What does a bread baker do?

Updated January 8, 2025

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Bread baker responsibilities

Here are examples of responsibilities from real bread baker resumes:

Manage inventory of ingredients and culinary supplies.
Prepare raw donuts for frying and raw bread for baking.
Prepare artisan pastries, bagels, muffins and cookies daily.
Bake various bread varieties and fry and prepare various varieties of donuts.
Make fresh pastries every morning including; bagels, cookies, brownies, etc.
Decorate cupcakes to owner's specifications using different decorating tools and techniques.
Check and sign for incoming bakeries products being place in bakery area.

Bread baker skills and personality traits

We calculated that 14% of Bread Bakers are proficient in Culinary, Food Handling, and Food Safety. They’re also known for soft skills such as Communication skills, Detail oriented, and Math skills.

We break down the percentage of Bread Bakers that have these skills listed on their resume here:

Culinary, 14%
Managed all raw material inventories daily via computer program designed for culinary inventory.
Food Handling, 12%
Follow food handling procedures and recommendations to maintain a safe sanitary and organized kitchen.
Food Safety, 11%
Order product, food safety.customer service, donuts, cakes.
Quality Standards, 10%
Interpreted and maintained established food quality standards, as applicable.
Safety Regulations, 10%
Ensured equipment met health and safety regulations and performed maintenance and cleaning as necessary.
Safety Standards, 9%
Ensured product met or exceed food quality and safety standards.

Common skills that a bread baker uses to do their job include "culinary," "food handling," and "food safety." You can find details on the most important bread baker responsibilities below.

Communication skills. The most essential soft skill for a bread baker to carry out their responsibilities is communication skills. This skill is important for the role because "bakers must be able to convey information effectively to other workers or to customers." Additionally, a bread baker resume shows how their duties depend on communication skills: "unload truck skills used communication cleaning customer service team work working under light supervision"

Detail oriented. Another essential skill to perform bread baker duties is detail oriented. Bread bakers responsibilities require that "bakers must follow recipes and instructions precisely." Bread bakers also use detail oriented in their role according to a real resume snippet: "determined quantity of product to prep for next day's operation by maintaining detailed production schedule. "

Math skills. bread bakers are also known for math skills, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to bread baker responsibilities, because "bakers need basic math skills, especially knowledge of fractions, in order to mix recipes, weigh ingredients, or adjust mixes." A bread baker resume example shows how math skills is used in the workplace: "certified bakery trainer skills used math skills and customer service skills"

Physical strength. A big part of what bread bakers do relies on "physical strength." You can see how essential it is to bread baker responsibilities because "bakers should be able to move heavy items, such as bulk-sized bags of flour, from storage to a work area." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical bread baker tasks: "pulled customer orders and ensured that the products were accurate and free of damage; conducted physical inventory of merchandise periodically. "

See the full list of bread baker skills

The three companies that hire the most bread bakers are:

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Compare different bread bakers

Bread baker vs. Pastry decorator

We looked at the average bread baker salary and compared it with the wages of a pastry decorator. Generally speaking, pastry decorators are paid $3,061 higher than bread bakers per year.While the two careers have a salary gap, they share some of the same responsibilities. Employees in both bread baker and pastry decorator positions are skilled in safety standards, bakery products, and oven temperatures.

These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a bread baker are more likely to require skills like "culinary," "food handling," "food safety," and "quality standards." On the other hand, a job as a pastry decorator requires skills like "custom orders," "specialty cakes," "customer satisfaction," and "inventory maintenance." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.

On average, pastry decorators reach similar levels of education than bread bakers. Pastry decorators are 1.0% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.0% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Bread baker vs. Pastry finisher

A career as a pastry finisher brings a higher average salary when compared to the average annual salary of a bread baker. In fact, pastry finishers salary is $4,056 higher than the salary of bread bakers per year.Only some things about these jobs are the same. Take their skills, for example. Bread bakers and pastry finishers both require similar skills like "safety regulations," "bread production," and "customer orders" to carry out their responsibilities.

While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that bread baker responsibilities requires skills like "culinary," "food handling," "food safety," and "quality standards." But a pastry finisher might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "pos," "computer programs," "measure ingredients," and "customer support position."

In general, pastry finishers achieve similar levels of education than bread bakers. They're 4.4% more likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.0% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Bread baker vs. Baker/cake decorator

An average baker/cake decorator eans a lower salary compared to the average salary of bread bakers. The difference in salaries amounts to baker/cake decorators earning a $1,652 lower average salary than bread bakers.Using the responsibilities included on bread bakers and baker/cake decorators resumes, we found that both professions have similar skill requirements, such as "safety regulations," "sales floor," and "production schedules.rdquo;

There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a bread baker is likely to be skilled in "culinary," "food handling," "food safety," and "quality standards," while a typical baker/cake decorator is skilled in "wedding cakes," "cleanliness," "cupcakes," and "customer service."

Baker/cake decorators make a very good living in the retail industry with an average annual salary of $31,237. On the other hand, bread bakers are paid the highest salary in the retail industry, with average annual pay of $32,342.When it comes to education, baker/cake decorators tend to earn similar degree levels compared to bread bakers. In fact, they're 0.0% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.1% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Bread baker vs. Baker's assistant

Baker's assistants tend to earn a lower pay than bread bakers by an average of $204 per year.While their salaries may vary, bread bakers and baker's assistants both use similar skills to perform their duties. Resumes from both professions include skills like "safety regulations," "safety standards," and "sales floor. "Each job also requires different skills to carry out their responsibilities. A bread baker uses "culinary," "food handling," "food safety," and "quality standards." Baker's assistants are more likely to have duties that require skills in "customer service," "cake orders," "kitchen equipment," and "food preparation. "In general, baker's assistants earn the most working in the retail industry, with an average salary of $33,015. The highest-paying industry for a bread baker is the retail industry.baker's assistants reach similar levels of education compared to bread bakers, in general. The difference is that they're 0.1% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.2% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Types of bread baker

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

Updated January 8, 2025

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