When people talk about baking, they often focus on the final product . The tender cookies, the domed muffins, the rich brownies. But the real draw of baking starts long before you roll out the pie crust.

Baking can be many things: an act of creation , connection , control. There’s something comforting about the structure of it: the measuring, the stirring, the transformation of a handful of ingredients into something delicious.

Even if life doesn’t always feel orderly, follow the recipe and things should turn out as planned. It’s like therapy, with a present at the end.

“Baking is how I best connect with the world around me -- making something wonderful and sharing it with others and seeing how much joy they receive from something I made with my own hands,” says chef Joanne Chang,

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