Bakeries: There's work, but there's a shortage of bakers.

There are no people willing to do hard, well-paid work. Foreigners are coming in to make up for it.

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I work in bakeries

WORK IN BAKERIES

For the bakeries it's not a good season. The price of flour has skyrocketed, doubling in a short time. The costs of running the premises, from bills to rent, have increased. And on top of that, there's the most serious factor that threatens an entire sector: no bakers can be found.

the return of bakeries from the north to the south of Italy, bread that gives work to young people

ALSO READ: Young people emigrating en masse, it's not fair to tell them not to return. Instead, they should raise their voices with their fathers and grandfathers.

WORK IN BAKERIES

Yet bakers have been very good, and for several years they have been converting their business. The workload in bakeries has expanded significantly, the products on sale have increased, and today a bakery doesn't just sell bread with its relatives. Often there is an entire section very similar to delicatessens, with products for lunch breaks. But also "bread boutique" items, with an attached rotisserie and confectionery.

LACK OF BAKERS

What is missing is the staff. The profession of baker It's not very attractive, especially because, admittedly, it's hard work. It starts at 3 or 4 in the morning (sometimes even 2 in the morning) and continues until the afternoon. Six days a week. The certain salary, if the baker is honest, he takes these rhythms into account and varies between 1.500 and 2.500 euros per monthDespite this, and despite the huge sums spent by the regions to fund training courses for bakers, immigrants are arriving instead of Italians in bakeries looking for staff, while young Italians are trying to become entrepreneurs in the baking sector.

THE STORIES OF THOSE WHO HAVE DECIDED TO DEVOTE THEMSELVES TO BAKING

Joseph and Mary Magdalene Villone, two twenty-year-old boys, lived in Toscana where they studied: and instead of chasing a job that doesn't exist, they decided to return to Basilicata, to Aliano, to reopen their great-grandfather's bakery. Where they now sell, along with bread, taralli and sweets.

Eugenio Pol, instead, he produces his bread in Fobello, a small village in Val Mastallone, in Piedmont: 500 kilos a week, with sales reaching as far as organic restaurants in the regions of northern Italy.

Antonio Lamberto Martino, Sicilian, learned the trade, as an emigrant, in a shop in Siena and studied the ancient local grains: with this background he opened his laboratory, where among other things he teaches the kneading technique and the use of mother pastaAnd speaking of training, I discovered that baking schools, which seemed destined to disappear completely, are also reopening.

Pasquale Polito He is a native of Bologna and has a degree in geography. Despite his studies with Gregorio Di Agostini, Davide Sarti, and Enrico Cirilli, he decided to open the Breeze Furnace, in the center of Bologna. These four guys turn their passion into their strength, working with organic flours and ancient grains, and also producing some excellent craft beers.

THE “BREAD IN WAITING” INITIATIVE

An example? A SulmonaIn the heart of a city reeling from the crisis, classes organized by Teseo Tesei, a master baker, have just begun. Those who attend are guaranteed to learn a trade and have a high probability of finding a job. Like the bakers hired in Cortellazzo, in the province of Venice, where the bakery, like so many old professions, had disappeared. And now it has returned, to the delight of local residents who no longer knew where to buy fresh bread.

Meanwhile in Messina, on the bench of baker Solidarity has also arrived. Four bakeries in the city (Craving for bread, Macrì, The golden ear e At the Granary) have joined the initiative on “bread waiting“. In fact, customers of these businesses, by adding a few cents to their shopping, will be able to donate bread to those who can't afford it.

HOMEMADE BREAD RECIPES:

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