What Classes Do You Have to Take for Pastry Chef?
Starting a career as a pastry chef is more than showing up at a bakery wearing the right attire. The pastry field is a difficult one that requires you to know a lot about measurements, chemical reactions, creating recipes from scratch and turning food into art. Pastry arts are scientific in nature and a chef must be accurate at all times. To become a pastry chef, there are specialized courses that have to be taken through a baking and pastry school or culinary institute.
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French Pastry
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The pastry world is surrounded by recipes that stem from the French. A course in French pastry will teach you traditional French pastry techniques, such as pate a choux, pate feuilletee (puff pastries) and creating crème pastisserie (pastry cream).
Measuring and Equipment
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A course specifically designed to teach you the equipment in a pastry kitchen and how to measure is a necessity. Commercial bakeries do not measure by cups and teaspoons -- they measure by weight. Understanding the equipment in a bakery such as industrial ovens, cooling systems, and the types of molds are important as well.
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Doughs
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There are numerous doughs that are made in the pastry world. These can include pie dough, bread doughs and pate a choux dough (which most commonly makes éclairs).
Piping
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A pastry chef is trained in using food as art. A class in piping such as icing, buttercream, chocolate and coulees will be required for a pastry chef that is planning to work in a five star restaurant or any situation presentation is important.
Yeast and Leaveners
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As a pastry chef, you will make more than cakes and cookies. Pastry chefs are also bakers that will produce breads in the kitchen. A course teaching about leaveners, their uses and how they interact is essential.
Baking Science
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Pastry arts are a science that relies on precise measurements and chemical reactions within the food you are creating. A course in baking science will discuss the chemical reaction occurs and what measurements or ratios are required in order for the right chemical reaction to happen.
Sugar Work and Chocolate
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Sugar work and the use of chocolate are very important in the pastry world as well. Some culinary institutes will require pastry chefs to take courses on pulled sugar and sugar art as well as the use of chocolate. Not every pastry school requires these courses to be completed for graduation; therefore check with your local school.
Internship
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In order to graduate with a license in pastry chef, you must complete a specific number of hours for an internship. Your pastry school will provide you with a list of local restaurants and bakeries willing to use you for an internship. An internship is at the end of your schooling where you apply what you have learned in the culinary classroom into the real pastry world.
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