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, co-owner

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