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I do a lot more cooking than sweet baking. I've never attempted homemade yeast breads --though I really want to try this year. If I'm craving brownies or cake, I'm usually reaching for a box....like Ghiradelli's brownies, or Duncan Hines cake mix. I know...I know...tsk tsk...but hey, they work for me. But cooking is a whole different story. I love it and feel more at ease with my skills at cooking.

I certainly do much more cooking than baking on a regular basis, unless you count bread and homemade rolls (several times a week to daily sometimes). I significantly increase the volume of my baking near holidays, I also bake for our friends, and from time to time I bake non-special occasion treats fro us, especially considering that OH is on the road a lot and muffins or granola bars may be a convenient "on the go" snack for him.

In general though, I've been baking much more than I used to - if you had asked me 10 years ago, I would have certainly told you that I was no baker at all (other than an occasional cake or a batch of doughnuts). I just didn't have the same "feel" for it as I do for cooking, but it has changed over the years. I'm no "expert baker", but I enjoy it now.

Ironically, despite my aversion to recipes, if I undertake a culinary project on my own, its usually something baked and sweet.

Maybe because baking doesn't usually require a lot of prep work with a knife? My knife skills are still developing, and its NOT a joy to use the tragically dull knives in this house.
I'm surprised no one has gotten hurt with those things when you have to struggle to halve an onion.

My last couple culinary projects have all been baked goods, although I like the recipe free idea of cooking better.

i like to do both. i really enjoy baking. i love making homey things like pies, cookies, rolls, and layer cakes. my desserts are rarely very adventurous or elaborate, but i have a small repertoire of things that people ask for.

I grew up around cooking and baking. Was the most natural thing in the world for me like tying my shoes. I often cook and bake things I do not eat but the craving to create is more a hunger than the need for food.
When I am in my kitchen I am in the "zone". I also strive to improve constantly. Improve technique, flavor, repertoire. Go out and try new things. If you see something on SE or one of the other blogs and you feel the urge to make it, go ahead and try. Many of us learned to cook and bake before there was an internet. There was not the audience to share our art with. When you did something really cool you just put it on a plate and shared it with some people. Now you put it on a plate take 5 pictures of it and share it with a lot of people.
It is inspiring what you "Can Do". As in, "I can do that". I am often proud of the Can Dos assembled here.

I enjoy cooking, but more and more baking is becoming more of a passion. I think it's been mentioned by others, but baking seems to be more creative than cooking. Especially baking with yeast or sourdough, as your working with a live substance. I just finished making a sourdough starter from scratch, and I can't wait to give it I try. I ordered a new range/oven today, and I will christen it with a loaf of sourdough bread.

I cook every day, although some days are more about reheating things, making new sides, and assembling a salad. And of course, there's lunch and/or breakfast which may or may not involve actual cooking.

I bake bread (at high altitude) once a week, at minimum, and more often some weeks. Honestly, I think that yeast breads are easier at high altitudes than cakes or quick breads. Or at least there's less to clean up if they over-rise. An overrisen yeast bread is just an overlarge, misshapen loaf. But overrisen cake can end up spilling out of the pan and making a mess. I haven't done that for a while, but I can remember a few surprises the first few times I tried to bake things here.

I bake other stuff as the mood strikes me, but in the winter, I tend to bake more cookies and things like that. In the summer, it's all about the ice cream.

@thereal - I'm at 7k' as well. I don't really do bread so being told to put it in the fridge is new to me. Maybe what I'm calling bread isn't what you'd call bread, but it's delicious either way:

Orange Coffee Braid
5 - 5 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 envelopes dry yeast
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1 stick butter or margarine (make sure you don't use a spread that is in a stick)
3 eggs
2 tablespoons orange rind
vegetable oil - small amount to brush on braid
1 TBL water

