How to Plan a Baking Day
Ma Ingalls really knew what she was doing. While reading Little House in the Big Woods to my daughter, I noticed that Ma had “work that belonged to each day.” Each day of the week was assigned a chore and this helped her home run smoothly. I want to talk about planning a Baking Day!
“Wash on Monday,
Iron on Tuesday,
Mend on Wednesday,
Churn on Thursday,
Clean on Friday,
Bake on Saturday,
Rest on Sunday.’
Little House in the Big Woods
I love this idea! As a homemaker with little kids in the home, it seems like I can never get to ALL the things that need to be done, especially with trying to do the normal things like feed everyone three times a day and keep up with dishes on a daily basis. It has really inspired me to create “work days of the week” that work for our home.
Making a Weekly Rhythm That Works for Your Home
This type of schedule will look different for very family. For instance, I have two “wash” days for laundry because I have a lot more clothing that I’m sure Ma Ingalls had to do, but it is very freeing to not have to do laundry every. single. day. I may need to wash loads here or there throughout the week, but I usually just wait to do laundry on Monday and Thursday. I do not have ironing or churning days because I don’t like to iron and I don’t have a cow, but can easily substitute those to things like organizing day or mopping day. The main thing I wanted to chat about for now is Baking Day! Baking day is by far my favorite because baking is a creative outlet for me.
I think that a very practical part of having a Baking Day is that having the oven on one day a week versus every day helps keep your home cooler throughout the week. My favorite practical part is that I dirty all the major dishes up one day a week, and the rest of the week is just our daily dishes and whatever I need stovetop wise. All the mixing bowls and measuring cups, etc. I typically only use on that one day a week.
What a Typical Baking Day May Look Like
A typical Baking Day may look like this for me: have two sourdough loaves ready to pop in and bake. While they bake, I mix up my favorite Amish Sandwich Bread. While it’s rising, I will make a double batch of these simple muffins, usually blueberry or chocolate chip. If I am really good on time, I will also start using my stovetop to make a batch of breakfast burritos while everything is baking and rising. I pull the sourdough loaves out of the oven, pop the muffins in to bake, and then shape the Amish bread for its final rise. When the Amish bread finishes up baking, I should be just about done with my breakfast burritos! By the time I am done, I have 2 sourdough boules, 2 sandwich loaves, muffins for the week plus some to freeze, and breakfast burritos for the month all ready to go!
You do have to plan ahead a bit to make sure you have all the ingredients you may need or make sure your sourdough boules are fermented and ready to go, or maybe even the sausage is thawed for breakfast burritos. This will obviously be personal to whatever you are making. Be sure to have all the recipes you may need on hand, whether printed or pulled up on your phone.
A few things to remember before you get started:
- Have all your recipes printed or pulled up on your phone.
- Make sure you have all the ingredients you may need.
- Prepare to have things to store all the food you bake, like storage containers, foil, ziplock freezer bags, etc.
- Plan to be in the kitchen for a few hours, so whether that’s during nap time or your kids playtime, or maybe a Saturday afternoon, make sure you have time blocked out.
- Have a plan before you start. Think “Thanksgiving food baking schedule!” If you need to, write out your schedule of order of things to bake to get the timing right.
This simple rhythm to my week has really helped not only plan ahead, but GET ahead in my weeks. I really like to feed my family homemade food, so this simple plan of action of having a Baking Day has really helped.
Recipe Ideas for your Baking Day
I would love to hear if this has been helpful to you! What will you be baking on Baking Day?
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