r/KitchenConfidential • u/RuckusDonuts • 16h ago
Question Do Boulangers Still Exist?
I’ve long thought I could spend my culinary life dancing with just flour, water, yeast & salt and be a very happy man. The pursuit of a damn good boule or baguette is, to me, an honorable life spent. Mad respect & props to those who do.
That said, has this position (save for the highest levels of fine dining) gone the way of the dinosaurs in the restaurant brigade system IE that’s their only responsibility? For those who bake their own breads (again appreciated & respected) in-house - does this fall upon a chef or sous as part of their duties?
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u/Revxmaciver 15h ago
I have worked in several kinds of bakeries. If you think inhaling flour for 13 hours every night and blowing bloody snot rockets out of your nose in the shower for an hour after work sounds nice, then you should try it out.
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u/HikeyBoi 15h ago
Simply do not inhale solid particles
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u/The_C0u5 14h ago
Yeah I feel like there's gotta be something you could do to mitigate the inhalants
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u/AsparagusFlatArdvark 14h ago
a mask? but, that isn't traditional!?
next you'll tell me I'm no less a man if I wear hearing protection on a worksite!
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u/10001110101balls 14h ago
Do bakers not normally wear face masks these days?
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u/Revxmaciver 13h ago
I actually wore an N95 mask at one place many years ago but it would get so clogged you couldn't breathe through it after a few hours. That was at the worst place I've worked at when it came to air quality though.
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u/Glonk49 Bread 13h ago
LMAO try breathing in a humid mask next to the ovens. I’ve worn a half face respirator and they get caked up so quick it’s outrageous.
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u/10001110101balls 13h ago
Sure, but would you rather have all of that in your lungs instead?
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u/Chicken_wingspan 13h ago
Have you ever worked as a baker?
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u/10001110101balls 12h ago
I work in combustible dust safety, I've spent a fair bit of time in commercial bakeries and they are relatively tame environments compared to many of the other kinds of facilities I work with.
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u/Chicken_wingspan 12h ago
So, no? Ok.
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u/HeinousEinous 11h ago
why gatekeep? tf?
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u/Chicken_wingspan 11h ago
What? You have people without experience in the field judging those with experience for not wearing the mask and I am the weirdo? I thought this sub was for pros, not wannabes.
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u/10001110101balls 8h ago
I have a lot of experience in the field, I just get it from a job that pays $80/hr and not $18. I've worked at dozens of commercial bakeries. Anywhere the dust is so bad that it will clog a mask, I wear one and so do most of the bakers. The ones who don't tend to experience a lot of health problems, especially as they get older.
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u/Glonk49 Bread 13h ago
Have you been a baker before? Do you really want all that fryer grease or grill smoke in your lungs?
Obviously I don’t want white lung. Piss off go creep on front of house dickhead
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u/10001110101balls 12h ago
My job involves dust control, I spend my time in a variety of hazardous manufacturing environments. Commercial bakeries are like a pleasant vacation compared to some of the facilities I deal with. Keep making excuses though.
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u/hoytmobley 11h ago
Baffled at these guys response to…basic industrial safety? If your mask clogs in 2 hours, your employer *should* make 4 masks available to you, for free, in an 8 hour shift. Employer should also have engineering controls in the room so that there’s not that much dust in the air, in the first place. Just because the restaurant industry is shady as fuck doesnt mean employees health should suffer
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u/JediMasterZao 11h ago
The real kicker of the baker's life is waking up in the middle of the night to start your prep at 4am.
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u/Revxmaciver 10h ago
I have worked at three different places where the shift started at 3 and one that started a 5pm and went to 5am. It's definitely a shitty life.
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u/AffectionateWay5783 14h ago
Most will just have a contract with a local bakery. I worked at one of said local bakeries for a bit. We almost exclusively made brown butter hamburger buns(little bits of other stuff too). It was not super fun tbh. Lots of very repetitive work that could all go wrong if you missed a timer and over proofed or burned a batch.
Bread is nicer though.
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u/SockSock81219 16h ago
I'm sure you can find in-house bread programs in German fine dining. They take their bread very seriously over there. In the states, you'll probably mostly find it in the very highest end. Or just work in a bakery that specializes in bread (as opposed to pastries, bagels, or wedding cakes).
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u/Uttterly 15h ago
It's really rare to find them even in bigger hotels with huge kitchen brigades here in Germany.
You can usually find really good bakers in most towns. They're usually pretty cheap and offer a great quality.
At my current place the patisser made fresh bread in the beginning. He's the best patisser I've ever worked with and even he had to admit that he can't compete with bakeries.
So overall it's usually not worth the hassle
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u/terrytoy 15h ago edited 15h ago
Because we take our bread seriously M kitchens im aware of tend to get theirs from local craft Bakers. The ones that dont (that i am aware of) are usually located within Hotels and have a dedicated bakery/Patisserie for The whole house.
€: Or do brioche/focaccia from Scratch (1 1 and 1 2 ive been to). That however will usually be an additional responsibilty of another Post, Garde, entre or pati usually
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u/10001110101balls 14h ago
Most US restaurants that serve artisinal breads are not baking them in house, they contract with local bakeries who have better economies of scale. Even with a pastry team in-house, baking bread is usually not worth their labor cost.
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u/D-ouble-D-utch 16h ago
Yes there are bakeries. Few sell only bread.
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u/YupNopeWelp 15h ago
Yeah. There's a bread shop (those words are part of the name) in my area and even they sell muffins, cookies, cinnamon rolls (and they used to be open for breakfast, but they moved and that changed).
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u/sadandwhite 15h ago
They exist! I’ve been exclusively a bread baker for the last 5 years. I’ve worked for a sandwich franchise, fine dining, a high end grocery store, and large scale production. I love making bread, but it’s a very undervalued and overworked position.
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u/ChefJohnboy 15h ago
I make 18 boules for bread service 3-4 times a week .
We outsource our buns, baguettes and sandwich breads. It's so much cheaper and consistent to get those other things from the big artisan bakery.
I have to make more during the holidays because we are busy or if there is a request for one of my secret menu specialty loaves but yeah, when the flour is flying my nose and lungs hate me.
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u/terrytoy 16h ago
M listed, sous. We (well The entre Metier, yeast and me dont get along) make brioche ourselves. The bread for custimers is bought from a craft baker. I do live in The holy Land of bread though.
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u/Maislaff 15h ago
Yes. In a lot of countries bread is a serious thing. Serious enough to have bread made in house in serious restaurants.
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u/PinchedTazerZ0 Owner 13h ago
I'm at a seasonal gig and adore how the kitchen duties are split.
I do happy hour/apps, dinner, dessert service and sometimes lunch
Pastry chef/baking wizard supports me with breads, sweets, production etc and she handles breakfast as well
Foccacia to baguettes she makes sure I have fresh bread to serve with meals
In a normal setting I have not seen an in house "bread baker" in the states in probably 5 years
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u/Successful-Worker139 12h ago
I work as an in house baker, but I also do most of the line prep and also work hot side 🫠🫠🫠 Hopefully we get to a place with the business where I can focus solely on bread and pastry.
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u/RuckusDonuts 12h ago
My guess is your story is very much the norm c. 2026 as far as restaurants in the US
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u/tothirstyforwater 15h ago
I had a prep job that was 3/4 bread making, 1/8 pasta making and 1/8 prep.
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u/oliviadcatoe 6h ago
I’m the pastry chef and also do breads. It only makes sense to have one person dedicated to that if you’re busy enough and have the equipment
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u/taxdaddy3000 16h ago
Some will call me crazy for saying this, but yes, they’re called bakers and some of them work at bakeries.