Becoming a Baker

It’s 2020 and most of us are locked indoors. Suddenly social media fills up with loaves of sourdough and banana bread. Maybe you were filling up your own social media with images of your beloved creations. Or you thought I’m not a baker why would I even try?! Or I finally have the time to try.

Why people don't enjoy baking cover image

The history of baking

Hey there, my name is Sylvie and I’m a baker who has been studying the science and fundamentals of this industry, whilst also spending many many many hours in the kitchen baking up cookies, cakes and other things for my website roamingtaste.com. I’m not formally trained and though I run a baking website, I don’t bake bread unless it’s no knead and I have never made a wedding cake. Yet calling myself a baker, does not diminish the act of what I do, even when I say it in a casual way in the same way most people feel comfortable to say they cook and I fundamentally believe most people who enjoy cooking can really love baking.

So today we’re digging into the history of baking, why so many people feel so strongly that they aren’t bakers and how you can become a successful baker.

The history of baking

Baking has its roots in sustenance and most of its history is deeply connected to bread and is even a profession mentioned in Genesis; the first book of the Bible; where Joseph, was in prison in Egypt alongside the King’s baker. Joseph went on to interpret the baker’s dream and sadly it did not end well for the baker.

In the book ‘A History of British Baking - From Blood Bread to Bake-Off’, Emma Kay notes

The Assyrians, people from Mesopotamia - arguably the first ever civilization, were baking dough in sealed pots of clay buried underground, quite possibly several hundred years before the Egyptians.

The Egyptians developed the first ovens which were wood burning and made from clay collected from the banks of the Nile that relied on heat rising into the upper section of a cone shaped baking chamber. One of Egypt’s primary crops was emmer wheat, which is better known today in the West as Farro. Emmer is one of the earliest cultivated domesticated forms of wheat and grew so well it left Egyptians with a surplus to last more than a year meaning bread was a constant in their diet throughout all levels of society. Egyptians didn’t just invent the first ovens, they are also credited with using leavening of bread through sourdough which has a link to beer and the yeast within it as stated in the book Understanding Baking - The Art and Science of Baking by Joseph Amendola and Nicole Rees

The Egyptians were using baked loaves of risen bread to start the fermentation process in beer by 5000 B.C.E…The yeasty dregs of the beer provided bakers with a reliable, predictable yeast variety that is the ancestor of commercial yeast used today.

As with so much of history, what we know only comes from what survives in writings or art and the profession of baking did not come about until the middle of the 2nd Century CE in Rome as the scholar Pliny the Elder diarized that wealthier families began hiring professional bakers, most of them freed slaves. This was the only trade at this time that was not conducted by slaves though Britannica.com notes that

‘Guilds formed by the miller-bakers of Rome became institutionalized. During the 2nd century CE, under the Flavians, they were organized into a “college” with work rules and regulations prescribed by government officials. The trade eventually became obligatory and hereditary, and the baker became a kind of civil servant with limited freedom of action.’

You could say they were almost slaves to baking. This was common throughout the Roman Empire with writings that survived Pompeii reflecting what a miserable life it was for those within the baking industry and the poor donkeys responsible for grinding the wheat.

Moving onto medieval England, the average person outside cities didn’t have ready access to local bakers and even wealthier people didn’t have the equipment in their homes comes the story of Anglo-Saxon King Alfred. It goes something like King Alfred who after being lost in the woods, before or after a battle, I couldn’t quite figure that out, was invited into a peasants home, the woman mistaking him to be an average soldier offered him some rest and nourishment, but she needed to go out to source more firewood for her fire that was down to embers. She had cakes on the embers so gave this lowly soldier, in her mind, the responsibility to watch and turn the cakes so as not to burn them. Instead he swiftly fall’s asleep and upon her return she had kind words to say to this simple soldier she mistook King Alfred for. The story came about 100 years after King Alfred reigned so it’s very likely the mists of time have distorted reality, regardless, those cakes were a common type of bread that people who didn’t have ready access to professional bakers in more populated centers would whip up and ‘bake’ over a fire.

In a similar way to today’s patisserie owners or bakeries, baking was an incredibly specialist job. Once again quoting from the book ‘A History of British Baking - From Blood Bread to Bake-Off’

Only two companies were chartered prior to 1500 in the city of Chester. That is to say, they were granted exclusive rights and had investors or shareholders overseeing their best interests. One was the guild of fletchers and bowyers - bow and arrow makers. The other was the guild of bakers. These weren't considerable gangs of bread and pastry-makers either. In the 1490s the baker's guild consisted of just eighteen members.

The average person in higher density living, think towns or cities had to use their one day off to go to out and bake their weekly bread at local bakeries because they didn’t have the facilities or the finances to be able to do this in their homes and Emma Kay notes that

The English nursery rhyme 'Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, baker's man', is commonly associated with this era.

