A community of bakers

Bakers across America (and London too!) have been baking Ukrainian palyanytsya bread and cakes to raise money for Bake for Ukraine. We are filled with gratitude!

Photo from Mimsy’s Munchies

It was a night of violence across Ukraine: Russia launched its biggest attack since the full scale invasion, more than two hundred missiles and drones. My friends in Kyiv and Lviv and Kharkiv and Odesa spent another horrible night listening to explosions outside the window, sitting in corridors or basements to hide. It is an exhausting time, living with limited electricity, internet outages and nights disrupted by explosions and alarms. But a group of wonderful supporters in the United States - and London - have given our Bake for Ukraine team a much needed dose of hope and light. 

Bakers for Bakers - a network of small bakeries all over the US, was an initiative of David Bauer from North Carolina’s landrace grain mill Farm and Sparrow, which I wrote about in my last post. This weekend - which coincided with Ukraine’s Independence Day - was when they all came together to bake Ukrainian palyanytsya and rye bread, and other Ukrainian cakes and buns - along with some wonderful baking masterclasses, all to raise money for Bake for Ukraine and our new mobile bakeries.

It was the most wonderful sight, as the participating places posted a succession of photographs on social media showing the loaves and cakes which they were making, from Kentucky to California, Saskatchewan to Harlem, New York. One of the missions of Bake for Ukraine is to spread the word about Ukrainian bread culture and traditions, and to see it being baked thousands of miles away on the other side of the world, and by such wonderful bakeries and pastry chefs, was like a dream come true.

David led a day of masterclasses at Carolina Ground, featuring - among others - the James Beard award winning sourdough expert Sarah Owens - and a beautiful many-layered honey cake with local Appalachian honey and locally milled rye flour,  by Lola Borovyk. All the bread and cakes which the bakeries made looked absolutely fantastic, some adorned with the Ukrainian tryzub shield, some with the words ‘bakers for bakers’ stencilled in flour, in the Ukrainian language. I would have given anything to try them all! It was impossible to stop smiling, every time another image popped up on the Bakers for Bakers instagram stories. The world has not forgotten about us after all, Maria said. Maybe palyanytsya might one day become as popular and widely known as a French baguette. We can but dream.

Photo by Angelina Golt

In London, the Bread Ahead bakery sold loaves of palyanytsya at their Borough Market stall, and laid on a half day masterclass in Ukrainian bread making, which won rave reviews from those taking part.

 It has been a long and difficult summer in Ukraine and the winter threatens to be harder still, with yet more Russian  attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.  Until you have been woken at night by a wailing siren, stumbled into the bathroom or the corridor in the dark, listened to air defence in the skies outside, seen the smoke rising from an ‘arrival’, it is hard to imagine what Ukrainians have to go through all the time. But support from friends abroad is incredibly important, and hugely appreciated. It is like having a hand holding yours during those dark moments: solidarity, and real, practical support, when it is needed most. 

Map of Russian and drone attacks, 26 August

I will be back in Ukraine in a few days, travelling around the country to visit some different projects and then to Odesa to see the Bake for Ukraine team. It has been too long since my last visit - but I will be able to see the work being done on the two new mobile bakeries, funded by all these wonderful donations. So a huge thanks again to everyone who baked Ukrainian bread and cakes, to those who laid on masterclasses, and everyone who took part. Thank you for your friendship and support, and for putting so much effort into making this Bakers for Bakers initiative such a success. One day we will all bake together in beautiful Odesa, Ukraine!