People whose job is to make bread, cakes, and pastries by mixing ingredients and cooking them in an oven.
From Old English 'bacere', from Germanic 'bakan' (to bake), related to the heat of fire. The job is ancient—professional bakers existed in Roman times.
Medieval bakers were so regulated that they weren't allowed to increase bread prices without government permission, and if they cheated by making bread too small or cheap, they could be dunked in water as punishment.
Historically, baking was feminized as domestic labor in many cultures, yet professional bakers (guilded, compensated) were predominantly male. This split obscures women's unpaid culinary expertise and their exclusion from formal trade.
Use 'baker' neutrally; specify 'home baker' or 'commercial baker' only when relevant to context, not gender.
["bread maker","pastry chef","baker (neutral)"]
Women dominated household baking and food preservation for centuries; formal recognition of professional female bakers emerged later but their foundational contributions remain undervalued.
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