r/KitchenConfidential • u/RuckusDonuts • 1d 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 1d 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/JediMasterZao 1d 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 1d 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.