Blogger Maria Baradel was trying to save time on a flight from the US to Spain, so she decided to record herself baking sourdough bread during the flight. After the commercial airline rudely refused to provide an oven, she recorded the entire process of baking the bread. She posted it to her Instagram Reels, where it went viral and the backlash began.
In the video, Baradel can be seen sitting at a window seat, mixing water, starter, and flour in a bowl as fluffy clouds roll in outside. She mixed, kneaded, and let the dough rise on a tray table. The idea was to surprise her sister with fresh dough ready to be baked as soon as she got off the plane, but it was also a way to earn some internet points—because why would she do something so weird and subversive if she didn’t want likes?
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The video quickly gained a million views and generated a flood of very angry people, with some commenters arguing that preparing food in an enclosed space like an airplane could pose a health risk to passengers with gluten allergies, or more likely, to those who ate the bread.
One commenter who identified herself as a flight attendant said she’s seen passengers clip their toenails on their tray tables and others vomit on them. You can disinfect the cabin as much as you want, but a plane is basically a public bus in the sky. Would you want to make soft, moist bread dough on a public bus? Probably not.
As is typical in these minor controversies, Baradel apologized. She acknowledged that the stunt probably wasn’t the best idea. She said she was inspired by a social media trend of cooking meals in totally unusual places, like the woman who cooked a seafood boil in a Tesla.
Like any respectable person, you can make bread at home any time.
