How To Become A Professional Baker In 5 Steps
Baked goods take many forms, from baguettes and bagels to more complicated confections such as macarons and kouign-amann. The work environments of bakeries themselves can be just as diverse, making this a flexible career path with a variety of options. In this article, we explain how to become a professional baker, including the education, certifications, skills and experience that can help you advance on this career path.
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Embrace The Bouquet Garni
Wed add this little bundle of flavor to everything from chicken stock to Boeuf Daube Provencal. A classic French cooking term, a bouquet garni is a cheesecloth thats filled with herbs, spices, and sometimes chopped carrots, celery, and onion . Add a bouquet garni to simmering stocks, sauces, and soups to impart aromatic flavors, then remove it when youre ready to serve.
Deliciously Gluten Free Artisan Breads
If you worry about loads of gluten proportion in bread-based food, then welcome to the arena of making your own gluten-free bread at home. With the help of this course, you can learn how to blend your bread mix even if you dont have any prior experience. This course is designed for beginners who want to step into the world of gluten-free food and build on their nutritional habits. This course will introduce you to seven recipes for baking different types of bread at home in the oven. When you complete this course, you will be more confident in experimenting with your food habits including gluten-free food. You may like to check our list of Best Pasta Courses.
Ideal for beginners who want to practice a life of gluten-free food.
Learn recipes and baking techniques to prepare homemade bread-based food.
Acquaint yourself with the ingredients needed for making gluten-free artisan bread.
Blend your bread dough and ferment it at home to cook various cuisines.
You can
Review: My daughter and I have been watching this course together, and today is the day we are finally going to bake some bread from it. Its been a fun and easy thing to watch. Rachel Gittlein.
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Best Bread Baking Courses
After conducting in-depth research, our team of global experts compiled this list of Best Eight Bread Baking Courses, Classes, Tutorials, Training, and Certification programs available online for 2022. This list includes both paid and free courses that will help baking enthusiasts prepare sourdough bread and various recipes from it at home. Also, it is ideal for beginners, intermediates, as well as experts. If cookings your thing, then dont forget taking a look at our compilation of cooking classes.
Best For Cookies: Learn The Pastry Arts
Udemy
The world of cookies is diverse and seemingly endless. It’s hard to believe that flour, sugar, eggs, and butter can create such a vast and diverse collection of treats.
If you’re looking for an adventure in this magical land, check out Marco Ropke’s World of Cookies class on Udemy. Ropke is a master baker with over 25 years of professional experience.
His cookies course includes 25 lectures, three and a half hours of on-demand video, 10 articles, and 23 downloadable resources, including easy-to-follow recipes. The videos cover baking basics, cookie fundamentals, and recipes for 14 different cookiesa mouthwatering list that includes Sables, Linzers, wafers, almond crescents, and, of course, chocolate chip.
Ropke is a well-reviewed instructor on Udemy, and his World of Cookies class is highly-rated. Lifetime access to the course is currently offered for a one-time payment of around $20. If you’re not thoroughly satisfied, Udemy offers a 30-day money-back guarantee.
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How To Stay Safe In The Kitchen
Hygiene and proper handling of ingredients like raw chicken are crucial to prevent your meal being spoilt by food poisoning. Firstly, always wash your hands before cooking or eating and after touching raw meat. Use separate chopping boards for raw meats and vegetables, and make sure to clean all utensils thoroughly after use. When storing meat in the fridge, always use a clean, sealed container and place it on the bottom shelf to avoid dripping onto other foods.
For more information, read our guides on handling raw chicken, cooking meat on the barbecue and transporting food safely. Our guide to weaning – safety, hygiene and storage is also helpful if you are preparing or storing food for a child.
Clean As You Goand Not At The End
A major chunk of our grade in culinary school was based on organization. As much as I tried to keep my workspace clean, doing so while cooking a three course meal under a time crunch was nearly impossibleand Id often end class with a mountain of dirty prep bowls in front of me.
Ideally, cleaning as you cook makes it much easier to stay organized and work more efficiently. Wipe down countertops and cutting boards frequently , keep the sink clear of dirty dishes, and use any spare moments to get a headstart on cleaning. This way, you can relax and enjoy your meal, instead of worrying about the tower of dishes you have to face later.
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Three Steps To Becoming A Professional Baker
There are a range of great career opportunities for our students after graduating from Le Cordon Bleu London, with success stories that include head chefs, business owners, wine producers, chocolatiers, and even cooking show stars, but it may be difficult to decide what path you want to follow. So this series of careers articles will be exploring the wide range of routes that are available to those dedicated and talented people who have gained a Diploma at the world-leading culinary arts, wine and management school!
Traditionally a baker works in a bakery and caters to their local market but nowadays they can also work in specialty shops, supermarkets, restaurants and hotels.
Being a baker requires a lot of hard work and long hours but it is equally as rewarding, so if this is the career path that you truly want to follow, then our Teaching Chefs at Le Cordon Bleu London are providing you with these three essential steps to making your dream a reality.
