| Baker |
July 31, 2017
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| He was a baker. When he was a student, he didn't like to study. Art & Design and Home Economics were the only subjects he liked to study. In Home Economics, he especially liked cooking. When he graduated from his high school, he thought about what he should become, an artist or a cook. His parents really recommended for him to be a cook, saying if he became a cook, he could use his sense of art for dishes; but, if he became an artist, he couldn't use his skill of cooking for art. He didn't understand this logic, but he followed his parents' advice because he knew they were worried about his future. He studied cooking at a cooking school for three years. At school, he got interested in baking bread. He didn't know why bread attracted him. He felt that kneading and baking bread was like pottery. It was very hard work to  knead dough many times, and repeat the fermentation process. He often remained long hours in the kitchen area of the school and made bread. The teachers let him go. After his graduation from school, he worked as an apprentice at a middle sized bakery. While there he worked hard from early morning till night. He baked various types of bread like white bread, rye bread, baguettes, bagels, donuts, pastries, croissants, even pizzas. He also studied about the bakery business. After five years, he decided to be independent. The bakery owner said that if he wanted, the owner could start another bakery for him to operate because he was a hard worker and the owner liked him. But he politely declined. He had an idea. He started to find a building for his bakery. Finally he found a small house for rent in the suburbs, which was located at the edge of the forest. He renovated it and started his bakery. His strategy was this. He insisted on plain types of bread, white bread, rye bread, baguettes, and bagels. People eat this type of bread every day. He wanted to offer them the best bread. He especially wanted to make the ultimate tasting white bread. He thought that simple was best. He thought that this location affected well for making good bread as well as making a good image for customers. But it didn't work. Having a bakery in the suburbs was challenging. People eat bread every day so bakeries should be close to cities like supermarkets. His 'plain' strategy was also difficult. In modern society, people's likings differed. Children didn't like to eat standard bread like white bread. They liked cream buns, chocolate buns, doughnuts, and so on. He didn't bake this type of bread. For cost reasons, he had to use normal flour and yeast from a big food supplier. Although he worked hard every day to aim for his ultimate tasty bread, his bread was somehow plain, not so different from other bakeries. Once, a local TV broadcasted about his bakery. And then, a local food magazine wrote about his bakery. The number of the customers increased after that, but it wasn't stable. On this day, it had been about five years since he opened his bakery, a middle aged woman came into his shop. She was one of the few regular customers. She had said that she liked his white bread and she ate toasted bread every day. He was very glad to hear it. On this day she said, "I have eaten this bread every day so I didn't realized this. Recently my sister came to my house and she said that this white bread has become rather tastier than before. Did you change something?" He said no. After she left, he ate a piece of his white bread. It seemed the same as always. He didn't taste his bread every day because from his long experience, he already knew his bread's taste. Although he changed the kneading times and standing temperature and time, as well as the baking time depending on the humidity and temperature of the day, the routine was always the same. He was able to understand its taste from the appearances. As a try, he toasted it and ate it. He was surprised. The taste was surly different. He tried this to several other loaves of white bread, there was a change of taste! He tasted his other kinds of bread but they tasted the same as before. Toasted white bread had the only different taste. Why? He took his white bread to his former boss. His old boss tasted it. He looked at him in surprise. He pointed out that maybe because his bakery was located by the forest, some natural yeast from the forest started to 'live' in his bakery and affected his bread for the good. Because white bread was the simplest bread, it is easier to recognize a subtle change of taste. The boss added, "We use ready-made yeasts because they are stable. But an uncountable number of individual yeasts exist in nature. You are very lucky that this good yeast is now living in your factory." He laughed, "Yes, I am. I was very fortunate that I had a customer like the lady. If she didn't tell me this, I might have to have stopped my bakery." The boss said, "Nature is mysterious, isn't it?!" He nodded. |
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*Home Economics :ΖλΘ
*knead :±Λι
*dough :pΆn
*fermentation :y
*apprentice :©K’
*baguette :tXp
*ultimate :ΙΜ
*stand :Q©Ήι