Warning, there may or may not be a recipe in this post. Begin rant:

People don't bake in America. I mean, there are plenty of people that bake at home like me and people that might read this blog okay. But as far as real baking in bakeries go? These institutions are few and far between.

I would absolutely adore working in a real bakery. Maybe it's this area, maybe it's because I haven't searched hard enough but these aren't easy to find. By real bakery I mean bakeries that make their own pie crust for their own pies, make their own filling for those pies. Icings and buttercreams do not come shipped in buckets and cakes do not come in frozen. And for me, maybe it's not just that these things taste better when made from scratch, but the whole point of baking is creating these things in the first place. Taking the time to measure out the ingredients, using the method to put everything together to get a final result. Yes baking is about eating and enjoying, but for me baking is also about this process.

I understand if people at home buy cake mixes and frosting in a can, that's fine. We're all busy, stress is high, and if you want a cake, you want a cake. But from a bakery I would expect more. Perhaps I was spoiled as a child. My mother never bought anything from a bakery. When you buy something from a bakery, don't you expect more? You can't create something on your own so you trust them to do it for you, better even, right? Well if a bakery is using pie filling made with half corn syrup and half stabilizers and a few frozen strawberries, how can this be the case?

Anyway, I suppose this all stems from me being frustrated working in this industry. At least in restaurants we made every sauce, mashed our own potatoes, chopped fresh parsley. Some convenience ingredients are used still, but they are expensive and restaurants know this. Why buy sliced mushrooms when you can have the prep-cook slice them for you? That's the way things should work in a bakery. In my. Opinion.

/Rant.