Tough, is your first job
Its been a few months at the bakery, and I've got to confess that I've come home from a shift compelled to write and describe my experiences, yet I've never had the willpower to take up the pen (or keyboard, as it were). All those times were of difficulty, bad days caused by plenty of effort and a healthy amount of optimism, with the outcome being less then what should come out of so much desire and "try".
Its been about three months now, and I have to say, its been a hard three months. For the most part my bread education has been self taught (both theoretical and practical) so adjusting to professional baking hasn't been easy. On the bright side I think I've learned a good deal about mixing, the next challenge is shaping, and proofing and baking. I can follow a recipe like nobody's business, but organizational skills and planning are so much more important to working in a bakery then your ability to make the product. That of course is important too, but it is what sets us apart from the home bakers. A home baker can be every bit as good as a professional baker, yet the home baker has no explicit need for organization, a necessity volume requires of us.
These three months have been tough, difficult, hard months filled with much learning, mistakes, and the consequences of those mistakes, levied by myself and by others. But this is the price we pay for the trade we ply. We can do nothing but shoulder the burden and move on. If we can't do this much, what will become of our passion, our curious interests? I started out on this path because of misgivings about my previous career beginnings and because I believe that, "a man should enjoy the works of his hands", combine that with my passion for bread and baking and here I am.
Through the pain and the hardships of being trained, I think I have slowly and permanently gained some of the skills that success in this field require of us. I really feel like its all coming together now; its hard for me to deny that all this was inevitable. So many people talk about working in a bakery or how great it would be to own a bakery; theres nothing great about working in a bakery, yet it can be fulfilling. Seeing your product come out of the mixer or out of the oven, and most of all, being able to cross item after item off your list of tasks can be such a satisfying and gratifying sensation; it is progress.
It is the feeling that in the struggle is the slow accumulation of skills and instincts that lead us to success.
-Chausiubao
Comments
I too found it a bit hard to start when I first got my job at a bakery last winter. I went from knowing what I taught myself and some info from Zingerman's classes, to having to relearn the "professional" way of doing things instead. It took a hit on me, having to readjust how I shaped the doughs, speed I scooped cookies and formed scones and so on. It was tough, but over a half of year now and going strong, it all came together I feel.
I have to say, I love working in my bakery, it is the first job that I actually get up each morning and smile that I am going into work. Though getting up is more often at 2:15 am.
Granted my bakery might not be on the scale of yours, we do quite a few hundred loaves and pastries a day, nothing grand or to keep up with the big bakeries, but between 3 bakers and 1 table person it can be alot, but I doubt stress is as high as your bakery though : /
I am glad to see you are still going strong though, I remember your post a while back about this new experience.
Good luck : )
I would like to hear more of your experiences for I am planning my bakery now. It is nice to hear from a first person perspective.
How early do your customers come in? My dad had a bakery and since so many of our customers stopped by on their way to work (starting about 6:30 AM) we had to start baking about 10 or 11 PM. Starting at 2:15 just seems as if you have a totally different type of customer or else you don't open up for the really early trade.
It is satisfying but it is also very hard work, hot, heavy and you really have to keep your wits about you to ensure that all is right and if not that you can fix the problems in time. Not easy to do all that.
Also wonder how this job affects your family life. I know that growing up with a baker-father meant that my relations with him as to time spent together was totally different from my friends. Would not trade it for the world but it was very different. All my friends went to bed just before their parents did. In my case I stayed up to see my dad off to work and then went to bed. Also means that there is almost zero chance of him getting to the Little League games, etc. The one thing he always made time for was attending the PTA meetings, especially when there were meetings with the teachers. He made damned sure to be there because he wanted me not to have to work the way he did. Looking back I sometimes wonder what if I had followed him in his trade.
I am indeed still going strong! Theres something about loading an oven thats really gratifying. Theres a groove you get into, where you're constantly moving, thinking, and working that really enlivens a body.
I don't know how big your bakery is, but mine is rather small, we have two full-time bakers and three part-time bakers, but then we serve probably 4 farmer's markets a week, so it gets pretty busy. We probably go through 90 kilograms (192 baguettes) of French dough alone, on a busy day, let alone all the other breads we make. We definitely have more employees then you, it would appear.
I look forward to the challenges though, I can't wait to be competent on the oven and be a more well rounded baker. Right now I'm a human mixer, which is pretty hard on the body.
--Chausiubao
We open are doors at 6 am, we sell what we have left of yesterdays breads and pastries till the first sweet breads come out at about 7 am. We use a sponge and dough method so our actually first loaves of sandwich breads are out around 9ish.
And yes, it's a bit to get used to. I am 22 and I go to bed at around 7:30 at night. I can not vouch for how it affects families.
On the weekends when I do not have to work, I tend to push it and stay up and sleep in the next day. My bodies adjusted well, but my friends do have a hard time with trying to get me to do anything after 7 on a week night. I never was big into partying on Monday nights or anything anyways. My fiance accepts this path and understands it is something I love and supports me fully. It doesn't bother her at all since I am doing something I love to do. Plus, the bakery is closed on Sunday, so if we party or go out late, it's a date on Saturday night.
Considering we both are also in college and she picked up a second job this week, we are busy people. Some nights, yes I am in bed before she is even home from work. It's a trade off I guess. I still get to see her a lot though. I myself hope to continue baking for a living and if I do open my own place, I would work out a method of opening my doors at 6 am, yet bakers come in at 5 to bake yesterdays retarded loaves, then prepare the next loaves for tomorrows bake throughout the day, getting off of work around 3, being the last task is retarding the final proofing loaves. Of course this is an idea in the work of mine : ) Still am young and things change.
Every time I drove past a certain location in St. Louis where I grew up I could smell the fruits of the baker's art and wondered if they ever slept and was always happy for the loaves their efforts provided. I had not a clue as to the time demands that it took to be a professional baker, especially one that had to produce for many, many customers. I've come to understand this as I step into the twilight of my own career and would like to offer this very unsolicited small bit of advice. Nothing is better than doing what you like to do. I always wondered how I managed to wake up at 3 a.m. to go on a fishing trip after a week long trial ended. As a young attorney, I thought I'd never be able to finish a complex pleading, today, almost forty years later, I can write more complex pleadings in my sleep or as I run out the door with a secretary transcribing----your muscle wearying efforts and continued patience and practice will reward you. Never ever forget to laugh at your mistakes, and know that the one you finished is just a prelude to the next one waiting to teach you another lesson. Also, know how much your efforts are appreciated by those who purchase the end results of your hard efforts, those are priceless and, to me, what makes me keep working the hours I do. So, I as I'm sure many of us who are on this website, applaud you. Please keep going, it may get easier as you put in the years, but the challenges are always there. Thanks for your postings, I really enjoyed them.
Bernie Piel
I'll do my best with what I have and what people like you have given me!
-Chausiubao