People could all make their own breads, if they had more times, but it'd require more ovens working simultaneously instead of fewer big ovens. It would also take more time for humanity, collectively. And even if everyone had a big oven like those in bakeries, while they could make big stocks of bread for a long time, this would result in everyone eating bread of lesser quality because bread goes bad with time. Having a skilled minority cooking a lot of bread every day in big ovens is just better.
This is not an ode to capitalism or any specific economic system, socialist or communist systems can have bakers to, I guess, tho the ownership of bakeries and boss-employee relationship between them must be rethought or abolished in these cases. All I'm saying is, when thinking up a new and revolutionary economic system, one must always account for bakers.
And sure, robots could bake, maybe. But I don't think they should. Or rather, I think human-made bread and pastries should always exist, because they create variatons and originalities that are interesting. And if human-made bread becomes a luxury commodity and the common people only have access to robot bread, this'd be a tragedy, so better keep the djinni in a bottle and not let robots bake.
A sizable portion of the population have probably never eaten bread made by a baker, even a lot of the stuff at farmers markets is made almost entirely by machine. Kneading bread is not a job that people do anymore.
A real robot chef would be amazing for us bread lovers, imagine your work surface with a pair of robot arms that can make bread the old fashioned way either mimicking a human or doing it perfectly - kneading and folding and leaving to prove then cooking it up, slicing it and spreading a good layer of jam… It could cook other things at the same time in very efficient ways, a good supply of baked goods and prepared snacks so all you ever need to buy is base ingredients - and some you wouldn’t even buy you’d have your garden robot process then and deliver to the kitchen.
You’d have a far better diet and it’d cost less, there would be less distribution emissions too and less trucks on the road etc which would be great for the planet… just get a sack of local flour, salt, or whatever and let the robot cook it up with whatever else you’ve got - the lifestyle change will be huge, possibly even bigger than mobile phones or possibly even the internet.
I dunno about anyone else, but I still knead by hand. Did so even when I was doing large batches for folks during early COVID grocery issues. You’re probably right that most people only, and likely have only ever, had machine kneaded bread; but there are still plenty of home bakers doing large bakes for local markets.
Hand working dough can be exhausting though, ngl. And as my arthritis worsens, I have no clue when I’ll have to give it up. But it really is the best way to nail your gluten development imo, and it’s kinda part of the joy of the process.
But damn, my forearms were busted that first few months lol. Cranking out a dozen loafs a day the first bit, then doubling that until the stores started catching back up. Fun, but not something sustainable at scale really.
Yeah, that’s a good point too actually, it’s physically demanding work so a lot of people will find they can’t do it just when they need good fresh food the most - being injured, sick or tired is the worst time to have to switch to lower quality factory produced food but prep can be exhausting and time consuming. A robot arms to help could be great in those situations, especially for people who enjoy the process but just need help with one or two sections - I know someone that was devastated by not being able to cook simply because stirring and chopping was too hard on her wrists and it was too exhausting to stand so long, sometimes her son would come and do those bits which was nice but not everyone has that and he could only come on Sundays.
Honestly I just love the thought of the house smelling of baking bread, the bread maker is good but not a patch on when my dad used to make a big soft tin loaf.