Help your team foster creativity and deepen relationships by baking bread
Now booking in North Carolina, Boston, and beyond
Bake & Rest is a unique approach to breadmaking developed by professional baker, author, and food scholar Kendall Vanderslice.
Making bread offers a framework for understanding the relationship between tension, rest, curiosity, and joy in creative and collaborative work.
As a result of a Bake & Rest workshop, participants will be challenged to consider:
rest as a pathway to creative growth
diverse thinking as a source of team strength
the value of pursuing agency instead of control
Bake & Rest is great for teams interested in:
preventing burnout by supporting employee wellbeing
navigating unsolvable problems
strengthening interpersonal relationships in the age of AI
“It is remarkable how much bread making is a metaphor for vocation, and particularly the places in our vocational lives that may need the most care and transformation.
I can think of no one more equipped than Kendall to teach the art of bread baking with this vision of life in mind. We of course shape bread together—but it was an unexpected gift to find my heart being shaped in return.”
— Dr. Brewer Eberly, family physician and MacDonald Agape Fellow in Duke Divinity School’s Theology, Medicine, and Culture Initiative
The Bake & Rest Experience
Each Bake & Rest workshop is customized to a team’s goals and needs, but all workshops follow this foundational flow through the rhythm of breadmaking.
1. Prepare
The day begins with a grounding exercise that helps participants prioritize the lessons learned through the rhythm of baking more than the end result.
2. Mix
As participants whip up a batch of dough, they reflect on the simultaneous simplicity and complexity of bread.
3. Rest
Transformation can only take place through rest, so the group practices 15 minutes of rest as they reflect individually on what the bread has taught them so far.
4. Shape
In shaping a loaf, participants learn about the structure and strength of bread—and why tension is necessary in the breadmaking process.
5. Relax
The bread relaxes and rises as participants break into groups to discuss tensions or polarities in their own work or within their team and how these might become a source of strength.
6. Feast
The workshop culminates with freshly made bread or a full meal as participants share meaningful stories in a customized discussion that addresses their unique goals for the event.
Let's Work Together
Ready to get baking with your team?
Schedule a call with Kendall to talk through your unique needs!