Bakery Production Schedule: How to Plan Your Bake Day

TL;DR

• Two schedules, not one: a weekly plan of what to make, and a daily timeline of when to make it.
• Work backwards from opening time: every product has a "must be on the shelf by" time; start times follow from it.
• Respect the long processes: laminated doughs and levain breads run over two days. They anchor the schedule.
• Split the bake: a smaller second bake decided by the morning's sales cuts leftovers without early sell-outs.

How do you make a bakery production schedule?

Start from what has to be on the shelf and when, then work backwards through each product's process to find when it must start. Do this once for a typical day, then adjust per weekday for quantities.

A good schedule answers two questions:

1. What and how much? The quantity of each product for each day. This comes from your production plan.
2. When and by whom? The timeline that gets those quantities baked in time with the ovens, mixers and people you have.

This guide covers the second.

Step 1: List each product's process and timings

For every product, write down the steps and how long each takes. An illustrative example:

Step 2: Work backwards from "on the shelf by"

If baguettes must be on the shelf at 7:00 for opening, and they need to cool for 20 minutes:

• Out of the oven by 6:40
• Into the oven by 6:15
• Shaped and proofing from 5:15
• Mixing starts by 2:55 (20 min mix + 1 h 30 rise + 30 min shape = 2 h 20 before proofing)

Do the same for every product with a morning deadline. The earliest start time is when your first baker starts.

Step 3: Map oven and mixer capacity

Two products that both need the oven at 6:15 cannot both have it. Lay the bakes out on a timeline by oven (or by deck) and shift the flexible products (muffins, cookies) into the gaps. The same goes for the mixer in the early hours.

Step 4: Anchor the two-day products

Croissants, other laminated pastry and long-fermented breads have to be started the day before. Their quantities therefore have to be decided the day before too, which is why a weekday production plan matters: Saturday's croissants are decided on Friday.

Step 5: Split high-volume items into two bakes

Instead of baking all 140 croissants at 5:30, bake 100 for opening and decide the last 40 at 10:00 from how the morning went. You lose a little efficiency and gain a lot of control over leftovers. Retarded or frozen shaped pieces make this easy.

Step 6: Assign people

Put names against blocks of time: mixing, lamination, shaping, bake, decoration, cleaning. Check that nobody is in two places at once at peak times, and that the schedule fits the hours you are paying for.

Turning the schedule into a daily sheet

The schedule says when; the daily production sheet says how many. Our bakery production sheet guide has a simple format that bakers can follow at 4 a.m. without questions.

How Baikely helps

Baikely produces the "how many" for each product and each day from your sales history, including the day-before decisions for two-day products. The weekly plan shows every day side by side:

Frequently asked questions

What time do bakers start work?

It depends on the opening time and the products. Bread for a 7:00 opening often means a start in the very early morning; pastry made the day before can shift some of that work to the afternoon.

How far ahead should a bakery plan production?

A week ahead for ordering and staffing, then confirm each day's quantities the day before, which is also when two-day products have to be started.

How do I schedule production with one oven?

Batch products by temperature, bake the morning deadline items first, and fill gaps with flexible items. A visual timeline per oven makes conflicts obvious.