Baker and TAFE NSW Hamilton teacher Dean Tilden says his interest in baking stretches back to his early childhood.
"I have really early memories of being a young kid with my great-grandmother. I can remember her rolling pastry on the kitchen table with a glass rolling pin. My grandmother was a cooking teacher at high school. I used to bake with her on weekends. My grandparents came from a farming background, which influenced their style of country baking. There were always home baked goodies in the cupboard. It has always been an important part of my family's traditions," he says.
"I've always done baking and made cakes … from an early age that's what I was going to do, and that's what I've done."
Dean Tilden, baker and TAFE NSW Hamilton teacher
Tilden says he struggled at school, describing himself as having been the class clown.
"I always knew I wasn't going to be an academic," he says of his journey to become a baker. "I can remember as a young kid going on school excursion to a bakery and being fascinated by it."
He first entered a bakehouse to work at age 14 and three months, working there through Years 8, 9 and 10, after hours and on weekends. At that time, his other passion began to germinate. His involvement with the local swimming club saw him helping younger kids learn to swim, which he says was when he first discovered his love of and talent for teaching.
Apprenticing
At the end of Year 10, he left school to start his baking apprenticeship, with his family's encouragement.
"Leaving school at 16 was one of the best decisions I made, as it allowed me to start building real-world skills early and set a clear path for my future," he says.
He had to choose between baking bread and being a pastry cook, choosing the pastry line. While Tilden maintained his passion for baking, it was years later when he learned he could earn more as a dual-trade baker/pastry chef that he dedicated himself to making bread as well.
Tilden says his experience as an apprentice at TAFE taught him much more than he would have ever learned had he stayed in school.
"You're in a learning environment, but you're not at school. It was more than just learning how to work as a pastry cook. TAFE taught me how to learn," he says.
Tilden's appetite for learning has carried him through a long and distinguished two-track career, as a baker and as a baking teacher at Hamilton TAFE. He describes his apprenticeship as challenging and wide-ranging, setting him up for a lifelong career.
"We worked long hours," he says. "Often, we worked a 70-hour week for 40 hours' pay. In terms of hours worked, I did a six-year apprenticeship."
But Tilden enjoyed the work: "There's lots of thinking involved, and lots of passion."
Experience and mentorship
He says his understanding of and passion for his trade was deepened by his first boss, who became a mentor and a father figure.
"He was a role model, with a background as an industrial chemist," he says. "He was into the science behind things, and he ingrained in me an interest in finding out why things were happening."
In his early 20s, Tilden worked in as many different bakeries as he could, partly to feed a growing family and partly to improve his trade, including a stint at a supermarket chain.
"I didn't want to go to Woolies but the money was unbelievable," he laughs.
Tilden learned he could earn an extra $1.50 an hour if he also got a trade qualification in baking bread, which he was already doing anyway. So he went back to TAFE.
Returning to TAFE
It was a career-defining move. Tilden's head teacher remembered him and offered him a part-time job teaching. It was a one-day-a-week commitment on top of Tilden's full-time supermarket job. Soon after, at the age of 30, Tilden was full-time at TAFE NSW. This also meant Tilden would have to get his Bachelor of Education. For someone who'd never seen himself as a scholar, it was a challenge.
"It was an eye opener. It really stressed me out; the first 6 months were horrendous. I had three kids under six, with a new job, and full-time study. I failed a subject in first year because I was too proud to ask for help. It cost me $1500 to repeat the subject. But I quickly learned to ask questions and ask for help. With the correct support and ability to learn I graduated with class 2 Honours," he says.
This year marks 21 years since Tilden started teaching full-time.
He says teaching at TAFE combines both of his passions in the one job, and it allows him to make a positive impact on the baking community. Tilden says when he started out, pastry cooks didn't have a union, but he joined the AEU as soon as he started teaching. He says he values the union's work.
"They help secure wage increases, they add a layer of protection for you, and they help build a bit of a safety net at work."
Dean Tilden, baker and TAFE NSW Hamilton teacher
Global acclaim
Not one to shirk hard work, Tilden has gone global with both of his passions. He took his passion for baking to the highest level when, in 2018, he competed in Paris for the title of World Master Baker. He was just one of six bakers worldwide to be selected to compete in the Nutritional Bread Making category at the Masters de la Boulangerie (Bakery Masters) competition at the European Show in Paris. After an enormous amount of training, mastering various baking categories including sourdough, French baguette and a category called "bread of country" (Tilden baked a modern version of damper), he placed third.
"From a foodie perspective, it's our Olympics," he says. "But it takes over your life. On top of working, I spent 800 hours of practice in the bakery to get ready for a 10-hour competition. I don't think my family would let me do it again."
He also supports students with similar world-stage dreams. Having been a Worldskills competitor as an apprentice pastry cook, since becoming a TAFE teacher Tilden has been a regular Worldskills organiser and mentor at regional, national and international levels, coaching next-generation bakers to compete at the highest level. In September, his current protégé, Connor Beisler, will be representing Australian bakers at the Worldskills championship in Shanghai, China.
"If you learn how to be a baker, you can take your skills anywhere around the world."
Dean Tilden, baker and TAFE NSW Hamilton teacher
Meeting industry needs
Despite the time commitment, Tilden believes competitions like these are good for the industry.
"We've increased the profile of bread baking, we've helped bring in new techniques, skills and products, we've helped the industry move away from the Aussie style of bread baking towards more European techniques, and that's given the industry a new lease of life," he says.
But Tilden worries about the future of the baking community.
"I love the industry. And I want it to survive," he says. "We're in a slow decline; baking is coming close to the edge of the cliff."
The problem, as he sees it, is that the industry isn't attracting talent or valuing the benefits of quality future-trade-based education.
"We're crying out for more people to get into the baking industry, but we're just not getting the apprentices," he says, adding that this is despite a recent trend toward premium bread-making. "There's more appreciation of the artisan bread, so there's the market there, but getting staff is the problem."
After an uptick of interest following the launch of cooking-based reality television shows, he says modest pay and long hours are potentially driving people away from the industry.
"There was a massive influx of students 10 years ago, but most of them have gotten in and gotten out. The passion dwindles if you're working 16-hour days," he says.
Paving the way
Tilden thinks the broader community has a vested interest in maintaining a strong baking industry.
"Everybody eats our product," he says. "If you go to a party and you say I'm a pastry cook or chef or baker, you become the main person in the conversation. People are fascinated by what we do."
Tilden is grateful for the trade he chose so early in life.
"I think we've lost the art of what education really can achieve. Making it fast isn't always the answer; I'm living proof of that."
Dean Tilden, baker and TAFE NSW Hamilton teacher
"Looking back, I strongly believe more young people would benefit from taking a similar path, as starting a trade early provides valuable opportunities, builds independence, and can lead to a stable and rewarding career," he says. "But to succeed at this, quality time in structured, away-from-the-workplace education is an important factor."
