How To Bake With Friends When You’re Miles Apart
No Zoom calls required
It’s been about 4 months since my friend and I baked together.
In April I left the United States to be with my family, and she flew back to California to be with hers. But when we still lived on campus together, we would often meet up in the evenings to bake something and hang out.
“Hey what are you doing right now?”
“Thinking of baking chocolate chip cookies. Or pumpkin muffin tops. Want to join?”
“Coming over soon. Let me know if you need me to bring any ingredients!”
I’m not a huge baker, so she introduced me to her world of cookies, cupcakes, and buttery baked goods. As she taught me why you can’t overwork the flour (the gluten will overdevelop and the cake will come out gummy) and why we need to use room temperature eggs (the egg whites will whip up better), I began to grow accustomed to the scientific precision required for baking. While I’m usually the type to cook according to approximates, her lessons in gastronomic chemistry not only made me a more informed baker, but a better home cook.
We would chat and catch up on each other’s lives as we baked, and then eat and watch something on Netflix once we were done. During exam season it became our saving grace…
