Education · 1 of 4

The path

You can start with nothing but a willingness to get up at 3am.

1. 1

   High school

   Grades 11 and 12

   Get a part-time job at a bakery, a cafe or a grocery bakery counter. That job is worth more right now than any course.

2. 2

   Start as an assistant

   6 months to 2 years

   Scaling ingredients, running the mixer, panning, baking off and cleaning. Most working bakers learned exactly this way.

3. 3

   Training, if you want it

   6 months to 2 years

   A community college baking and pastry certificate, a culinary school associate degree, or a registered apprenticeship listed on the government apprenticeship site.

4. 4

   Certify

   Optional, a few years in

   The Retail Bakers of America runs a ladder of baking certifications, based on experience plus written and practical tests.

5. 5

   Run a bench, then a bakery

   3 to 10 years

   Head baker, then production manager, then your own shop if that is what you want.