Cook Up a New Career: Baking and Pastry School
By Marianne SalinaIt's a sweet job. If you graduate from a baking and pastry school, you may have your pick of tasty jobs as a pastry chef or baker.
Creating pastries is tricky, rewarding, time-consuming, and definitely a job you can bank on. Jobs are available in hotels, fine restaurants, and in catering services, just about anywhere. If you're already in love with baking, why not turn your avocation into a vocation and enroll in a baking and pastry school?
From a Pastry Course to a Pastry Career
Some of the most creative and innovative pastry chefs got their jobs after attending pastry schools programs-- often in only 26 months. Most of the best chefs, bakers, restaurant owners, caterers, and food writers have generally attended some kind of baking and pastry or culinary school.
The advantages to taking baking classes include working in fully-equipped kitchens with top chefs in your field, learning how to work with the tools of the trade, and gaining the confidence to work in an interesting field. In a baking class, you can learn how to:
- Use the correct techniques and terminology
- Transform simple ingredients--flour, water, eggs--into beautiful pastries
- Create everything from French pastries to American cakes
Is a Pastry Career in Your Future?
Most baking and pastry schools require internships or externships where students work in the culinary field for part of the course requirements, building relationships that not only add to your experience but can lead to job offers after your training is finished. If you're taking a baking class with a career in mind, you might also have the inside scoop on where the jobs are.
At a baking and pastry school you can obtain a degree in baking arts or look toward a degree in the broader fields of culinary arts or culinary management. With the right degree, you might just cook up a whole new career.
Sources
Institute of Culinary Education - Career Division Overview
Institute of Culinary Education - Baking and Pastry Classes
King Arthur Flour Baking Class
About the AuthorMarianne Salina is a freelance writer in Spokane, Washington. She writes about pursuits in education and degree opportunities.
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