The main reason most baking was linked to bread beyond sustenance is because almost all desserts relied on honey or raisins as sugar wasn’t readily available or was incredibly expensive until the 1700s. Obviously there are a few exceptions such as baklava which dates back to the eleventh century. So most desserts relied on what was readily available such as in season fruits, some nuts such as almonds and hazelnuts or cheesecakes that aren’t quite what we consume today. But it wasn’t until the ownership of slavery and plantations in the Caribbean by the British Empire where globalization made sugar readily available to the masses.

Caribbean plantation artwork named The Mill Yard by William Clark

This allowed for an increase in the creation of baked desserts that either still exist or simply delighted people at that time, though once again these were mostly only for the wealthier classes. Around the same time French cuisine was being esteemed in England and pastry really became popular by French bakers. With the advent of readily available sugar, the ability to create desserts became a much bigger element of what made someone a baker.

Paula Figoni shares in her book ‘How baking works’

Years ago, there was only one way to become a baker or pastry chef, and that was to apprentice with a master craftsman. The apprentice learned by doing, repeating the necessary skills, year after year, until the skills were mastered. If bakers and pastry chefs understood their ingredients or why they did what they did, it was only after years of experience. Mostly they knew what to do because they did what they had been shown, and it worked.

Baking in our psyche

The memory of walking into a room as the smell of something delicious baking in the oven wafts through the air is likely something that has left an indelible mark on your psyche. Maybe it was your favorite chocolate chip cookies. Or it meant you’d arrived at the house of your aunt or grandparent, the one known in the family as the baker. If one of your parents is the family baker then you really hit the jackpot.

Chocolate chunk cookies lay on a light gray surface with a glass of milk beside.

Most families have that person who has been around longer than us who doesn’t seem to ever have failures. The one who almost always has something already made and stored away for us to bite into with delight as soon as we’ve gotten through the door and said ‘hi’. We’re not going to think about the time it took them to make it or the effort required whilst chowing down. When we’re consuming baking we enjoy the sweetness, the crumbs it leaves behind with the knowledge it’s not as simple as making toast.

Most of us don’t know professional bakers and though going out for a coffee and pastry is very common, it’s also common to pick up ready made cookie dough at the supermarket or for us to have the basics in our pantry to whip up some type of baked good, making baking available to the masses in a way it has not been throughout most of human history.

For many people cooking, thanks to it’s less technical requirements is a time of joy, like Ashlie D. Stevens notes in her article ‘My Perfect Spring Cake Started with a Box Mix’

Cooking felt loose and instinctual. I could stand at the stove, tasting, adjusting, adding a little more of this, a little less of that—always able to fix it if something went wrong.

So much of who we are is made from the things we’re taught to lean into or away from. As an example from an early age I was told I’m very good with my hands and both my father and grandmother worked in creative industries. My father has been a leather worker longer than I’ve been alive. Within the simple sentence of ‘Sylvie is good with her hands’ I received the message that being creative came naturally to me and I could take to it like a fish to water. Which meant later in life I’ve had to learn that this still doesn’t mean anything is innate to me - you wouldn’t believe the amount of failures I’ve had in the kitchen.

These failures never made me question whether I enjoy the act of baking though so I kept on going and I think this is where so many people I meet and I differ. The amount of times I’ve been told by complete strangers - ‘I’m just not a baker’ is astounding. It’s often said ‘I love to cook and I’m not bad, but I’m just not a baker.’ Baking somehow fits into this basket of if you’re not good at one element of it then you’re just not good at it at all.

It’s easier to watch

We live in an age of over consumption and mass watching…not just us watching our screens of other people doing things, but the feeling that if we’re doing something we should be showing it off for others to watch.

Food is incredibly personal, from the moment we’re born we connect with our parents through them feeding us and were it not for the nourishment of that food we wouldn’t grow and develop. So when people are so certain they ‘aren’t bakers’ there might be an element that if we can’t satisfy someone with our food then that makes us a failure and we most certainly can’t share this with others.

Additionally, if we have to bake something for a friend’s event, our kids school or for a bake sale and we don’t particularly like the activity in and of itself and then our efforts produce failure, it reinforces the dialogue happening in our brain that we are a failure.

To be fair when you google ‘what is a baker’ you end up with a series of results around baking bread. Because this has been apart of the fabric of humanity for thousands of years, but like baking bread is it rye, sourdough, no knead? Baking itself encompasses a variety of things and yet most home bakers aren’t the level of British Bake off to still be appreciated within their local community whether that’s within the family or with loved ones and neighbors.

