Should I Consider Becoming a Pastry Chef?
Career News July 13, 2014When You Really Like Pastries
How often have you sat down in a restaurant and watched as the most beautiful and mouth- watering dessert was being served to the table next to you and wondered to yourself, how on earth did they do that? You probably remember at least one time, walking by a bakery you were completely unable to resist entering because the smell was just so intoxicating and the desserts looks perfect that they seemed unreal. These were probably the moments that spiked your interests in becoming a bakery chef.
A Gift for Pastries
Do you look at a stick of butter, a cup of flour, and a little sugar and say, “I know what I can do with this?” Becoming a pastry chef is not just a job; it is an art and a perfect opportunity to share your artistic abilities. A pastry chef must be very organized and detail- oriented in order to assemble several ingredients separately, then combine them in precise measurements and add them in the correct way and in the correct order.
It takes a lot of stamina and strength to be a good pastry chef. Pastry chefs start the day early and are on their feet for long hours. Their work involves detailed preparations and spotless conditions.
A pastry chef must have a good understanding of the scientific principles behind their art. Since, as a pastry chef, you will be using perishable and fragile foods, you will need to understand the biology of food safety.
A good understanding of nutrition and human physiology is also required as a good pastry chef. While you may be able to produce a paradise of decadent desserts, there is also a market for wholesome sweet treasures and gluten- free pastries.
It is imperative that you have a good eye for design in order to create visually appealing desserts. Tthis is where your creative ability is most crucial. The dessert must be not only be appealing to the sense of smell and taste, but, it must be enticing to the eye as well.
Opportunities for a Pastry Chef
The hours are long, and the physical stamina required to be on your feet for sometimes as long as twelve hours in a day is grueling, but pastry chefs will tell you, the works of art they create are well worth the toiltoll.
As well as the actual ability to bake pastry items, you will need good people skills since you will be working with assistants and probably the public. You will also need good business and management skills. Having a good sense of humor never hurts. Being able to laugh relieves much of the stress and can add to your patience.
Creativity is the key to this profession. One great pastry chef created all the wonderful and beautiful desserts for every White House gala and state dinner for 25 years, and in that time, he never served the same dessert twice. That’s creativity.
Becoming a pastry chef offers many career options to you besides making breads and cakes. You can work in a bakery, restaurant, patisserie, or you can open your own business. You may even choose to become a food critic or a writer or choose to teach pastry skills. Pastry chefs are in demand and do make good money. The higher your education, and the more experience you acquire, the more you will earn in your profession.
If you are artistic, logical, practical, and creative, with plenty of patience, stamina and a good sense of humor, you have many of the most desirable characteristics for becoming a pastry chef. If you are willing to work the long hours and usually holidays because you enjoy the creativity of baking, then becoming a pastry chef shouldn’t be a hard decision. It is a career rich with opportunity, as you enjoy the art of making those rich, delicious, mouth- watering desserts.
