The daily duties of a pastry chef include ordering supplies, planning menus, costing, researching recipe concepts, and developing and testing those concepts. Pastry chefs often go directly to growers to ensure the freshest possible berries and fruits. They also must work with the other chefs and the management to prepare a budget for the pastry department.
Pastry chefs deal not only with traditional desserts but also gourmet cheese platters, dessert wines, and specialty dessert beverages. They must meet with other chefs in the restaurant to discuss menu planning and to make sure that the desserts complement the appetizers and entrees.
Pastry chefs must pay close attention to the aesthetics of desserts, such as shape, presentation, size, color, and uniformity, along with taste and calories. They typically handle all preparations of the desserts before dinner seating begins, measuring, weighing, and sifting the ingredients. Usually, another station chef completes the desert and plates it when it is ordered.
Pastry chefs must possess not only culinary ability but also great creativity, artistry, and attention to detail to make desserts that are as visually pleasing as they are tasty. They also need people skills and customer service skills as they often supply other businesses with baked goods or own their own shops. A pastry chef position often involves early hours, starting around 4 a.m., along with some lifting and long periods of standing by a hot oven.
Positions as pastry chefs require such culinary school accreditations as a one-year baking and pastry certificate, a two-year associate's degree in applied science culinary arts, or a four-year bachelor of arts degree in culinary arts.
Most such programs involve some instruction in biology, such as what types of environments promote bacterial growth, what cooking temperatures are necessary to destroy bacteria, and the proper handling of such perishable foods as cream, butter, and eggs. There are also lessons in the physiology of taste, such as how salty, sweet, and bitter flavors and different textures affect taste buds. Culinary schools also provide instruction in the history of pastries, the fundamentals of baking, and the origins of basic ingredients, along with hands-on kitchen lessons on measuring ingredients and properly handling various kitchen tools.
The Culinary Institute of America in New York offers a bachelor's degree in baking and pastry arts which allows students to “develop proficiency in creating hearth and specialty breads, desserts, [pastries], patisserie[s], and confections; practice basic cooking; and explore nutrition, writing, menu development, communication, food safety, and cost control…and discover how to make your baking and pastry business profitable by studying marketing, computers, and finance,” according to the institute's website. Additionally, the institute offers studies in languages, history, and the baking and pastry traditions of the world, along with courses in interpersonal communication, ethics, management, and psychology. The school also provides students with an 18-week paid externship in which they can gain practical experience in becoming a pastry chef.
The degree offered by the institute does not limit the student to becoming a pastry chef. He or she may also go into research and development, career and event planning, or become an entrepreneur, chocolatier, bakery or café owner, or even artisan bread baker.
