How to Become a Bakery Chef

---

Do you want to know how to become a bakery chef? A baker is a professional at preparing baked goods, desserts, and other treats for cafes and restaurants. If you have a strong passion for baking and making delicious desserts, then you may have a successful career as a bakery chef.

A bakery chef is perceived as a leader in their chosen field. While chefs prepare savory meals, bakery chefs specialize in desserts and breads. Great bakery chefs do not only create tasty treats, they ensure that their creations appeal to the eyes too. They pay close attention to detail, have great manual dexterity, and a pretty strong drive towards success and perfection.

Educational Requirements

There are different pathways one can choose to follow in order to become a bakery chef. Some people are self-taught, these bakers learned how to bake at home and have perfected their skills over a period of time. Others complete an apprenticeship program as bakers, chef, or bakery chef and get trained on the job. Some attend culinary school in order to learn the art of cooking in an educational/formal environment, and then move on to getting a job upon graduation.

If you want to become a bakery chef, first take a close look at your current situation. For instance, if you are currently in high school, the most effective way to attain your goal is by enrolling into a vocational school or apprenticeship program.

If you want to be a self-taught bakery chef, you may be able to start your own bakery establishment or become an assistant to a head chef. A great way to get your foot in the door is by making a photo portfolio of your work then taking it around to restaurants and cafes. You may even bake at home and sell your baked goods directly to interested buyers via the Internet.

You can also attend a culinary school that specializes in helping you become a pastry or bakery chef. There are many culinary schools around.

Job Description of a Bakery Chef

Bakery chefs work to prepare desserts, specialty cakes, breads, and other different types of sweet treats. Part of knowing how to become a bakery chefs involves waking up early to get to work to prepare the desserts for the day. They may also have to work split shifts, or work odd hours on weekends and nights – however, this will depend on the employer.

Bakery chefs will also need to come up with new recipes and ideas. It is likely that they will also come up with the “Specials” for the day.

Here are a couple of the tasks that bakery chefs may be responsible for:

•Preparing desserts
•Planning out menus
•Communicating with staff and other chefs
•Ordering kitchen supplies and food ingredients
•Researching and testing out new recipes
•Cleaning
•Sourcing new ingredients

For those who choose to learn how to become a bakery chef, they can count on having a challenging work environment and job security. According to Indeed.com salary report in 2010, the media salary of bakery chefs was between $34,000 and $44,000 per year. There is also a great opportunity to grow and become a reputable chef with your own reality cooking show like Rachel Ray.