[incanus77]

Pie is such a gift. My wife died nearly ten years ago and soon afterwards, I took up pie baking, which is something that she loved to do (I just loved to eat it — since childhood I've had a birthday pie instead of cake). I had all the stuff, after all. I got good at it and love to share them with friends at gatherings, or even just give them away entirely. Right before COVID, I did a Friday Pie Day thing where I gifted a pie to someone in town based on social media discussions. One time, someone got it for her coworkers who had just shipped a tough release.

[vrosas]

When everyone got into baking early covid I couldn’t understand why no one was baking anything, like, good. No pizza or pie or cake or muffins or banana bread or even a damn focaccia. The world collectively just decided the end-all be-all of baking was… sourdough.

[malfist]

Sourdough is fantastic, I have two loaves finishing their overnight chill in my fridge right now, will bake them after dinner.

I was baking sourdough since before the pandemic, and will continue baking in the future. It's a bit of work, but it's not too much work and the results are pretty damn fantastic.

Focaccia though, if I baked that regularly I'd have to go back on a GLP-1. Focaccia taught me to read the seals on olive oil in the supermarket and actually pick the right one for the break.

[renjimen]

Sourdough is the bomb though. I agree about the lack of variety, but in its defense, sourdough starter can be used for a variety of other baked goods.

[globular-toast]

IMO it's because it's more challenging. I've baked everything you've listed and apart from pizza (which is also bread) it's all trivial to do. You just follow a recipe.

Bread is a totally different thing. Only four ingredients: a ground up grass seed, a mineral, a single celled fungus that lives in the dough, and water. The results range from complete disaster to the best thing you've ever eaten. It all depends on your technique.

That's why it has captivated so many and in particular men, as you can get really deep and geeky. There's only so far you can go with banana bread.

[The_Fox]

It wasn't for no reason at all though. There were concerns about availability of yeast, which isn't used in sourdough. (Valid concerns or not, I have no idea.)

[dinkleberg]

I do find it kind of wild how intimidating most people I know find baking. Get a food scale and follow the directions and you're good to go and will have something respectable and delicious. As with anything, you can dive deep and go extreme with it. But baking delicious food is not rocket science.

[LargeWu]

For one thing, yeast was in short supply, so if you wanted to bake regularly, sourdough was a good option if you could keep it going.

[vkou]

> The world collectively just decided the end-all be-all of baking was… sourdough.

I can't speak for the world, but:

1. Good bread is really hard to come by in the United States. Unless you're going to a bakery twice a week[1], or your local grocery has a contract with one [2]... Your idea of 'bread' is probably mushy garbage that I would describe as more similar to 'cake'.

2. Sourdough is relatively easy to make. Flour, salt, water, starter, time[3].

---

[1] Going anywhere to buy one item that is eaten or goes bad in three days is a big ask... Which is why this isn't a great option.

[2] The overwhelming majority don't, and when they do, they want $7 a loaf.

[3] Which a lot of people had plenty of.

[sejje]

Well, as a less-advanced baker, I get the most pleasure from baking bread.

Plus, I can eat it without getting fat.

[layer8]

Not trying to gain weight when being stuck inside, maybe.

[1bpp]

Maybe because the large time investment and trial+error in making good dough provided something to focus on when stuck inside.

[el_oni]

We started doing sourdough in lockdown for 1 reason. The shops nearby were out of yeast. kinda limits your options

[segmondy]

if it makes you feel better, we got into baking during covid and never baked sourdough once. we made pizza, cake, muffins, banana bread, regular bread, cornbread, etc. we just didn't post about it online ...

[skyberrys]

I baked a Napoleon cake. It was amazing, took 11 eggs and it was the one and only.

[raffael_de]

well, i love the smell of sourdough bread in the morning

[zippyman55]

When I graduated from university, my dad had just died, my mom had cancer, and there was no employment for a year. I made a lot of pies and got really good at making crusts. Yep, it was always great when I brought in a real pie, homemade.

[Tom1380]

What a tough situation to be in. It sounds like you handled it well, I don't know if I would have had your strength

[ThePowerOfFuet]

I'm so sorry for your loss.

What a wonderful way to keep your wife's memory alive.

[mmmBacon]

Totally. I started baking pies because it was a tradition in my family and my wife can’t cook. To make sure my kids had the family food tradition I learned to bake. Once you get a system down, like anything else, it’s not that hard. Plus pie filling has time to bloom if you make it day before. Pie dough can be made ahead and freezes well. Individually these things aren’t hard or time consuming.

I started making my own simple bread and now I can’t eat store bought bread. Just takes like sawdust to me. It’s not really all that hard. Add a little rosemary and some olive oil and it’s delicious. No need to fuss over sourdough (over rated in my opinion). Over time you learn how ingredients work and what ratios work. So becomes easier and easier. I can throw together amazing corn bread and be eating it a little more than half hour later.