How to Become a Pastry Arts Professional in Florida
September 28, 2009
•Le Cordon Bleu
•Miami
• 0 Comments
The first step to becoming a pastry arts professional in Florida is to reaffirm your love of pastries and other confections. Practice baking at home by trying out new recipes and your own imagined creations.
After some time baking, do you see yourself working knee-deep in flour? Do you enjoy tasting sweet creations? Do you have an eye for design and creative food presentation?
Formal Training
Once you are convinced that the pastry arts are your passion, the next step is to research Florida career colleges with courses in culinary arts, or more specifically, pastry arts. Students in these programs, often called a Pâtisserie and Baking program, learn to work with yeast and sponge dough along with puff pastries. Additionally, courses instruct students to work with icing and how to other decorating techniques too.
Similar to most other culinary arts programs, a Florida pastry arts program can provide hands-on learning as well as formal lecture so that each person who receives a diploma or certificate in pastry arts knows more than just how to bake. Graduates of the programs learn how to work well with a baking team and understand the timing of different types of food preparation. With practice and guidance, students also improve eye-hand coordination, stamina, and dexterity.
Regardless of the Florida career college you attend, make sure the pastry arts program includes instruction on the business behind the pastry arts career. Florida bakeries of all sizes require strong business acumen too. Be sure that in addition to your skills in baking you also enjoy working with the public and promoting a business.
Explore Job Opportunities
In Florida, pastry arts jobs run the gamut from school cafeterias to resort restaurants to wedding cake bakeries. When starting a new career or considering a new career, it is always recommended that you speak with those already working in the industry and try your hand at an entry-level position at a bakery.
While working in an entry-level position may not be that lucrative without a diploma or certificate, working in the Florida food service and baking industry will give you first-hand knowledge of how to become a pastry chef here in Florida and elsewhere.
Starting Your Own Florida Cooking and Baking Business
If you are in a position to start your own business with a focus on pastry arts, then Florida is a great place to do so. With a booming events and tourism industry, there is an opportunity to market your business to tourists and residents alike.
Learn the marketing skills necessary to get your business off the ground and network with like-minded professionals. Florida career colleges offer such opportunities.
If you are a graduate of a particular pastry arts program, your school may offer job search assistance and alumni and networking opportunities to help you get your business off the ground.