Guide to Becoming a Pastry Chef

Becoming a Pastry Chef

There is much more to being and becoming a pastry chef than meets the eye. Usually, a pastry chef has graduated from culinary school, taking a broad range of courses, including general culinary arts courses, and graduating to more specific pastry arts courses. Many prestigious pastry chef training programs take two years to complete, others are more career-oriented and can be completed in a year. Some can even be completed through online schooling or online programs. As pastry students near graduation, they often seek mentorship via an internship or externship to gain invaluable insight into how to apply their craft professionally.

Pastry Chef Training and Instruction

Intensive baking and pastry instruction teaches the fundamentals of ingredients, proportions, consistencies, and chemical reactions, and most schools provide a hands-on laboratory for the aspiring pastry chef to put theory into practice. He then receives training in dough methods, fillings, pastries, puff pastry, specialty yeast dough items, and quick breads, along with the art of making syrups, creams, icings, and pies.

Pastry Chef Mentorship, Internship, and Externship

Another part of the pastry chef education, and one that best provides an entr���e into the professional world, is teaming up with a professional mentor through an intern or externship. A mentor will be part of the culinary community, and will have connections within that community that he could contact to help a student get a job after graduation, if he doesn't hire the student himself. The mentorship offers hands-on experience and career assistance, be it direct or indirect. One of the most rewarding steps towards becoming a pastry chef is the mentorship.

The Working Pastry Chef

Once a pastry chef has a job, the events of her day greatly depend on where she is working. If at a pure pastry shop, she might be required to arrive at work in the wee hours of the morning in order to prepare fresh baked goods to be sold throughout the day. If she is required to make pastries at a restaurant, chances are she won't have to arrive as early. Often, at larger establishments, a pastry chef will have cooks and food preparation workers helping him prepare the ingredients for that days cooking.

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