We also have an endless stream of people on social media who are so successful at what they do - whether it’s their professional job or they do it for joy and often there is terms like chiffon cake or creme anglaise and if you can’t find those in the boxed cake section of your supermarket (at least I certainly can’t) it can also make baking feel unapproachable. So often we see the success stories and those thousands of likes, but we don’t see how many times they recipe tested that cake and the absolute disasters on the way to that perfect image that comes up on our screens of the cake all decorated.

There is also likely an element of not wanting to fail at something. From an early age we go to school and are told the parameters of how to learn and what failure looks like. Once we leave that environment there are no clear parameters and sucking at something can feel overwhelming or discouraging, particularly if life around us is heavy or difficult already.

Also, a lot of people don’t necessarily leave the school system feeling particularly full of self worth or intelligence. It can grind you down. So our brains can connect learning, or particularly failing as something to avoid as opposed to seeking out. When we start a hobby such as baking we can quickly reinforce that idea that we aren’t good at something.

Baking as a hobby

There has been a lot of dialogue recently around people no longer having hobbies and a few YouTubers have recently done great videos on this - Doothi, Ashley Embers, shirashiraonthewall and Alastair to name a few which I’ll link below in the caption. A lot of gen z are particularly lacking hobbies because we live in a consumerist society and we’re told that if we can’t make money with something we enjoy then why even try. Or if we can’t have this specific product then why even do that hobby - whether it’s coloring in pens or the product to make something instead of trying out a different similar thing. If you don’t have a tufting gun and have never done it, consider cross stitch first. Just a suggestion. This is even true for me…I went from wanting to share recipes on my website from what I had consumed on some great solo trips to ‘what is my strategy and how can I niche down’ and it’s something I enjoy so leaned in harder.

The word hobby literally means

an activity done regularly in one's leisure time for pleasure

The essential part of the meaning there is leisure time for pleasure - it’s about enjoying the activity…not the sharing of it with others unless you feel comfortable.

Hobbies are tough to pick up whether its because they are so expensive to get into or they require time we either don’t have or aren’t willing to sacrifice. Add to this the list of baking supplies from tins to types of flour and sugar that are expected in the average baker’s home and you’re staring down at a high cost for something that isn’t considered healthy and needs more patience than you have spare. When we add to that the rising costs of ingredients, then the simple act of baking something can suddenly feel even more pointless if you don’t particularly enjoy it and need to fork out $25 for that tin and ingredients just to make a tray of brownies.

I’m now going to give a bunch of advice because I truly believe anyone can be a baker, but if you don’t want to read any advice, thanks so much for watching or reading.

Becoming a baker

When we speak about baking we don’t just mean something that requires turning on an oven, there are no bake desserts like chocolate mousse, brioche doughs that can be deep fried for donuts, custards that are cooked on a stove top like Crema Catalana or layered desserts like trifles or Tiramisu that require no baking unless you make the sponge fingers yourself. So can everyone become a professional baker, no. But are most home cooks going to become professional cooks? No. So it’s really about narrowing down our mind view.

When we consider the whole baking category it becomes incredibly overwhelming. It’s best to remove the idea from your brain and think about the one baked good you really love to eat.

If someone said to you it’s your last meal, what would that dessert be? Really think about it. What is the texture, the flavor? What are your favorite things about it.

I’m going to use brownies as an example a lot here, but it’s helpful for a number of reasons. Brownies, like a lot baked goods don’t all have the same texture, flavor etc so really figuring out your best version of this helps you specify what you want to create. Write it down, be as detailed in your notes as possible. What makes your best version of your favorite dessert special. We’ll come back to writing it down, but think of these notes as the foundation that you’re building on. Food is both personal and a way for us to connect right, so think about the thing you want to not just make the best version of for yourself to enjoy, but also share with those you love. You don’t have to be perfect at all baking to be a baker.

Now, the cost of ingredients can be off putting and if you’re not much of a baker then you’re not likely to have all the resources sitting around in your kitchen to create those brownies. A great cost saving way to ease in is with boxed versions, they also help you narrow down what you need to buy beyond what’s in the box and helps reduce the amount of time and money you’re spending at the supermarket so you can get home and just make the brownies. I’m going to come back to this whole ingredient thing in a second.

The reason for starting with boxed versions is best explained by quoting Ashlie D. Stevens again

I learned to bake with boxed mix. It felt safe. The chemistry was already handled; all I had to do was play around with flavor and texture.

Yes, someone has done some of the heavy lifting. Not all of us are lucky enough to grow up in families where we were welcomed in the kitchen. Not everyone feels confident in their abilities when stepping inside the room that requires effort from us so boxed mixes are a way to have a helping hand to ease you in.

If you can’t source a boxed version of your favorite baked good or you want to make something from a recipe in ‘Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat’ Samin Nosrat gives the following advice that applies to cooking and baking

when making a dish for the first time…read several different recipes for the same dish and compare notes. Notice which ingredients, techniques, and flavorings are common to the recipes and which are different.

