A Whole Grain Life

Master Baker— where chemistry, biology, and innovation meet.

You know the stories behind Keebler, Nabisco, Sarah lee, Panera, Great Harvest, Mrs Fields, so many famous names in baking.

Great fortunes have been made in bread. Empires have been founded upon the abundance and scarcity of bread.

You love baking— where food and creativity meet. Bread— where hunger and humanity meet. The scent of warm rising bread intoxicates you.

You don’t make the bread that fills our stores, bread made in giant factories.

Your bread is different. Very different. That’s why you’re a success.

For the last 12 years you’ve supplied hand crafted, artisan sourdoughs along with many other speciality breads, to top restaurants and hotels.

French and Italian Sourdoughs: Black Olive, Boule de Meule, Hazelnut & Raisin, Apple Sourdough, Potato & Rosemary, Russian Rye, San Francisco, Sultana and fennel sourdough.

You started with a degree in Nutrition and a minor in chemistry. But it was the summer work in a small bakery that really hooked you.

After college, you started on your own, worked hard, made amazing breads… within 2 years you outgrew your original building, hired more and more employees.

And now your managers run a plant employing several hundred workers, a dozen of them Master Bakers in their own right.

Your main line of whole grain bread is trucked all over North America. Your most exotic gourmet breads are shipped air express, all over the world.

Mastering the technology of bread has made you far more than merely financially secure. And now you want to give something back.

In your lab, the lump of sticky wet dough bubbles, breathes and multiplies. And not only does it multiply, it grows. Enzymes are released, rich in nutrition. Such a new bread could help feed an ever-expanding population, in a world of diminishing resources.

This carefully nurtured mixture of some of natures finest, yet most simple, ingredients is the essence of our sourdoughs: making the bread rise and giving it the characteristic sour taste and light chewy texture.

You have experimented, grown a new naturally fermented yeast, a startlingly prolific dough starter. You combined and nurtured it from wild yeasts, and you call it the “Father of Bread.”

Based on an old Egyptian fermenting process, you added yoghurt, stone ground rye flour, apple juice and grapes and you whisked it vigorously. Then you let nature take its course.

The bubbly elastic mixture started coming to life multiplying from the carbohydrates in the flour, juice and yoghurt moisture, along with the naturally occurring yeast spores which are in the air. You keep the sourdough starter fed daily with moisture and flour ensuring it will last forever.

In some societies a good bread starter is passed through generations. As yours is intended. But yours will be sent all over the globe.

You’re even experimenting with bread made of other grains— rice, millet, barley, bread to suit the taste of any culture.

A baker at your level participates in a broad range of complex, technical or professional work activities, performed in a wide variety of contexts with a substantial degree of personal responsibility and autonomy.

Responsibility for your bakers, and allocation of resources is the Master Baker’s world. You must have the technical and administrative skills necessary to operate and manage the production area of a full-line independent or in-store commercial bakery.

You must produce high quality bakery foods, with great command of the principles of sanitation, management, retail sales/merchandising and training.

The skills needed to be a Master Baker are little understood by the general public.

Bakers need to know about ingredients and nutrition, government health and sanitation regulations, business concepts, applied chemistry—including how ingredients combine and how they are affected by heat, and production processes, including how to operate and maintain machinery.

Bakers must have the skills necessary to utilize and program computers, for mass baking, with the high-speed automated equipment typically found in modern food plants.

Bakers mix and bake ingredients according to recipes to produce varying quantities of breads, pastries, and other baked goods. Bakers commonly are employed in grocery stores and specialty shops and produce small quantities of breads, pastries, and other baked goods for consumption on premises or for sale as specialty baked goods. While the quantities are often small, the varieties of bread usually are not.

Specialty handcrafted—or artisan—bread, comes with seeds, nuts, fruits, olives, and cheese, which can be included in a crusty loaf, round loaf, flat or even focaccia bread. Bakers can also add a variety of flavors, too, such as rosemary, pecan, fig, garlic, red pepper, sesame, and anise.

In manufacturing, bakers produce goods in large quantities, using high-volume mixing machines, ovens, and other equipment. Goods produced in large quantities usually are available for sale through distributors, grocery stores, supermarkets, or manufacturers’ outlets.

Bakers have the option of obtaining certification through the Retails Bakers of America. While not mandatory, obtaining certification assures the public and prospective employers that the baker has sufficient skills and knowledge to work at a retail baking establishment.

The Retail Bakers of America offer certification for four levels of competence with a focus on several broad areas, including baking sanitation, management, retail sales, and staff training. Those who wish to become certified must satisfy a combination of education and experience requirements prior to taking an examination.

The education and experience requirements vary by the level of certification desired. For example, a certified journey baker requires no formal education but a minimum of 1 year of work experience.

A certified Master Baker must have earned the certified baker designation, and must have completed 30 hours of sanitation coursework approved by a culinary school or government agency, 30 hours of professional development courses or workshops, and a minimum of 8 years of commercial or retail baking experience.

While high-volume production equipment limits the demand for lesser skilled bakers in manufacturing, overall employment of bakers, particularly highly skilled bakers, should increase 10 percent, about as fast as the average for all occupations, due to growing numbers of bakers in stores, specialty shops, and traditional bakeries.

In addition to the growing numbers of cookie, muffin, and cinnamon roll bakeries, the numbers of specialty bread and bagel shops have been growing, spurring demand for artisan bread and pastry bakers.

Highly skilled bakers should be especially in demand because of growing demand for specialty products and because of the time it takes to learn to make them.

Earnings vary by industry, skill, geographic region, and especially— your educational level.

Median annual earnings of bakers were $22,030 in May 2006.

The middle 50 percent earned between $17,720 and $28,190.

The highest 10 percent earned more than $35,380, and the lowest 10 percent earned less than $15,180.

Then there are the billionaire founders of great baking dynasties.

Contact your local college or university for information relating to degrees in nutrition, business, and chemistry.

Online learning can be of great benefit if you need to adjust your schedule due to home and employment responsibilities.

Bread is a staff of life and a core ingredient in the western diet.

Master Baker— where chemistry, biology, and innovation meet.

Bread is essential. The Master Baker is equally essential.

Bread will always be in demand. A life as a Master Baker, built upon solid educational knowledge, can lead all the way to the founding of a great corporate dynasty, or a boutique bakery with a loyal clientele.

For information on various levels of certification as a baker, contact:

• Retail Bakers of America, 8201 Greensboro Dr., Suite 300, McLean, VA, 22102

State employment service offices can provide information about job openings for food processing occupations.

• Related Posts
• Bookmark
• Tags

Comments are closed.