We see you — people who are doing their part by staying home amid the coronavirus outbreak. What are you up to? Cooking, to start. Also, baking — lots of baking. After all, why else can’t we find flour and yeast at the stores?

For those of you just getting into this sweet (or savory) distraction, and for those of you who may be more experienced, we’ve compiled a collection of advice and recipes to help you in your baking journey.

The basics/just getting started

Baking is both an art and a science. It’s helpful to understand the principles at work, as well as when it’s important to follow a recipe and when you can riff. Start with these resources:

One-bowl baking

Especially now that I’m home with my family all the time, the last thing I want to do is get stuck with a sink full of dishes (and yet it happens anyway). With a one-bowl baking recipe, I can be guaranteed minimal mess to clean up, so I can focus on eating what I just made — and parenting my toddler.

And some recipes:

Find more one-bowl baking recipes here.

Bread

Bread doesn’t have to be intimidating. Given time and some basic technique, you can start churning out your own loaves and rolls without too much stress. If you’re interested in no-knead breads, great. If you’re interested in a long-term investment, such as sourdough, or just a day-long project, we can assist you there, too.

Now for the recipes to put that yeast and flour to work:

Cookies

Cookies are always a great thing to bake, especially for beginners. You usually get a lot per batch, which you can share and enjoy when they come out of the oven or freeze for later. So often they’re tinged with nostalgia and comfort. That’s a good thing by us.

Here are some of our favorites not included in the stories above. And, yes, we’re including bars in the mix:

Gluten-free

Gluten-free baking is better now than ever before. From store-bought blends to recipes designed to be specifically gluten-free, it’s easy to be inclusive. Whether you want to make anything from cookies to bread, know that success is within reach.

Check out these recipes as well:

Equipment

Your recipes will only turn out as good as your equipment, but you don’t need the fanciest gear for success. You just need to know how to use what you have correctly and make some worthwhile investments.

Ingredients

Always make sure you choose the ingredients that are best suited for what you’re baking. But also feel free to explore and experiment with a particular type.

Baking Basics newsletter

If you want someone to guide you as you work on your baking, sign up for our Baking Basics newsletter, with self-taught baker turned professional, food photographer and cookbook author Joy “The Baker” Wilson. Every Friday for eight weeks, you’ll get detailed instruction, clever tips and a recipe for one of eight classic recipes, including Dutch oven bread, biscuits, pecan sticky rolls and pound cake. Sign up here.

Here’s a sampling of her recipes:

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