TIL why starter guides are important for bakeries too

Ran my bakery for 2 years using this loose recipe folder I built myself. Kept tweaking things on the fly during rush hours. Last month a new hire accidentally used salt instead of sugar in a batch of 50 croissants because my notes were unclear. That mistake cost me about $300 in materials and 4 hours of wasted work. Finally wrote out proper step-by-step guides for everything. Has anyone else had a bad batch because you didn't have clear instructions written down?

2 comments

2 Comments

grace_allen21d agoMost Upvoted

Did you at least keep the salty croissants as a warning to future bakers? I've definitely had my share of "oops, that was NOT sugar" moments that turned into expensive science experiments.

owens.cameron21d ago

Holy smokes, $300 is steep but I bet those salty croissants taught that hire a lesson they won't forget. My old shop had this one time where my assistant thought "proof" meant just let the dough sit forever in a warm corner. We ended up with these weird sour tasting baguettes that smelled like a barn. I kept one in the back for months as a reminder to write down every single step for the new folks. Now I have a notebook with drawings and arrows pointing to which container holds salt versus sugar. It's ugly but it works.