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The bakers to watch: from Asia to America, these influencers have got bread making down to a fine art – with a coronavirus boost in followers
- Making bread takes concentration – kneading dough, shaping it and decorating it grounds you when you are anxious or worried, which might explain its popularity
- One Malaysian Instagramer posts ‘to share knowledge to benefit others’, another home baker loves the feedback she gets and that ‘happiness grows with sharing’
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“When I went to New Zealand to visit my sister in hospital three years ago, I got a bag of local bread from a visitor who came to see my sister. It wasn’t the usual bread that I see in Korea. It was a heavy, rustic loaf, and the minute I grabbed it with both hands and smelt it, I felt like I was being consoled, strange as it may sound.” says Mari, a home baker from Korea.
With more than 57,000 followers on Instagram, Mari – who goes by paindemari on the platform – is just one of many international bread influencers rising in popularity on social media.
When was the last time you searched for bread making on Instagram? I did recently, and was amazed at the number of well-loved home bakers who regularly fill their pages with everything from hearty sourdough and Japanese milk bread, to baguettes, babkas, Jewish challah and artful-looking focaccia.
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Home-made bread is truly having a moment.
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Many countries have, during the pandemic, reported a shortage of flour and yeast as people, forced to shelter in place, tried their hand at baking loaves.
“Most people could not get the desired breads like before; others took to it because of its therapeutic nature. Many had time on their hands confined to their homes,” says Ashish Bhasin, executive chef at The Leela Ambience Gurugram Hotel & Residences in Gurugram, near New Delhi in India.
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