Bakers produce bread and bread-based products, while pastry chefs make cakes and sweets. Baking bread requires skill and precision, and was historically important for providing food to communities. Modern bakers work in factories, restaurants, or artisanal bakeries, producing high-quality bread and other baked goods.
A baker is a culinary professional who produces bread and bread-based products. In traditional kitchens, there is a dividing line between bakers, who produce bread and some related products such as bread, and pastry chefs, who are responsible for cakes, pies and other sweets. This clean separation still exists in some high-end or very traditional restaurants, but many bakers produce bread and pastries.
Baking bread was very important in ancient and medieval times. Leavened bread is a staple in many Western diets and has been around for many centuries. The process of making and baking bread is complicated, however, it requires professional skill and some degree of infrastructure. Unlike many other culinary tasks, baking bread requires precise measurements and careful timing. In modern kitchens, recipes and measurements can replace skill and knowledge, but this was not the case in the ancient or medieval worlds.
In ancient times, a baker would normally produce bread for an entire village or neighborhood. In many cases, the provision of bread was a critical government function. Rome maintained civil order through the use of cheap Egyptian grain that the city’s bakers made into food for the masses. Access to subsidized bread was an essential privilege in the Byzantine Empire. The state’s failure to control bread prices was one of the main causes of the French Revolution.
However, most modern bakers do not work for governments, but for large factories, restaurants or artisanal bakeries. Much of the bread consumed in the western world is produced on an industrial scale. A baker must still oversee this process, but bakers working in these factories must have many of the skills of an industrial engineer, as well as those of a traditional baker.
Restaurants employ many bakers as warm bread – particularly fresh, hand-made bread – remains very popular with customers. A baker working at a smaller restaurant might also produce all of the other baked goods used by that restaurant, including pies, cookies, and cakes. Very small restaurants can simply ask their cooks to bake bread throughout the day, as their schedules allow.
Artisan bakeries have always been popular in Europe and have gained popularity in the United States. A baker’s work in such an establishment usually focuses on creating high-quality bread, often in special varieties. This type of baker will produce breads that are hand-kneaded, carefully flavored with a sourdough starter, or prepared using less common grains or recipes. Artisan bakeries will also produce more typical types of bread, but of high quality.
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