Baking is one of the oldest professions in the world and is a highly dynamic and innovative culinary technique. Baking as a profession has become very popular. Since every auspicious occasion or celebration like a birthday or a festival is enjoyed with some sweets in India and the world, baking has been a popular profession since times unknown.
Baking is a mix of science and art, the science of knowing the right way of cooking and the art of being innovative in your ideas to produce different types of food and desert.
Baking being one of the most popular and profitable industries, India is the second largest producer of sweets in the world next to China. Bakery foods which include bread, biscuits, and cake form over 80% of the total bakery products produced in the country. Hence the baking industry is flourishing and profitable.
Ram Institute of Hotel Management, Dehradun offers two advanced certificate course in baking and confectionary. Baking is a career that demands creativity, passion for food, commitment, and hard work. The 3-month course at RIHM empowers its students with the tools to succeed as a baker. The course contains both theory and practical portions to instil not only the knowledge but also the practical experience of baking.
Duties Performed by a Baker
The duties performed by a baker include not only baking cakes or cookies, but it also entails many other tasks. These include checking and supervising the production schedule; preparing, measuring and mixing various ingredients into dough according to the recipes; ensuring food safety guidelines and checking the ingredients for their freshness and quality; observing products as they bake for colour, shape; selecting icing and toppings for the products.
Eligibility to Become a Baker
Anyone who has the love for food and cooking, zeal to innovate and make recipes can be a baker as no formal education is required. However, one should enrol in any bakery and confectionary course offered by hotel management institutes. These institutes offer certificate, diploma and degree courses specializing in Baking. Ram Institute of Hotel Management, Dehradun is one of the best colleges for baking in India and offers a six month course in Advanced Certification in Baking and Confectionary apart from the 3 month course.
Career Options in Baking
Job opportunities are excellent for skilled bakers especially in foreign countries. However, baking as a profession has become very popular in India in recent years. Working as a trainee in a bakery or a hotel can help one gain a lot of experience. As one of the top most colleges of hotel management in Uttarakhand and India, Ram Institute of Hotel Management, Dehradun provides training programmes for its students in 5 star hotels and this experience helps them in become a full-fledged baker in their own right.
A baker can specialize in the culinary area of their interest after undergoing the training process and can become a Bread Chef, Cake Stylist, Patisserie, Confectionary Baker or a Cafeteria Baker.
Working in a small or a large-scale company, all bakers have to perform tasks like supervising the whole production process from scratch to the final product. These are the skills that are taught at RIHM, Dehradun making it the finest hotel management college in Uttarakhand and India. Bakers are also responsible for the day to day targets of the stock of all the required ingredients. They are required to ensure high quality of the food served to the customer as that will create the sales at the establishment.
Pay Scale
Remuneration in the baking industry increases with increase in experience. A trainee or a fresher in India earns an average salary of Rupees 10,000 to 13,000 a month. Trainees outside of India can earn up to Rs 40,000 a month. Experienced and renowned bakers earn up to Rupees 50,000 a month, having additional perks and benefits if they are working in high-end hotels and restaurants. Nothing makes you earn more than having your own bakery after a few years of experience in the baking industry, and Ram Institute of Hotel Management, Dehradun trains you perfectly for owning your own business. An entrepreneur can earn a profit of Rs 2-4 lakhs a month. Most bakers work under a popular brand to gain experience and skills required to run a bakery or a restaurant to open their own business one day.
Take Away
Indian viewers of western shows like Fabulous Cakes and Master Chef have always been in awe of the beautiful and innovative western desserts created by the contestants. Viewers have always wondered if people in India can create such desserts, and the answer is yes. Indian bakers can not only create traditional Indian desserts, but can also create elaborate and fancy western desserts. Terms like ‘fondant’, ‘edible 3D flowers’, ‘chocolate ganache’ sounded Greek to us. However, with the revolution in the baking industry, now our Indian bakers are producing these for us in India itself. Now we don’t have to travel all the way to France to have a taste of authentic French croissants and macaroons, Indian bakers are now making them available all across India.