I spend a ton of time online researching recipes that are both traditional and I’ve never tried before so I’ve learned when researching recipes that there are two things you want to look for. Recipes with the highest number of high ratings that also include a bunch of comments. If there is an upvote feature on comments, those are the best places to start. Any recipes that have a ton of comments like ‘I can’t wait to bake this’ or ‘these look amazing’ - ignore those comments - they’re irrelevant. What is the most helpful are comments with specific changes or feedback on the recipe that someone has made and the number of upvotes those comments have - it means people have already made the recipe - they’ve done the testing before you, they’re giving you feedback that either aligns with or against what you are looking for. You want that advice. With a lack of experience it’s always best to make a recipe as is the first time, however, if you see a bunch of comments saying something like ‘it was too sweet’ or ‘I reduced the sugar by a ⅓ and they turned out perfect’ pay attention to that. You could choose to take some of that advice and use less ingredients overall.

So you’ve got the recipe, you’ve got your boxed ingredients, it calls for butter, but you have margarine so you’ll switch that out. Or worse, you have a hankering for brownies and find a recipe online, it’s got a high rating and you really want those brownies today and your local store is too far away so you’ll use whatever you’ve got on hand. In the book ‘how baking works’ Paula Figoni notes

Bakers and pastry chefs require a higher degree of accuracy when measuring ingredients than do culinary chefs in the kitchen. Baking requires more specificity than cooking.

In that same book Paula also makes this all important statement

If a baking recipes calls for a specific amount of an ingredient then it is vital to have that exact amount for the success of the recipe.

So much of a successful baked recipe depends on the ingredients and often when people tell me they’re not a baker it’s because they admit they don’t have the patience required for it. If a recipe calls for baking powder and you only have baking soda on hand, those only have a shelf life of six months by the way, but they’re also not interchangeable. Baking requires foundational knowledge before you know what you can and can’t change about a recipe - what ingredients can be messed with, versus which ones can’t. This is where focussing down on one dish is helpful because you’re working within parameters of what you don’t know and even if it does fail, you’re going to enjoy consuming it and you’ll learn how it meets your standards. It’s your favorite dessert after all.

Baking is always easiest when you come prepared. Don’t try and make changes to the recipe, though if you don’t have a brownie pan, but do have a skillet or loaf or bread pan, a cake tin, use one of them instead. Make that the thing where you’re being flexible without riffing on the recipe itself.

Another thing to be aware of is the size of your eggs.

Eggs provide moisture and binding to ingredients, but the size can make an impact. Most American recipes will simply say eggs, but mean large whilst I’ve found European recipes lean more towards medium sized ones, unless specified always assume you need large eggs.

So do a little preparation, recognize your lack of knowledge and work within that and it makes baking much easier.

We get to the bit where you’ve made it, baked it, let that thing cool and now you get to taste the reward of your efforts. Remember those notes you took before you went down this whole brownie road, go back to those, in what ways does what you’ve baked meet that, in what ways does it not. Make notes, detailed notes - how hot was your oven, how many minutes did it need for baking. Would you add chocolate chunks in future? If the recipe called for butter and you used margarine note the texture, the aftertaste. In some cases you’ll be close to exactly what you’re looking for, in others you might need to make several different versions of brownies. There’s a scene in the movie Julie and Julia, right near the beginning where Julie Powell has had a crappy day at work and she decides to make chocolate cream pie and declares

I love that after a day when nothing is sure. And when I say nothing, I mean nothing! You can come home and absolutely know that if you add egg yolks to chocolate and sugar and milk. It will get thick. It’s such a comfort.

Julie says this because she knows this fact through and through, that’s the knowledge she’s gained and likewise, you can become a baker, by knowing truly what you love to eat, by focussing on making that dish to it’s perfect version for you and recognizing what your knowledge boundaries are.

If we love something we always have time for it, so it won’t feel as much of chore to make it and you might surprise yourself by wanting to be challenged to make something to it’s perfect version for yourself. Or not, that’s fine too.

It’s summarized perfectly by Ashlie D. Stevens when she says

Baking was never the problem. The problem was thinking I had to get it right. But it turns out, like anything, it gets easier when you stop worrying about perfection and just start playing.

The point of all this work, is that the aunt who is known for her chocolate chip cookies didn’t wake up one day and become the baker of the family without failing. If you spend enough time making, baking and sharing brownies with your favorite people then one day before you realize, someone will request you bring them to the office for your coworkers leaving party or your friend will request them for their birthday. They will be too busy enjoying your baking to turn around and ask whether you are a baker because they’ll believe it and so will you!

If you got to the end, thank you so much, see you in the next one, thanks, Ka kite an? and tschüss