1. Take a course:What better way is there to learn the right skills and techniques other than straight from the experts? Even if you are a more experienced baker, culinary training can help to improve your craft and expand your baking repertoire.
Our baking course can also be combined with our Diplôme de Pâtisserie for all-round training in both areas of expertise.
If you want to make that first step to becoming a baker then enroll on our Diplôme de Boulangerie today and make your passion into a career.
Best For Beginners: Baker Bettie’s Baking Fundamentals
Baker Bettie
If this is the beginning of your baking journey and you want to go a little deeper than the back of the box of brownie mix, check out the Baking Fundamentals course from Kristin “Baker Bettie” Hoffman.
A former musician, Hoffman’s “Baker Bettie” alter ego embodies her lifelong, passionate pursuit of baking skills and knowledge. Her Fundamentals course, has two parts: Baking Basics and How Ingredients Function in Baking.
Baking Basics comprises five lessons, covering terminology, equipment, and basic processes like mise en place and reading a recipe. How Ingredients Function in Baking offers seven lessons on the science behind the magic, describing the roles played by flour, sugar, butter, eggs, and the specific contributions they make to the final product’s qualities.
Each course is free and includes a video, clear explanatory text, photos, and links to recipes for the assigned homeworknowall you need is someone to grade them.
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Skillshare: Easy & Versatile Baking: The One Yeast Dough You Need To Know
Yeast dough is finicky, tricky, and really easy to mess up. This quick 28-minute long course will save you a lot of misery in the kitchen. And it is one of the best online baking courses if you want to learn how to make a successful yeast dough.
Recipe developer and chef Julia Turshen will teach you how to make the perfect dough, using her raspberry jam buns recipe as a model. In 6 lessons she will give you the low down on working with yeast and making a high-quality dough.
You will be left with some delicious raspberry jam buns and a lot of useful knowledge about working with yeast in the kitchen. And next time you see a recipe that includes yeast, you wont groan with dismay.
This course is meant for beginners, but anyone who has a yeast phobia can take this short course. Being able to work with yeast dough is a great skill that any aspiring baker should have!
If you want to learn more about this platform, you can see my full Skillshare review!
- Popular course! 2,541 students
Best For Couples: Cozymeal
Cozymeal
Why We Chose It: Personalized instruction and plentiful variety in chefs and class timesplus options for custom private classesmake Cozymeal a flexible choice for couples planning a date night.
ProsSmall class sizes for live classesAffordable priceBig selection of chefs, topics, and class timesConsWebsite navigation is clunky
Cozymeal specializes in curating culinary experiences with working chefs and experts across the United States. Its virtual classes are always live, a crucial element that transforms a couples onscreen class from blasé to memorable.
Youll hop on Zoom to make a trendy Basque burnt cheesecake, learn the ropes of gluten-free baking, or keep it classic with chocolate-raspberry cupcakes. Theres even a homemade dog treats class.
Classes range from $29 to $39, depending on the subject and length. Miss your pals? Invite your friends in multiple households to sign up and make it a party. For an especially memorable experience, you can spring for a custom online cooking class.
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How To Decorate A Cake To Look More Professional
In the beginning of my cake decorating days I was mesmerized with how cake could be decorated in so many different ways. I wondered how to stack my layers and how the frosting always looked so even. But mostly, I was wondering why the hell couldnt my freaking cakes look the same!
Now, after pastry school and 10 years of cake decorating experience, I am here to share my tips and tricks on how to start making your cakes look better.
Maybe you want to start your own cake business and know nothing. Or, you like to decorate cakes as a hobby. Maybe you want to impress your in-laws. Whatever the reason, here are your basic starting points for making your cakes more professional.
Disclaimer: There are definitely ways to decorate beautiful cakes without special cake tools, but your cake life will be much easier if you have:
Lets start and learn how to decorate a cake!
Easy & Versatile Baking: The One Yeast Dough You Need To Know
Do you really love baking but are feeling a little lost in the kitchen? Then this Skillshare course can provide you with the guidance you need to feel more confident! The 4 lessons are jam-packed with step-by-step baking tips for home bakers and will only take you 28 minutes to work through.
Author, chef, recipe developer and baker, teaches this popular and informative course. Maybe you havent heard of her but shes the co-author on best-selling cookbooks with Mario Batali, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Dana Cowin.
She delivers tons of useful tips but keeps things light, fun, and fluffy .
Students get a thoughtful overview of the fundamentals including the proper technique to combine ingredients, a primer for getting your yeast dough to rise, and step-by-step instructions for the optimal kneading technique. Youll top it all off by preparing a signature yeast-roll recipe the whole family will love.
Being hosted on Skillshare, users can take advantage of a 1-month FREE trial which gives complete access to this course and 29,000 others.
