Teaching others
I was reminded recently how much fun it can be to pass on my excitement about baking to others. I have one friend who read the NYT no knead bread article and got very excited. He started baking a lot. I gave him some of my starter and helped him adapt the recipe to it, and he has been going strong ever since. He has talked a few times about wanting to try other methods, but hasn't made the leap yet.
Yesterday I had a friend ask me for a brioche recipe because she wanted to bake her mother a birthday present. I loaned her BBA and helped her pick out a couple of medium brioche pans. She has never baked bread before. She called me with a couple questions last night, and came in to work this morning with some really good brioche and a huge smile on her face. I told her to keep the book for a while and try some of the other recipes.
There is something really satisfying about passing on my love of baking and seeing the excitement I felt in somebody else. It has gotten to the point that a number of my friends will call me out of the blue with baking questions, often in the middle of a project. Anybody else had a fun teaching others to bake?