Apprentice Baker

It is two in the morning. The first apprentice into the bakery is already scaling twenty five kilograms of bread flour into a Hobart spiral mixer. The bread has to be on the shelf by seven. The Certificate Three in Bread Baking is fourteen units. Nine core and five elective. The apprenticeship runs three years. A combination of on the job at a working bakery and block release at TAFE. The course covers scheduling, food preparation, commercial baking equipment, frozen dough, finishes, fillings, retail and stock. The day for a working apprentice runs from before dawn. Refreshing a sourdough starter at fifty grams of starter, fifty grams of water and fifty grams of flour for the levain build. Shaping ciabatta dough by hand, dusting the bench with semolina, and proving in linen couches.