Baker

Baker Kelly Heldoorn stifles a yawn. It’s nearly 11am and while the rest of us are getting on with the day, she’s ready to crawl into bed.

The 23-year-old from Ingleburn, NSW, has just finished work.

Her day started at 1am when she arrived at Baker’s Delight, down the road from her house, ready to make bread.

“We make all our doughs from scratch, so first of all we weigh up ingredients, mix the doughs, and then process the doughs. The next step is proving; that’s when we leave the dough to let the yeast cultivate; then we bake,” Ms Heldoorn said.

“Once baked, the bread is arranged out on the shop front by the shop staff.

“Sometimes we do a bit of service, but generally we’re clearing up and then I’ll leave work by about 9am.”

On top of her early starts, Ms Heldoorn also works a seven-day week working with the franchise holders.

“My social life has died a bit but it’s worth it. Baking is my passion, so I’ve learnt to fit everything around it,” she said.

Ms Heldoorn threw in her job as a receptionist four years ago in favour of a “long-term career” she could really enjoy.

“I love cooking and baking, so I was tossing up between becoming a chef or a baker.

“I then found out there was bit of a history of baking in the family my grandfather was a baker and pastry chef in Holland it made the choice easy.”

The next step was to send off a letter and CV to bakers in the area.

“I sent 20 letters out saying I was looking for an apprenticeship. Most went to Baker’s Delight and I ended up being offered two jobs; one in Liverpool and one in Casula,” she said.

Ms Heldoorn took the job with the Liverpool franchise, enrolled in a two-year diploma at TAFE, became an award-winning apprentice and has never looked back.

Today, she’s head baker at her local store and plans to run her own franchise and even work overseas.

Ms Heldoorn admitted that part of the job she still loved was tasting new products.

“Right now my favourite is the chocolate mud cookies, they’re just like brownies you’ve got to try them.”