- Great foundational course
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Days Professional Cake Decorating Course
Brush up your cake making & designing skills with the leaders in the field of cake decorating and sugar art. Get into a beautiful journey of Whipped Cream Cakes, Fondant Cakes, Figurines, Cakes with Chocolate Ganache, Cakes with Buttercream, Sugar Flower, Wedding cakes, and much more in this Professional Cake Making Course with a certificate.
Learn The Proper Way To Hold A Knife
This is the most basic of basic tipsso much so that many of you may know this already, but for the beginners out there, its SO important! You probably use a knife every day, if not several times a day, so learning how to hold a knife correctly is the one thing you can do that will instantly give you more confidence and speed up your workflow.
So lets get into it: place the knife in your dominant hand and place your thumb and index finger around each side of the bolster. The bolster is where the metal edge of the knife starts to flare out from the handle. The remaining fingers can wrap around the handle . The other hand should hold the object you are chopping steady, and always protect those fingertips by curling them inwards, kind of like a claw. Your knuckles can act as a guide for the blade of the knife . If you dont already hold your knife this way, try it and see for yourself how much stability it offers.
Please, DO NOT rest your index finger on the top of the knife! I cringe when I see people do this. Its just a wobbly recipe for disaster. Oh, and if youre curious about my recommendations for a solid at-home starter knife- I like this WUSTHOF one and this Shun one.
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A Sharp Knife Is A Safe Knife
Youve probably heard this one a million times, but its important . A dull knife takes more force to slice through food than a sharp knife, which means your hands are more likely to slip in the process. A sharp knife helps you speed through your prep work and make even-sized cuts, which helps protein and veggies cook more evenly. Ultimately, this means better lookingand better tastingfood. Want to learn how to keep your own knives sharp? Read this Knife Sharpening Guide to learn the basics.
Udemy: #1 Sourdough Bread Baking 101
Do you love the taste of sourdough bread? Do you want to learn how to make it yourself from scratch? Here is your chance to learn from the best! Sourdough expert and founder of Northwest Sourdough, Teresa Greenway, will have you whipping up crispy, holey sourdough loaves in no time.
This course is for beginners who have no prior sourdough experience, and dont let the idea of making your own sourdough starter deter you. Throughout 42 video lessons, Teresa will teach you the basics like how to make and care for your starter, how to mix and fold the dough, and how to shape, score, and bake the dough.
She will also give you handy tips on what basic baking equipment youll need and fill you in on why its really important to weigh your ingredients. Sourdough is a science, but after this 2-hour course, sourdough wont seem so scary anymore!
- Full lifetime access to the course
- Certificate of completion
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Institute Of Culinary Education
The Institute of Culinary Education has a School of Pastry and Baking Arts program that arms students with every tool they will need to become a cake boss. This school is known for turning out well know bakers that have won awards, written bestselling cookbooks, appeared on TV and been featured in some leading foodie magazines. Sounds to us like the road to success is through this program.
There are a few different program options for students to choose from depending on what their schedules will accommodate. The program will last anywhere from 6 months to a year with classes offered on various days of the week or solely on weekends. The curriculum for the Pastry and Baking Arts program is constantly evolving, but one thing is for certain students can expect hands on learning from the start and to become an accomplished professional in no time.
Best For Cakes: Craftsy
Craftsy
Why We Chose It: With tons of classes on decorating and baking available on-demand, Craftsy is a good budget option you can fit into your own schedule.
ProsMinimal opportunities for community engagementNo option to sign up for a single class series
Craftsy isnt just for crafts. This popular on-demand video learning platform has built extensive cake decorating classes into its core offerings. Their production values are solid, and their seasoned chef-instructors are camera-savvyno amateurish snoozefest videos here.
Another distinguishing factor with Craftsy is the number of chef-instructors, allowing you to glean tons of perspectives and try lots of cake decorating styles. Plus, if youre more into dessert baking than cake decorating, theyve got you covered, too.
Extras include dozens of free, highly informative articles on the Craftsy site. Premium members have access to class discussion areas where they can post questions, though answers wont necessarily be from the chef-expert in the video.
One-time classes range from $9.99 to $69.99. As of May 2021, the normal $97 per year premium membership allowing unlimited class access was just $3 for the first year for new members.
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Cooking Lessons for Beginners
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Cooking is one of those rare institutions that both males and females love to do. Some got expert in it, and others just keep on trying their fate. Being a good cook is always an extra feather in your cap. It looks to easy to cook good food, but every glitter is not gold. Cooking is something that can be very pleasant for beginners to learn.
Cooking is usually labeled with girls, but, in this modern age, this profession holds almost the equal amount of professionals of both sexes. Both males and females are pursuing their passion for cooking as their profession.
As a beginner, it could be hard to learn how to cook, but once you have an interest in it, it will be a pleasure to do. The thing that haunts most beginners is that they cannot find good tutors who can teach them how to cook.
If you are one of those beginners, then it is the time when you should stop worrying about it. In the article, we will be introducing some of the best cooking lessons that beginner needs to subscribe to be a professional. You just need to get through this article, and you will certainly find some good courses to teach you how to cook.