our food come from. Who knows, maybe some of them will even keep it up when everything returns to normal?

Wife couldn't buy seeds from her source, panic buying. Hell we have our own garden, seems everyone else wants one now.

Russ
 
Wife couldn't buy seeds from her source, panic buying. Hell we have our own garden, seems everyone else wants one now.

Russ
Luckily we bought most of our seeds in the autumn via our allotment society, there were just one or two varieties we couldn't get from them and which we were planning on trying to find in a garden centre. Obviously that plan didn't work out but I managed to find them online (after queuing to get on a seed website!), but it wouldn't have been the end of the world if we hadn't managed to get hold of them.
 
I thought the growth in popularity of home bread making was all to do with people buying up all the bread in the shops. Fortunately we have not run out of bread during this pandemic, because I just wouldn't have time to bake the amount of bread we would need
 
After suffering an allergic reaction to something that was obviously contained in a loaf of bread that we had bought from our local bakery, I asked the manager for a breakdown of the content to see if I could identify what may have caused my reaction, the loaf of bread in question was pre packed dough and was baked in the bakery on site so it took a number of days to be furnished with the ingedients.
When I saw them I was horrified at what went into the loaf, I am surprised that people do not glow in the dark given the long list of additives!

So from October 25th 2018 I began to make my own bread, and as a family we have not bought bread since that date, my bread consists of strong white breadmaking flour, active dried yeast, Himalayan fine pink salt, vitamin "c" powder and pre boiled and cooled water.
I can therefore understand why some people have returned to making their own bread, I have certainly never looked back and have developed a small repertoire of alternatives, for soft or crusty baps, sandwich rolls, and all can be either white or wholemeal or indeed 50% of each.

As for the flour shortage I use a wholesale warehouse and have no problem in sourcing 16kg bags of any type of flour, albeit at the present time restricted to one bag per visit, but that is fine for our families needs. So, for anyone wishing to make the leap of faith and return to good wholesome fresh bread, can I say it is a highly recommended form of sustenance as well as the process being very relaxing and therapeutic, and as the saying goes. "Bread is still the staff of life!"
 
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I am afraid not, however since embarking on making my own bread I have never suffered any form of allergic reaction, and it will soon have been one year and seven months since I stopped buying bread.
 
I am afraid not, however since embarking on making my own bread I have never suffered any form of allergic reaction, and it will soon have been one year and seven months since I stopped buying bread.

That is good. You must post your bread photos in Today's Bread if you can. We would love to see.
 
I know were I live there is a shortage of flour because of covid-19. So I think people are bored for the same reason and there is a little panic that has set in.
 
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