Baking as a profession?!
Answers: What experience or schooling do you need? Certificates, degrees, other..? Will bakeries just hire anyone off the street and train them?
Well in the begining you are going to be going only on your passion for baking because at the begining it is a lot of hard work and not a lot of money. If you like having a lot of money then I would NOT reccoment getting into baking for a living. If you have a huge passion for it and you do not care about money then that is fine.
If you are serious then go to a cooking school and try and get into the pastry aspect of the school. Go to the regular school and then towards the end of your program you can branch off into baking. At the end of your schooling you will be able to get an internship (non paid) or if you are lucky an externship (paid).
Yes a bakery may hire you but if they hire you off the street so to speak it is going to be really low pay. It is going to be just a bit above minimum wage. I do not know where you live or if you care about money etc. but I am telling you now it is NOT going to be much!
I would say your best bet is to try and get a job at a bakery before going to any kind of cooking school. That way you will see what it is like before spending time and money on cooking school. If you are convinced that you love it then go for it and go to school for it. There is a cooking school in Scottsdale, Az that has an excelent pastry program.
Also remeber that you may be starting work at 3 or 4 am! Also, there is a very good chance that you will have to work on weekends and holidays. Having to go to work at 3 am on a Sunday morning is not my idea of fun!
Do some home work and do some thinking before you get in too deep.
This could be a wise move if you are going on a straight passion for baking. In time the money will come but you best be prepared to make very little for a number of years.
No you need to do the bakerys courses, but remember bakers start work around 4am. YUK
Many cooking schools offer courses in baking and pastry making. It is best to get a certificate from one of them if you are seriously looking to make a living this way.
If you do not have a lot of experience or any training, I would advise taking a class. What alot of people do not realize is all the work that actually goes into baking. It isn't like you can open a boxed cake mix and tubbed frostings. It's hard, it's grueling, it's draining, and it's having to please customers who do NOT always know what they want. If you do go for baking, then get ready for hard work...But on the flip side, it is very rewarding and worth every bit of what you have to deal with...especially if you ever get to see a child's little face lite up with joy because of something you made him...So I say Go For It, if you don't mind some hard work..
But in answer to your question: You do not need ACTUAL training or school for some places, mainly places like wal-mart and stores that mass produce their cakes. And most bakeries will not require anything if you can convince them of your DESIRE to learn, and if you know the basics of baking. Now, your real up-scale bakeries, will NOT talk to you unless you have gone to culinary school with main focus on pastry, and have actually experience on top of that.
Hmmm. Your question has a lot of ins and outs. If you have a large bakery in your area, then you could start by trying to get a job with them. I'd just show up and beg, or try to find a connection. There is also the option of working in a grocery store, doing whatever actual baking/cake decorating such places do these days.
If you are talented, you certainly don't need much in the way of professional training, although a degree from a reputable school might help you get your foot in the door of a good (and competitive) place. Most places will expect you to work your way up, even with a degree. So I don't think the degree is important, if you can prove in advance that you have talent.
If you have no experience at all, then you will probably have to start at the very bottom, doing some sort of prep work for the bakery or restaurant in question. In the case of restaurants and resorts, you see, baking isn't really the main event. It's something that has to be done to maintain the prestige of the place, and to make the customers happy, but pastry making isn't usually a huge concern of most serious restaurateurs, because unless it is a dedicated bakery, baking isn't a huge money maker. There's always the possibility that the baker won't earn his/her keep.
What a good quality resort or restaurant would want from a baker, is somebody with good baking skills and a repertoire of desserts, but also abilities in food prep, garde manger/salad prep, and to take on other duties in the kitchen, such as preparing staff meals.
Now that I have my thoughts on paper, here's what I recommend:
If you have a volume bakery in your town, go and beg for whatever job you can get. You need to practice pastry on your own. Be sure to learn different types of baking, pastry, decorating, sugar and chocolate work, as your budget and patience allow. Study classical forms and techniques, as these will teach you the basic skills and are widely respected--then get creative. Take photos of your best work and begin a portfolio.
Read widely online and off, and learn what people are doing and how they do it. Read professional books as well as those written for laypeople.
Also, learn basic professional kitchen skills, including knife work, garde manger, basic butchering, soup and sauce making, in case you get a job in a restaurant where they want somebody who can multi-task. If you are brilliant enough to do ice or food sculpture or to make large centerpieces, this will help you land the best jobs down the road.
I wish you luck. I really enjoy baking. I have a professional culinary degree, but I don't cook professionally anymore. Baking is a peculiar combination of heavy lifting, creativity, and repetitive work (you'll understand when you've made your first thousand of something). And do take note as the other person said, that bakers often start early in the day or late at night.
that kinda depends on what you want to do . in other words i do bake as a profession. and i am a baker at Walmart. but most (not all) but most of our stuff comes in frozen and we have to proof it and top it but as the other anwer told you it is grueling . and especially at walmart (tons of people and most of them just waiting for a reason to complain) but i really Love my job and do it very well plus i do get very good pay