Barcelona’s beautiful Boqueria market

Weekend baking holds a particular place in my heart. While cooking is always a pleasure, and I enjoy rustling up mid-week meals for family and friends, there’s something extra special about having a slightly longer stretch of time in the kitchen. This is baking as therapy; a time to relax and unwind, as much about the process as the end result. I could quite happily spend a whole morning pottering round my kitchen, thumbing through recipe books, experimenting with flavours, massaging dough and mixing ingredients.

My weekend baking is pretty much always accompanied by music. Carniverous Boyfriend is a DJ, so he’ll spend his mornings sorting through tunes and mixing tracks at the kitchen table.  The result is a kitchen filled with gorgeous aromas and cheeky beats, clattering pans and and a bouncing base. For me, this is the sound and smell of Saturday mornings.

Recently we spent two wonderful weeks in Barcelona. When we weren’t sunbathing, stuffing our faces at incredible restaurants (see my reviews of Tapas 24, Can Majó and Tickets) and wandering round markets like La Boqueria (image above), we were at Sonar Festival, dancing on rooftops and beaches, in forests and by poolsides, the sun high in the sky. It was an absolutely incredible experience, and inspired CB’s latest mix, From Barcelona with Love.

I’m aware it won’t be to everyone’s taste. Baking and dance music don’t necessarily go hand in hand (I imagine a fair few of my fellow baking fanatics think Deep House is something you might find in the foundations of your flat), but for me they do, and I can’t think of any better soundtrack to my weekend.

If you’d like to have a listen, to download the whole mix click here.

My favourite track? Bakerman by Laid Back. Pretty apt for a lazy Saturday morning baking session.

Not to your taste? I’d love to know what music inspires you to sing into your wooden spoon, drum those saucepans or generally bop about as you bake.