Store Bakery Job

My current job is in the bakery department at a local grocery store. I say local only in that it is located in the town I live in. It is part of a much larger chain of grocery stores.

I also say “bakery” just because that is the title of the department. It isn’t really baking as much as it is taking frozen food and doing different things to it. Some things are thawed, proofed and then baked. Other items are thawed and then baked. Others are simply baked from a frozen state. And still others are put out frozen and let thaw.

There are some items that are “made” in store such as cakes and some pastries. But that is taking frozen cakes out of the freezer, cutting them to shape and then frosting and decorating them. Other items are taken out of the freezer and a ribbon of frosting is added so it could be called “store made”.

The job I have been trained for is the job of donut person. I am in charge of preparing the donuts and filling the bulk cases each morning. I have to be at work two hours before the store opens which is 5:00 right now. Soon it will be 4:00. I take the donuts out of the freezer, bake them (after the ovens pre-heat) and then allow them to cool before finishing them.

While the donuts are baking and cooling, I clean out the cases of the previous days donuts and other baked goods. Most only are on the shelf for one day. AND, since the public has had access to them (since they aren’t packaged), everything from the day before must be thrown in the compost pile. We can’t package it and give it away. It is discarded. This is hard to do since there are days when a large number of donuts weren’t sold and they are simply tossed in the trash. So sad.

The muffins, on the other hand, can be left from the day before as long as they feel fresh. Which means I feel each muffin to decide if it goes back in the case or if it gets tossed in the compost pile.

After the donuts have cooled, I glaze some, frost some, fill and frost some and leave just a couple plain. This part of the job I enjoy very much. I am allowed to be somewhat creative in how the donuts are decorated. I try my best to make the donuts as tasty as possible. So they would look like a donut I would want to eat.

Another thing I enjoy being creative with is packaging muffins because some of the muffins can be filled. It is fun to stick my finger into a muffin (wearing a glove, of course), and filling the whole with a filling. The most tasty ones, I think, are the boston cream muffins which are a chocolate chip muffin filled with pastry cream and then frosted with chocolate frosting. YUM!

All in all, it is a good job. It is nice to be busy from the time I get there until the time I leave. It is nice when people compliment on how nice the donut case looks. And it is a good kind of tired when I get home knowing I have put in a good day’s work.