A wonderful tradition has developed at the Faculty of Natural and Environmental Sciences at Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences: students and staff meet every year to bake bread together. Initiated by Prof. Dr. Jan Mollitor, a chemist and enthusiastic amateur baker, the practical course is now taking place for the third time.

Bread baking is one of the oldest biotechnological processes known to mankind and therefore offers an ideal opportunity to combine theory and practice in an enjoyable way. Prof. Mollitor had learned from Prof. Thomas Wiegert that the Biotechnology Division had already tried to bake bread in 2021 - albeit with a poor result. Prof. Mollitor took this as an opportunity to launch the first joint baking course in 2022. Since then, this course has been held every year one day before the Dies Academicus, when the baked goods are then offered as food.

The course takes place in a relaxed atmosphere and is aimed at all students and staff of the faculty. With 10 to 15 participants, the course offers enough space for individual supervision and collaborative work. Participants can express their baking wishes in advance so that a diverse selection of bread variations is created each year. This year, for example, fluffy, crusty root breads were baked.

A special aspect of the course is that participants can also take some sourdough starter home with them. This gives them the opportunity to put what they have learned into practice in their own kitchen and continue baking bread. This offer not only promotes practical knowledge, but also fosters a sense of community among students and staff.

Community bread baking at the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences is an excellent example of how practical and exciting activities can complement the compulsory curriculum. It shows how a simple idea can be turned into an enriching community experience that imparts knowledge and is fun. Such initiatives make a significant contribution to making studies more varied and practice-oriented and to turning the university into a lively place of learning and exchange.