In terms of baking, Canada (indeed all of North-America) is a 3rd world country, compared to Northern Europe, where you have no choice but to go through a government approved and certified 3-4 year apprenticeship program with a journeyman certification test in the end - with very strict criteria for passing - if you want to call yourself a baker.Comparatively, there is no bakery education in Canada. In Canada, a "baker" is typically someone without education, experience, skills, credentials or interest, not to mention knowledge of basic, fundamental pricipals of baking, as related to chemistry, biology or physics, and the same goes for most socalled supervisors and managers. It's a simple matter of the blind "teaching" the deaf. Chemistry, biology and physics are the three fundamental principles upon which everything you do in a bakery is leaning on. It's what holds up the roof of the house, yet nobody know anything about either of them. A shocking lack of basic education.
From product & ingredient knowledge, to sanitary conditions & safe
food handling procedures (both a matter of public health), to ergonomic awareness (personal health), there is a shocking...could-be igonrance, but more likely lack of knowledge everywhere. Shocking to any Northern European educated baker.
Ask a Canadian "baker" what yeast is and he has no clue. He'll tell you "it's what you put in bread to make it rise". "I didn't ask you what you do with it. I asked what IS yeast". He won't be able to tell you. Ask him about the three major groups that all sugars are divided into. He won' t be able to tell you. Ask them what gluten is and how it affects mixing times and he would have no idea. Ask them how temperatures affect the dough or the formula for calculating how warm you want your water. When he hears the word "formula" he'll think you are talking about car racing. Quizz them on any kind of product knowledge and you might as well have asked them who built Timbuktu.
And it's not just about the non-existing "education". Regulations around a "bakery" in Canada, are virtually non-existent and are hardly ever enforced, which leaves a "wild west" mentality with lawlessness and anarchy.
Equipment is typically "stone-age" and ergonomically disasterous and long term thinking doesn't seem to be on anyone's mind. But when bottom line isn't met, there's only one person to blame and that's the guy on the bottom step of the ladder. And I say guy, because the phobia and paranoia of women in the industry, is real and wide spread amongst the uneducated. Or maybe women are just smarter than men, knowing not to enter a dying industry? Personally, I clearly much prefer working with women than with men; women think smarter, are more intelligent and logic thinking, they work equally as hard and don't have toxic egos (a huge problem with many guys, especially from certain countries).
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LAD PRAO, THAILAND.
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I've been to places in this world where you contrary to expectation, would find western style bakeries that were far superior to anything you can find in Canada. Both the facility itself and the products they made. Where floors and walls were covered in glazed tiles, for cleanliness, hygenic purposes and easy cleaning. Inside proofers, in front of them and in front of ovens were proper drains, professionally installed, a safety feature virtually unseen in Canada. Sitting there watching them for hours, I quickly learned that people were far more professional than their Canadian counterparts, too.
In a world where uneducated people will refer to themselves in their resumes as "bread artists" and "bread technicians" (yes, I've had both) without anything to show for it, back up their claim and "credentials" that can't be verified, it's a little bit like...well, Pierre Poilievre calling himself "the best Prime Minister you could possibly choose". You just know it's nothing but overdone makeup on a rotting corpse.
So it looks pretty bleak, doesn't it? And obviously a lot of people will not like what I have to say. But a painful truth is better than a sweet lie and reality is that nothing will change until the Ministry of education lays down the ground rules - swings the hammer if you will - and start pumping out adequately educated bakers, who can then become supervisors and managers. But we all know that's never going to happen either, and therefore my beloved Canada will always be a 3rd World country when it comes to the baking industry.
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INFESTATIONS AND PESTS I HAVE PERSONALLY WITNESSED IN VARIOUS CANADIAN BAKERIES I HAVE WORKED IN:
Passed off to complaining customers who brought their bread back (with the roach baked into it), as "burned raisins" by manager/owner, who would then eat the "raisin" to prove his point (more likely so the customer couldn't prove anything).
Pointed out to management on numerous occasions but nothing done about it...until "somebody" sent the proof to Coastal Health. Then things happened fast.
A lot of them. Right outside the entrance door. But rats are smart. They know how to get to the good stuff.
If loading bays/doors are not closed and/or "mosquito net" not in place, birds will go where the food is (inside - especially when cold outside) and they can take a long time to get out again. And if birds eat, they poop. Guaranteed!
A good sign is "trails" in flour dust and cornmeal and once you find them in your flour bag, you can throw out the entire bag/shipment. Those (mealworms) you can't pass off for "burned raisins".
...and those you won't even notice...until it's too late. Actually, you will never be able to see them in your bread and not likely to taste them either. But the result you will notice, after incubation time.
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