What Pretzel Baking Taught Me About Patience, Life & Trying New Things
I’ve always been a good cook… but baking?
Yeah, that’s where things usually go sideways when I try new recipies.
Still, learning to bake better has been on my bucket list forever. So when I saw that Sophie Sadler from Dirndl Kitchen offered a German pretzel baking course, I signed up immediately. I mean… it’s my culture, it’s my heritage, and honestly, I’ve missed good pretzels. Like, real ones.
And here’s what I’ve learned about baking, patience, and life over the past month:
1. Having a mentor makes it feel way less scary.
Have you ever tried a recipe from the internet only to end up with a sad, doughy disappointment that looks nothing like the picture?
You spent time, money, and emotional energy when you could’ve just folded laundry instead? Same.
But having a mentor who actually knows what they’re doing?
Life-changing.
Sophie was available for questions, feedback, and reassurance when my dough had a meltdown (or when I did). Plus, the community of other bakers made the whole thing feel fun instead of intimidating.
Did I nail it right away? Absolutely not.
Did I feel supported through it? 100%.
Sometimes, you just need someone who has been there before to help you learn faster and fail more gracefully.
2. Good things take time. Yes, especially sourdough.
I know sourdough became everyone’s personality trait in 2020… and here I am showing up fashionably late.
But better late than never, right?
In one module, we had to make a sourdough starter. Mine sat there like a stubborn little blob for 10 days. Nothing.
I researched, watched YouTube, tried different techniques… and on day 11, it finally doubled. I almost screamed.
My first three batches were tasty but dense — zero fluff, all personality.
I had to learn to read the dough, to slow down, to actually pay attention instead of rushing.
And batch four? Perfection.
Life lesson:
Sometimes growth is happening even when you can’t see it.
Be patient, your rise is coming.
3. When things go wrong, get creative.
One day, I followed the recipe perfectly — and still ended up with stiff dough that refused to roll into pretzels.
Old me would’ve tossed it.
New baker me said: Let’s improvise.
So I made little braids instead.
They baked beautifully, tasted amazing, and I called them “Martin’s Braids.”
(Originally meant to be “Martin’s Pretzels,” but we don’t have to talk about that 😅)
Moral of the story:
Sometimes your plan A doesn’t work… but plan B ends up just fine.
4. Baking is a life skill — and so is starting something new.
This pretzel journey reminded me that learning new skills, being uncomfortable, failing forward, and trying again are essential — not just in the kitchen but in entrepreneurship and life.
Building a business takes the same ingredients:
patience
practice
a willingness to mess up
and the belief that there’s room for all of us to grow
I’m a big believer in abundance — in life, in creativity, in opportunities.
Every new skill you learn adds to that abundance.
Every time you try again, you rise a little more.
So yes… I signed up to learn pretzel baking.
But I ended up learning courage, patience, curiosity, creativity — and a whole lot about trusting the process.
And honestly?
My inner German is very proud.