The first time I understood the rhythms of my baking as a form of prayer, I was making daily loaves of sprouted wheat sourdough and sour barley pita as the pastry chef of a restaurant start-up in Boston. I was one month into a six-month commitment in a kitchen environment that can only be described as toxic. At the recommendation of my therapist, I began praying St. Patrick’s Breastplate with every turn of the dough: “Christ be with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, . . .” Christ in every bite that someone tastes of my bread.
When I left that job a couple months later, cutting my commitment short, I once again turned to baking as a tangible method of prayer, both for comfort and for discernment in the next steps of my career. After years of early mornings, late nights, and low pay in the restaurant industry, I needed work that was physically, spiritually, and financially sustainable. I accepted a job helping a nearby church run a small bread bakery, selling loaves at the local farmer’s market as a way to get to know the community. Meanwhile, I began teaching workshops on bread baking as a form of prayer, helping others to experience God’s nearness through the feel of dough too.
Over the next few years, I honed this method by teaching in churches and colleges across the country. In 2020, I added in virtual workshops, naming the program “Bake & Pray.” I’m thrilled to make this method available to a wider audience now with the release of my book Bake & Pray: Liturgies and Recipes for Baking Bread as a Spiritual Practice.
Meeting God in the Kitchen
I believe that all of our time in the kitchen can be a form of embodied prayer, a time to meet with God through the movements of our hands. Too often we imagine prayer to be the words that we say to God, whether those written so carefully in our prayer books or expressed extemporaneously in the quiet of our hearts. But God longs for us to simply rest in God’s presence, whether or not we have words to encompass our need. In a cultural moment of loneliness, isolation, and increasing polarization, this tactile method of being present with God is the balm we need. As is the practice of sharing the fruits of our labor with friends and family, strangers and neighbors—a way of extending the love of God to everyone in our lives.
The idea of baking as prayer can feel a bit strange at first. The simple liturgy below is my favorite way to help newcomers dip their toes into the practice. If you are interested in more prayers, recipes, and liturgies for every liturgical season and baking occasion, then I invite you to check out my book Bake & Pray.
A Liturgy for Baking
1. Mise en Place (A Time of Preparation)
Prepare your workspace and yourself for the dish you are about to make. Read through your recipe from beginning to end so that you know what to expect and where you will end up. Gather up all the ingredients you will need.
As you do, pray these words through the rhythms of your breath:
Inhale: My soul finds rest
Exhale: in God alone.
2. Mix
Follow the instructions for the recipe you are using to mix up your batter or your dough. As you do, continue your meditative breathing. Pay attention to the feel and smell of each ingredient. Watch with wonder as the ingredients transform in your hands.
3. Rest
When the time comes to set your bake aside—whether to let the yeast rise or the cookie dough relax or the fruits macerate—then allow yourself to rest as well.
Begin this time of respite with this prayer: God, help me to trust that you are at work while my hands and my heart are at rest.
4. Bake
When your dish is ready for baking, slide it into the oven. If your oven allows you to see inside, watch the dough rise, burp, and relax into place. Pay attention to the smells that fill your kitchen. Find joy in the creativity of God who made these ingredients to work together in this way and gave humans the idea to combine them.
5. Eat
As you prepare to eat the fruits of your labor, close your eyes and breathe in deeply. Enjoy each and every crumb, allowing your delight to be a prayer of its own, a sign of your gratitude to God and God’s good gift to you.
Featured image is by the article author, Kendall Vanderslice