Mix in a large bowl - 2 cups of flour, the sugar, salt, and yeast.
Combine milk, water, and butter in a small saucepan and heat until very warm, but not hot. Add slowly to the flour mixture and beat for with electric mixer for 2 minutes at medium speed.
Add 2 of the eggs and 1 cup of flour - beat at high speed for 2 minutes.
With a wooden spoon, stir in the orange rind.
Stir and knead in the remaining flour as needed. Knead for about 10 minutes on a floured board.
Place the dough in a large greased bowl, turn over once and cover with a clean kitchen towel.
Let the dough raise until doubled, punch down. Let it raise a second time until double and punch it down gently.
Turn the dough out onto the board and let it rest about 5 minutes.
Divide the dough into 3 equal pieces & roll each piece into a rope about 28 inches long. Braid the ropes, place on a large greased pizza pan and shape into a ring pressing the ends together gently to join.
Brush the bread with a little vegetable oil, cover and let rise about 30 minutes or so.
Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for about 12-15 minutes. Remove from oven and brush with a mixture of the remaining egg, beaten with the tablespoon of water.
Return to oven and bake 5 minutes more.
Brush with egg again and bake about 5 or more minutes until done.
Remove from oven, brush with a little butter and cool on a wire rack.
Note: I usually make 2 smaller rings instead of one big one. Divide the dough in half and each half into thirds. Roll those into ropes about 18 inches long and shape into 2 rings - place on two greased pizza pans.
Shorten your baking time - bake about 8 minutes, then brush with egg, bake about 5 minutes more and brush a second time, then bake until done.

@joyyy, the easiest thing to do with overanxious yeast is to cut back on the amount, So instead of 2 packages, use 1 1/2 or even one. That will slow things down a bit.

Or, while most people let their bread rise in the warmest spot they can find, put yours in a cold place. The fridge is good if you want to let it sit overnight, but you've probably got a relatively chilly spot, like near that drafty window that everyone seems to have.

@kiwords - it was a few days old from the store. That's not to say it could have been old on the shelf, but I bought it just for this recipe, and the water wasn't hot.

@dbcurrie - things didn't happen too fast, they didn't happen at all. The dough didn't rise even after I forgot about it for 2 hours ... but I punched it anyways because I was frustrated and mostly unsure about whether or not it was safe to just leave out, say, overnight ... especially since I didn't have time to deal with it in the morning. I will try the fridge next time.

@joyyy - no, given what you've posted, you and I are thinking about the same thing when we say "bread." We're talking about yeast-risen dough that's ultimately formed and baked into the staff of life!!!!

What a great recipe - I'm going to print and bake it soon.

The trick to developing flavor in a yeast risen dough when you're at altitude is a long, slow rise in the fridge. Mix the dough, put it in a large bowl, cover with plastic wrap that has some slack in it, and stick it in the fridge overnight. The bottom shelf is your best bet as this is usually the "warmest" spot in the fridge. (It will still be cold enough for a slow rise.) Cold will impede the yeast and the dough will rise slowly, vs. on the countertop at hyper-speed.

Remove the bowl of dough from the fridge about a half hour before you plan to form the loaf(ves). After 30 minutes, the dough should be pliable enough for you to shape, then raise the bread in its shaped loaf for a short time, just enough to puff up a little, between 30-60 minutes. It won't matter that the second rise was not lengthy because lots of flavor was developed in the first overnight rise.

...things didn't happen too fast, they didn't happen at all.
Sounds like you needed to blow taps for that yeast. Yeast is always dated on the envelope - check the date. Yeast is way too cheap to use what might be an old package if it's been sitting in your cupboard. Especially for something as delicious as the orange bread you posted - it's worth getting a new package of yeast.

When you proof yeast, the water should be no hotter than 100-110 degrees. This means if you stick your finger into the water and want to scream, it's too hot. My brother, an otherwise great baker, tried to make beer bread. When it didn't work, he called me. I asked him if he maybe heated the beer too much. He said, "Oh, it should have beena clue that my hands were burning when I was kneading it." (Sigh.) Nice, body-temp water, fresh yeast, overnight rise in the fridge, bake that amazing recipe to an internal temp of 190-210 - you should be golden.