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After all, baking a beautifuil, tall, airy ''baba'' was one of the most demanding tasks Polish home cooks ever had to face. Great care was needed to prevent the cake from sinking or browning a little too much. A housewife who aimed for the perfect ''baba'' had to start by choosing the best ingredients – high quality wheat flour, good beer yeast and fresh butter. The oven had to be heated as much as possible, so that it could keep a constant temperature for a long time. The moulds had to be perfectly clean before being filled with dough and popped into the oven. Then came the almost magical practices whose goal was to prevent the ''baba'' from getting cold and falling. Doors and windows were sealed to avoid draftsdraughts, women walked on their toes and talked in whispers when close to the oven, and finally, the ''baba'' was gently placed on down pillows for cooling. And of course, no men were allowed in the kitchen; the baking of a ''baba'' was a ''baby''-only affaire.<ref>{{Cyt

[[File:Michał Elwiro Andriolli, Kłopoty wielkanocne.jpg|thumb|These ''baby'' (women) have let a man inside the kitchen and now their ''baba'' (cake) has flopped.]]W każdym razie słowo „baba” w&nbsp;znaczeniu „ciasto” pojawiło się w&nbsp;polszczyźnie już co najmniej XVII&nbsp;wIn any case, the word ''baba'' was used in the sense of "yeast cake" at least as early as the 17th century.<ref>{{Cyt

}}</ref> Oto na przykład opis święconego na dworze książąt Sapiehów za panowania króla Władysława Here, for example, is a description of an Easter breakfast, supposedly celebrated at the court of Prince Sapieha during the reign of King Vladislav IV (panr. 1633–1648, długo zanim Leszczyński pojawił się na świecie), gdzie bab nie mogło zabraknąćlong before Stanislas was even born: