Becoming a Pastry Chef

A pastry chef is a person who is skilled in the art of making pastries, breads, desserts, and baked foods. They are employed in hotels, restaurants, bistros and bakeries. The pastry chef jobs are the magic makers of the sweet aromas of the airy beignets that send shivers down your spine. This is a career that is in high demand on account of its specialty nature and this is why the pastry chef career is the envy of the cooking forte. The pastry chefs make everything from fresh loaves of oven baked breads to the famous layer cakes for the dining rooms of the hotels and restaurants.

The job responsibilities of the pastry chef job include much of hand work and standing for longer durations, as they deal with small quantities of food stuffs. They are required to measure, weigh, and sift ingredients as well as knead the dough by hand or through a power mixer for creating a number of exciting delicacies such as the following:

• Cookies
• Caramels
• Dough nuts
• Icings
• Breads
• Pies
• Cakes
• Delicately layered pastries

The pastry chef is assisted with a head cook or chef who is in charge of the entire kitchen. Some of the bakers work in neighborhoods in the retail bakeries, while the local bakers employ pastry chefs who are skilled in handling expert chefs who may do most of the work by hand, as well as perform routine tasks like greasing pans of bread.



The academic requirements of the pastry chef career involve variations according to the career prospects. If you happen to be any of the following:

• Bakers
• Mixers
• Oven tenders
• Dough molders
• Specialized workers

You must have completed a training of at least 3 to 4 years in their areas of specialization for being considered as eligible for the job of a pastry chef. A lot of hotels and restaurants prefer hiring workers who are educated beyond school. Courses in baking are offered for the pastry chef jobs by the vocational schools. Some bakers even pick up the services at work with years of class room training.

The skills of the pastry chef take into account managing large quantities of baked goods for the super markets as well as retail outlets. This is the case in the industrial bakers. All round bakers specialize in the performance of specialized jobs, with helpers to assist them in the unskilled jobs. The pastry chef jobs are executed in an assembly line format with the following personnel for assisting the pastry chef:

• Mixers
• Divider machine operators
• Dough molders
• Bench hands
• Oven tenders

The training for the pastry chef job is offered by diploma colleges and vocational schools. You may also work in the retail bakeries of the neighborhood as a general helper in the industrial bakery. Workers in this capacity are also trained by the on the job chefs as helpers. It is something that helps you gain an excellent sense of taste, smell, and touch. Working near hot ovens and performing a lot of lifting and carrying tasks are also required. This is why you need to be strong and in good health.

Taking part time cooking classes in the pastry chef career at a local university or community college can help a lot if you cannot attend a culinary class. Study the basics and practice the skills at home for gaining experience in cooking. High quality restaurants also give out apprentice programs. The established pastry chef hires experienced chefs in their kitchens or apprentices who are willing to work for little monetary compensation.

The employment outlook for the bakers and pastry chef jobs is likely to be better than average through the year 2014. This is because of the steady popularity of the freshly baked food products.

The median annual salary for the pastry chef job is $22,000 as has been estimated by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics in the year 2004. In fact, the earnings of the union bakers is more with the full time pastry bakers being entitled to a lot of benefits in the form of the following:

• Health insurance
• Accident insurance
• Paid vacations
• Retirement plans

The pastry chef career involves doing repetitive tasks, and must even work at night or early in the morning with 40-hour weeks.