Caroline Anders
Artisan Bread Baker, Weaver Street Market
Working as a professional baker at Weaver Street’s high-production bread bakery is hard work—it’s physically and mentally demanding for a team of 12 bakers to produce thousands of loaves of bread each week delivered daily to our stores before we’ve sold the first cup of coffee. Bread baker Caroline Anders has successfully drawn upon her intellect, grit, and finesse to overcome the physical challenges of the work and become an accomplished artisan baker dedicated to “making each loaf the best it can be.”
I enjoy the physical process of reading each dough at every step and adjusting my work to consistently make high-quality bread despite all the constantly changing factors, such as room temperature and flour strength.
Caroline’s career as an artisan bread baker began after she graduated from college and was struggling to find a career path. “I realized that instead of asking what I wanted to do, I should ask who do I want to work for? The answer to that question was obvious—Weaver Street!” Caroline answered a job ad and was hired as Weaver Street bread baker even though she had no experience baking bread.
That was six years ago. Caroline is now experienced in every station of bread making, from mixing and shaping bread, to proofing and baking the crusty loaves of bread that appear in our markets every morning. Caroline shared with us, “I struggled at first—everything in the bakery is so heavy! It was discouraging to feel like I was struggling with tasks that came easily to people who were naturally stronger, like lifting 50-pound bags of flour. It took me a while to build muscle, but the hard work paid off!”
Caroline is the first woman at Weaver Street’s Bread Bakery to train on the oven station. The oven station is both physically and mentally challenging. “Our deck oven has four decks with three doors each, so that’s twelve loads of bread to fill it up. Each load is about fifteen loaves, with our loaves of la miche weighing 2 kilos each.” While she’s loading and unloading the deck oven, Caroline also bakes racks of breads in three convection ovens. The equipment is heavy, bulky, and hot enough to cause serious burns. “Becoming good at the ovens was my biggest challenge, but I was afraid that if I failed people would say that it was too hard for a woman.”
Caroline brings a high level of commitment and attention to detail to the team. She cares deeply about the bakery, our co-op, and the community. She’s also tuned into what’s happening in the greater food world, frequently traveling to foodie destinations to try out new restaurants and bakeries. She’s a joy to work with and our bakery wouldn’t be the same without her. –Jon McDonald, Bread Bakery Manager
When Caroline is not baking for Weaver Street, she loves cooking and baking at home and keeping up with cookbooks, restaurants, and bakeries. Caroline also serves as a worker owner on Weaver Street’s Elections Committee, and recently served as an appointed member of the Board of Directors.
Caroline finds inspiration in women who have found their own paths in the food industry, specifically, Claire Ptak, Dominique Crenn, and Deb Perleman. When asked to share any advice she had for young girls (or grown women) wanting to become artisan bakers, she told us:
Just because it’s a physical job doesn’t mean woman can’t do it! If you’re passionate about bread, don’t be intimidated by how difficult bread is to make. With a little practice and a lot of determination, you can do it!