Are you a procrastibaker?

When faced with a task or chore that you need to do but don’t really want to tackle just now, what do you do? If you are like a growing number of people, you turn to the kitchen to whip up a batch of cookies, a loaf of bread, or a pan of brownies. Baking to avoid doing other work has its own label – ‘procrastibaking,’ a mashup of procrastination and baking – and is a popular hashtag on Instagram, says Julia Moskin of the New York Times. 

Writers do it to cope with writers’ block, students procrastibake in between cramming for exams, and telecommuters work in baking between tasks when working at home. “Some procrastibakers like to make long, slow recipes that break up the entire day, returning to their spreadsheets or study guides in between steps like proofing, chilling and rising,” says Moskin. Others, who use baking as a transition from one task to another, prefer shorter bakes like quick breads or brownies. 

You might think that professional bakers would be immune to the concept, but that’s not the case. “I used to beat myself up over it, but I don’t anymore,” said  Erin Gardner, a cake decorator in New Hampshire. “I think it’s part of my creative process, and I just need to submit to it.”

Of course there are other ways to procrastinate, but few are as satisfying – or as Instagrammable – as baking. I admit that I’ve procrastibaked when I should have been cleaning my house and when I should have been working on a writing project. Procrastination may be a bad habit, but at least procrastibaking is tasty. Other methods of procrastinating aren’t as satisfying – or as Instagrammable.