Bakers are useful members of society. It makes sense that they exist. A society without bakers would not be more efficient.
Bakers are useful members of society. It makes sense that they exist. A society without bakers would not be more efficient.
People could all make their own breads, if they had more times, but it'd require more ovens working simultaneously instead of fewer big ovens. It would also take more time for humanity, collectively. And even if everyone had a big oven like those in bakeries, while they could make big stocks of bread for a long time, this would result in everyone eating bread of lesser quality because bread goes bad with time. Having a skilled minority cooking a lot of bread every day in big ovens is just better.
This is not an ode to capitalism or any specific economic system, socialist or communist systems can have bakers to, I guess, tho the ownership of bakeries and boss-employee relationship between them must be rethought or abolished in these cases. All I'm saying is, when thinking up a new and revolutionary economic system, one must always account for bakers.
And sure, robots could bake, maybe. But I don't think they should. Or rather, I think human-made bread and pastries should always exist, because they create variatons and originalities that are interesting. And if human-made bread becomes a luxury commodity and the common people only have access to robot bread, this'd be a tragedy, so better keep the djinni in a bottle and not let robots bake.
Op just discovered division of labor
Robots do bake. Actually, a lot of the food you eat is partly made by machines. It's how we aren't all starving right now, and why famines are so much less common. As good as handmade bread is, it couldn't feed 8 billion people. We have bread loaves in the supermarket made by machines, and we are better off for it.
if human-made bread becomes a luxury
"artisan" is definitely a thing already. But yeah, not everyone is paying £5 a loaf.
Nice try, Big Bake.
Beware, Wonderbread shills are everywhere.
You must take pretty long showers. I like long showers too
Is it more efficient to have one big shower or everybody having showers at home though? Ever considered that?
You can get robots that make bread. They're called bread makers. My parents have one. It's pretty neat to set it in the evening and have fresh bread ready in the morning, even if the bread it makes is not that great.
A sizable portion of the population have probably never eaten bread made by a baker, even a lot of the stuff at farmers markets is made almost entirely by machine. Kneading bread is not a job that people do anymore.
A real robot chef would be amazing for us bread lovers, imagine your work surface with a pair of robot arms that can make bread the old fashioned way either mimicking a human or doing it perfectly - kneading and folding and leaving to prove then cooking it up, slicing it and spreading a good layer of jam... It could cook other things at the same time in very efficient ways, a good supply of baked goods and prepared snacks so all you ever need to buy is base ingredients - and some you wouldn't even buy you'd have your garden robot process then and deliver to the kitchen.
You'd have a far better diet and it'd cost less, there would be less distribution emissions too and less trucks on the road etc which would be great for the planet.. just get a sack of local flour, salt, or whatever and let the robot cook it up with whatever else you've got - the lifestyle change will be huge, possibly even bigger than mobile phones or possibly even the internet.
I dunno about anyone else, but I still knead by hand. Did so even when I was doing large batches for folks during early COVID grocery issues. You're probably right that most people only, and likely have only ever, had machine kneaded bread; but there are still plenty of home bakers doing large bakes for local markets.
Hand working dough can be exhausting though, ngl. And as my arthritis worsens, I have no clue when I'll have to give it up. But it really is the best way to nail your gluten development imo, and it's kinda part of the joy of the process.
But damn, my forearms were busted that first few months lol. Cranking out a dozen loafs a day the first bit, then doubling that until the stores started catching back up. Fun, but not something sustainable at scale really.
Yeah, that's a good point too actually, it's physically demanding work so a lot of people will find they can't do it just when they need good fresh food the most - being injured, sick or tired is the worst time to have to switch to lower quality factory produced food but prep can be exhausting and time consuming. A robot arms to help could be great in those situations, especially for people who enjoy the process but just need help with one or two sections - I know someone that was devastated by not being able to cook simply because stirring and chopping was too hard on her wrists and it was too exhausting to stand so long, sometimes her son would come and do those bits which was nice but not everyone has that and he could only come on Sundays.
Honestly I just love the thought of the house smelling of baking bread, the bread maker is good but not a patch on when my dad used to make a big soft tin loaf.
Considering how shitty my sourdough came out during Covid quarantine, I am extremely thankful someone else makes the bread besides me.
anyone have recommendations on home bread machines?
Zojirushi. Don't bother with anything else.
Anon discovers that labor produces surplus value
Why does this devolve into capitalism vs socialism? We should be free to make bread and sell it, and earn a profit if there's a market for it. The buyer wants the bread more than they want the money. Everyone wins.
This very explicitly does not devolve into socialism vs capitalism.
Regarding your first paragraph, sure: specialization is helpful for many industries.
This is basically true of any commodity. Almost anything can be made by a person but it almost always makes more sense to make said commodity at scale
Bread, ice cream, cell phones, computer software, televisions, cars, houses, etc all could technically be made by individuals with the right know how but it makes far more economic sense to make them en masse.
It also allows for contributions to be made from team members who have alternative backgrounds. The person who has solely been a baker all their lives might make an amazing loaf of bread but when they team up with the chemist they can learn to utilize additives like sodium stearoyl lactylate and amylase, which are some of the key reasons why store bought bread tends to be softer, springier, and longer lasting than bread you make at home. Although to be fair this information is freely available to home cooks as well; it’s just hard because these additives are typically used in very small quantities (ssl would typically be used at absolute max 0.5% weight of flour) and purchasing them in small quantities can be tough (and in some cases purchasing them at all can be tricky)
That’s why a single person might make a cellphone that looks like this: http://alumni.media.mit.edu/~mellis/cellphone/index.html but a company like apple or google can make the iPhone or Pixel
I'm not gonna lie I love the whole "think about the bakers" statement, because that can be extrapolated to a lot of different professions. But my dude, what about AI powered robots that can make all those different human variations. Being able to get crunchy or soft versions of x or y bread. Fluffy or thick. It'd be amazing honestly.
i see no big scale need for bakers. i think all people that WANT to be bakers should be able to be bakers and get by. but best way to produce bread are bread factories. big scale more efficient.
Sounds like you eat shitty bread.
i like it. most people do in fact. most bakeries here are chains that produce in central factories, ship out frozen and the product is the same as in super markets. there are very few actual bakeries where you pay 2-4 times the money for real fresh baked bread. so why bother.
did you ever bake a bread?
you don't need a big oven and it doesn't take much time. In the age of uber eats, getir or deliveroo it may sound surreal but it's no big deal.
Bread and baked goods in general aren't a staple in all cultures. But sure, point taken. Specialization is often a pretty nice benefit of civilization.