You often hear people comparing baking to science. With all the ingredients being measured, weighed, mixed and the fermentation applied to bread baking, we can all agree that the comparison is pretty spot on. However, what we do not hear as often as you should, is how baking is a form of art and the products the artisans produce are beautiful masterpieces.

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, art is defined as the conscious use of skill and creative imagination especially in the production of aesthetic objects. This definition can be directly applied to baking. When it comes to art, the artist applies their creative imagination to the basic framework of their chosen medium to produce an original piece. All painters use paint in their work, but no piece is alike. In the world of baking, most baked goods are made up of the same ingredients. However, the baker applies his or her own experience, philosophies, strategies and techniques to their baking to create a very unique finished product. You can bake bread, cake or cookies that nobody else in the world will make the same.

Creativity is a baker’s greatest asset. Their ability to take basic ingredients and transform them into a truly magical art form is something that should be admired and respected amongst other artists in various categories. If you are a baker and do not consider yourself an artist, it is time to stop being modest and fully embrace the title, because by definition you are one!

Many bakers who own a bakery are manually producing their baked goods with the misconception that manual production is the only way they can properly produce their product  consistently each time without losing what makes it truly unique. This is not true at all! Empire Bakery Equipment offers a variety of equipment that will help streamline production, limit the amount of labor needed, and maintain the high quality and consistency your customers have to come to expect.

The Empire IRIS spiral dough kneader offers precision mixing controls for maximum consistency and a 2-speed spiral and bowl rotation system for optimal ingredient blending and dough development. These features ensure that Empire’s spiral mixer will mix a superior product time and time again.

Empire’s MiniTube® Stone Hearth Deck Oven is another piece of equipment that will help increase production without sacrificing your products quality. The secret of this deck oven is the advanced vapor tube technology that facilitates heat distribution and retention. Vapor tubes deliver heat within the oven evenly throughout the product zone, providing consistent quality from front to back, side to side and deck to deck. You won’t have to worry about not getting a consistent bake on your work of art with this deck oven.

No matter how you slice it (pun intended), bakers are artists in their own right. They take their materials and artfully produce a masterpiece that can be enjoyed and appreciated both visually and palatably. So, to all the bakers out there, wear your artist title with pride and continue baking beautiful works of art!