“In line with the EU harmonization works, Turkey’s bakery goods and desserts that we have produced and consumed within the framework of certain habits for centuries await a different future. While innovations such as production technologies, incentives, and product varieties in the product stage guide our sector, it seems likely that we will say goodbye to unpackaged pastries and deserts of which freshness we test by touching. If we can benefit from this wind of change, we will move forward after we gather all the winds. However, this wind of change can also overturn our boat.”

Abdullah Şen

Bread is a must in our dinner tables. We sang a song on them and came up with proverbs, and bread has the honor at our tales and legends. We waged war for and sweated blood for bread. It is our precious.

Numerous type of bread in our country reaches customers in various ways. Recently, since it is required to apply the international hygiene and production rules in the preparation of food products, the production process met with the contemporary technology. It is high time for our sector to come up with contemporary solutions for new production and presentations in any kind of baked goods and packaging.

When we say baked goods, it is understood ready-to-eat or pre-processed baked goods made up of cereal flour that can be eaten after certain additional procedures. Muffin, cake, pie, tart, wafer, several fatty and milky biscuits, patty, pastry, waffle, salty and sweet cookies, ready-cake, sea biscuit, biscuits, and similar products are included in this group.

These products are mainly divided into two groups: Dry bakery goods: can be stored for a long time, are fragile and crispy, can attract foreign taste-smell, have a low-water level, have hygroscopic structure, and are sensitive to oxidization, enzymatic reaction, non-enzymatic browning reactions, and light.

Fresh goods: can be stored for the middle or long term, are fragile, can lose their taste and smell, can experience dryness for its outer surface that can attract foreign taste and smell, and are fragile to oxidation, enzymatic reactions, and microbial changes because of high-level water activities.

It is accepted that average bread consumption per person is four-hundred grams, and low-income groups have consumed more baked goods according to people’s socio-economic conditions. Habits / Working Conditions / Gender / Childhood / Age / Allocations in certain quantities applied at collective consumption places are among the factors that affect this consumption.

Nowadays, we see serious studies on nutritional value and processing-packaging techniques. There have been studies on food value modified products with soybeans, wheat germ, bran, milk powder, butter, and whey apart from wheat. Additionally, implications on the nutritional value such as light, diabetic, vitamins, non-gluten have begun to appear on market shelves.

On the other hand, grinding technologies, dough, PLC-backed furnaces, functional cooking, freezing technologies, the sourdough method, packaging technologies, and developments on packaging materials have restructured the sector.

The sale of baked goods increases in parallel with the population growth. Since baked goods particularly bread is consumed at every meal and regarded as the basic foodstuff, their sales are not affected by inflation or other economic problems. In reality, their sales increase during turbulent periods. The sale value of baked goods (bread, bakery products, and muffins) constitutes about 91.1 percent of all sales in the sector.

The development of new products, intensive ad campaigns, and crowded lifestyle helped the sale increase of baked goods. As the number of working-couple increases, consumers look for ready-to-eat and easy-to-cook products at supermarkets.

We have such a baked goods market in which local producers (bakery/pastry shop) have a tendency to dominate. The consumption of baked goods and desserts particularly at fast food sector has remarkably market volume. The baked goods and desserts are the inevitable part of our lives.

In line with the EU harmonization works, Turkey’s bakery goods and desserts that we have produced and consumed within the framework of certain habits for centuries await a different future. While innovations such as production technologies, incentives, and product varieties in the product stage guide our sector, it seems likely that we will say goodbye unpackaged pastries and deserts that we test their freshness by touching them.

If we can benefit from this wind of change, we will move forward after we gather all the winds. However, this wind of change can overturn our boat.

There have been serious efforts to deliver the local success we have in baked goods to the world market by using technological innovations and new generation logistic possibilities. Some traditional products like Turkish bagels, baklava, and Turkish pastry have found its place at the world market. For this, we thank our partners’ labor and patience.

We can produce health, useful, and cheap bread with the latest technology without spoiling its traditional taste. As a sector, we should go at it with hammer and tongs and adjust our centuries-old foods to the new age.