Online Baking & Pastry Degree Programs

To become a baker or pastry chef, you need training, dedication, and an affinity for the art of baking. Bakers often rise before the sun hits the horizon, measuring and mixing ingredients to produce cookies, cakes, breads, and other delicious baked goods. While many traditional schools offer programs in the culinary arts, online education has emerged as a viable way for working professionals and first-time students to obtain the skills they need to enter this up-and-coming career field. Many of these skills also transfer to related industries, most notably hospitality and catering.

Career Training: Baking and Pastry

If you're interested in finding work as a baker or pastry chef, you can find career training opportunities through professional culinary associations, vocational schools, and distance learning programs. Career training in baking and pastry may include coursework in ingredients, nutrition, government and private sanitation regulations, business concepts, applied chemistry, food science, and more. Many accredited programs also offer a variety of internships and externships that allow you to obtain hands-on experience in a real, working kitchen.

Artful Careers in Baking and Pastry

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) predicts employment of bakers and pastry chefs to grow roughly 10 percent through 2016, which stands to provide plenty of jobs for qualified applicants. With a degree and some early experience, both new and experienced bakers and pastry chefs can take advantage of this growth, and develop a career in a number of different paths. Some remain dedicated bakers, while others branch out into specialties that can serve as bridges to sister industries, such as restaurant or event management.

Online degrees in baking and pastry can lead to careers such as:

• Baker
• Pastry chef
• Artisan bread baker
• Chocolatier
• Catering manager
• Event planner

Many of the skills you gain in a baking and pastry degree program, like menu preparation, food service, and dessert preparation, apply to a variety of culinary positions. For instance, many seasoned bakers go into business for themselves, catering for weddings, corporate events, and other momentous occasions that call for elaborate baked goods. Experience in the culinary arts may also lead to careers in management, most notably at restaurants and other hospitality establishments.

Career Earnings for Bakers and Pastry Chefs

Many chefs with training in baking and pastries begin as cafeteria or short-order cooks in a restaurant or bakery. According to the BLS, median earnings for these positions in 2007 were $21,340 and $18,630, respectively. In that same year, bakers earned a median salary of $22,590. The top 10 percent earned an estimated $36,340. However, those who make the leap into management can expect salaries that approach $50,000. In 2007, at least 20 percent of food service managers earned a median salary of $57,370.

• Hospitality & Culinary