With limited options for activities during this period of social distancing, many people are turning to the internet for information and entertainment. Tons of new memes and ideas emerged across every social media platform, but the one that caught my attention was bread making. 
TikTok users are posting frog-shaped bread tutorials, Instagram feeds are covered in photos of freshly baked loaves of banana bread and Twitter is blowing up with people posting updates on their sourdough starters. Out of all the quarantine fads that have been going around, bread making is one I can get behind.
While just watching videos of professional bakers slicing designs into freshly risen dough before baking it or amateur bakers trying to bake a loaf for the first time is entertaining by itself, I decided to try the trend for myself to see if the hype was justified. Spoiler alert: it was. 
The first recipe I tried was banana bread, the classic American staple. It was quick and easy, and I got to use up the bananas that had been sitting on my counter threatening to go bad. I added pecans and a streusel topping to make my quarantine bake more impressive, and it paid off! When I posted it to my Instagram story that night, dozens of people responded, some asking for the recipes, others just to say it looked good. 
Feeling bolder, I decided to try something a little more difficult, but still relatively simple: a plain sandwich loaf. The recipe was pretty straightforward, but because of the rising and proofing times, the recipe took almost all day to make. It did keep me busy though, which is pretty great when quarantine boredom has set in. The loaves tasted good but weren’t the prettiest thing I baked in my experiment, though the Instagram comments were still positive.
With two successful loaves under my belt, I felt confident in my skills and decided to switch it up a little bit. After several hours of scrolling through recipes on Pinterest, I found a cast-iron skillet pizza recipe which sounded amazing. After a rushed trip to the store and a thorough disinfection, I was ready to get started.
I spent the next five hours mixing, kneading and rising a vat of dough. During the three separate rises the dough needed, I spent my time working on a homemade pizza sauce and preparing toppings. By the time I was actually ready to bake the pizzas, most of the day had flown by. The recipe made four medium-sized pizzas—it was a massive amount of dough. As the saying goes, practice makes perfect. The last pizza was by far the most Insta-worthy, and the response was incredible. 
The three days I spent baking have been my happiest and most productive days since we’ve been under quarantine. I stayed busy and motivated, I learned new things, my house constantly smelled like freshly baked bread and, most extraordinarily, people I hadn’t spoken to in years commented or reached out when I posted my adventures on social media. 
Baking bread wasn’t a permanent solution to my boredom and malaise, but it was a step in a positive direction and allowed me to connect, albeit virtually, with people again. If you’re feeling cooped up, disheartened or stressed, try baking a loaf of bread. I can’t promise it’ll solve any problems long term, but hopefully you’ll come out of the experience with a new skill and a fun story. 
Marie Plunkett is a 21-year-old classical studies junior from New Orleans, Louisiana.