The Best Part of Baking Bread? You Don’t Have to Do It Alone

There are plenty of reasons to make your own bread. The smell, the satisfaction of seeing dough become a loaf, and, of course, eating something you made yourself.

But there is another reason that is easy to overlook: bread is better when you make it with other people.

Invite a friend over. Get a couple of people together on a Sunday afternoon. Put the flour, water and starter on the table and make a few loaves together.

It doesn’t need to be complicated.

One person can weigh the ingredients while another mixes the dough. Someone else can shape the loaves. While the dough rests, you talk, have a coffee, catch up on what has been happening. Before you know it, a couple of hours have passed.

And that’s one of the things we like most about bread making at Vubetti. It gives people something to do together.

Bread gives you a reason to get together

When you invite someone for dinner, there is often a lot to organise. When you invite someone to make bread, the activity is already there.

You have something to learn, something to make and eventually something to eat.

It also gives the conversation a bit of breathing room. You’re not sitting opposite each other trying to think of something to say. You’re busy measuring flour, folding dough, checking fermentation and laughing when someone’s dough becomes considerably stickier than expected.

And everyone gets to take a loaf home.

There is also something interesting about what happens afterwards. Research into shared meals, known as commensality, has consistently looked at the social role of eating together. Sharing food creates opportunities for conversation and connection, and studies have associated shared meals with stronger social connections and social networks.  

Bread simply takes that idea one step earlier.

You don’t just share the meal. You make the food together.

Try it with friends

Next time you’re planning to see a friend, instead of saying:

“Fancy coming round for a coffee?”

try:

“Fancy coming round and making some bread?”

You might be surprised how much more there is to talk about when your hands are covered in flour.

And at the end, there is a loaf on the table that you made together.

That’s a pretty good afternoon.

— VubettiMake bread. Share it. Do it together.