To bake means to cook food using dry heat in an oven. When you bake cookies, bread, or a cake, you mix the ingredients and then place them in a hot oven, where the steady heat transforms them from batter or dough into something delicious. The heat comes from all around, cooking the food evenly.

Baking is different from other cooking methods. Frying uses hot oil, boiling uses water, and grilling uses direct flame. Baking uses the trapped heat inside an oven, which is why baked goods like muffins rise and get golden-brown on the outside while staying soft inside.

People have been baking for thousands of years. Ancient Egyptians baked bread in clay ovens, and today we still use the same basic principle, just with modern ovens. Baking requires precision: too much flour and your cookies turn out dry, too little baking time and your cake stays gooey in the middle.

The word can also describe something exposed to intense heat from the sun. After hours at the beach, you might say you've been baking in the sun. When summer temperatures soar, sidewalks and cars bake in the heat.