I’m a teacher turned baker — and the story of how that happened involves a maternity leave, a rainy afternoon, a very dense loaf of bread, and a cookie decorating setup that has slowly taken over my entire dining room table. If you’d told me ten years ago that this teacher turned baker would one day have opinions about royal icing consistency and spend her Tuesday nights piping decorations onto sugar cookies, I would have laughed. I was a classroom teacher. That was my whole identity. But here’s what I’ve learned: being a teacher turned baker isn’t actually that much of a stretch. Both require patience. Both reward curiosity. Both involve a lot of explaining why something works the way it does. And both make an enormous mess that somehow feels completely worth it. This is my story.
How This Teacher Turned Baker Got Her Start
I taught elementary school for seven years. And I want to be clear: I loved it. Not in the performative, put-it-on-a-bumper-sticker way. I mean I genuinely loved the smell of a freshly sharpened pencil, the moment a struggling reader suddenly gets it, the chaos of twenty-something small humans all trying to tell you something at once.
I was good at it, too. I was organized — obviously, have you met a disorganized teacher? They don’t last long. I could explain anything to anyone. I had a system for everything.
What I didn’t have was time. Or energy. Or anything left over at the end of the day for, you know, myself.
How This Teacher Turned Baker Found Her Way to the Kitchen
When my son was born, I took maternity leave and something weird happened.
I slowed down.
I started cooking actual meals instead of eating crackers over the sink. I planted herbs on the windowsill just to see if I could. And one rainy afternoon, with a sleeping baby strapped to my chest, I baked my first loaf of bread.
It was a little lopsided. Honestly a bit dense. My husband said it was rustic.
But I was hooked.
There was something about baking that scratched the same itch as teaching — the precision, the process, the payoff. You learn the steps, you stay curious, you adjust when things go wrong, and eventually something beautiful comes out of the oven.
Both literally and metaphorically. I’m a former teacher. I can’t help it.
This is the part of the teacher turned baker story that surprises people most.
Bread led to rolls. Rolls led to banana bread. Banana bread somehow led to cutout cookies — which I thought would be simple and then discovered is basically an art form.
My first batch of decorated sugar cookies looked like a kindergartner made them. My fifth batch looked pretty good. By my twentieth batch I had a legitimate cookie decorating setup and opinions about royal icing consistency that I will share with anyone who asks.
It turns out the same brain that planned lessons and organized a classroom is very well-suited to cookie decorating. The color planning. The process. The deeply satisfying moment when a design comes together exactly the way you pictured it. Every teacher turned baker has a moment when baking stops being a hobby and starts being a calling — for me it was decorated cutout cookies.
Who knew that leaving the classroom would lead me here — flour on the counter, a tray of beautiful cookies cooling on the rack, and my children asking if he can lick the icing bag.
The answer is yes. Obviously.
Why This Teacher Turned Baker Mom Started Flour & Chalk
I never went back to the classroom after maternity leave.
The short version: I became a full-time mom, a baker, and an accidental gardener. And I needed a place to put all of it.
Flour & Chalk is that place.
Flour — for everything I bake. The sandwich bread we eat every week. The focaccia I make when I want to feel fancy. The cutout cookies I decorate for every season, every holiday, and sometimes just because it’s a Tuesday.
Chalk — for the teacher I’ll always be. The printables I make because I genuinely cannot stop. The way I explain recipes like I’m teaching a lesson, because I literally am.
And somewhere in the middle: a garden, a family, and a whole lot of flour on the counter.
As a teacher turned baker I bring the same approach to both — clear instructions, the why behind every step, and zero judgment if your first attempt looks a little rough.
If you love to bake — or want to learn — you’re in the right place.
If you’ve ever stared at a tray of decorated cookies and thought “I could never do that” — yes you can, and I’ll show you.
If you appreciate a recipe that explains the why behind each step, that’s my teacher brain, and it’s not going anywhere.
I write about baking — bread of all kinds, decorated cutout cookies, seasonal recipes, beginner tutorials. I write about gardening — small-space gardens, growing with kids, garden-to-table cooking. And I write about mom life — meal planning, free printables, and the honest version of keeping it all together.
No perfection here. Just good food, a little dirt under my fingernails, and the occasional thing I learned the hard way so you don’t have to.
If you’re looking for a teacher turned baker who will explain every step like a lesson plan and celebrate when things go right — you found her.
If any of this sounds like your kind of place, I’d love for you to stick around.
The best way to keep up is through the newsletter — I send recipes, cookie decorating tips, garden updates, and free printables a couple of times a month. No spam, no nonsense. Just good stuff.
Subscribe here and get the free weekly meal planner when you sign up!
And if you made it this far: Hi. I’m really glad you’re here. Pull up a chair — there’s something in the oven.
