Baking and Pastry Schools

If you want to become a professional baker, you can enjoy the convenience of taking baking classes by getting enrolled in a baking school online. The programs are designed in such a way that they do not just equip you with theoretical knowledge but also offer practical exposure through regular kitchen and lab sessions. In most of the institutes, you'll be taught by instructors who have real world baking industry experience.

Type Of Degrees
The program can be completed at different levels including:

• Certificate
• Associate Degree
• Bachelor's Degree

The duration of the program usually depends on the level of program and your institute.

General Program Objectives:
Baking programs teach you many things including but not limited to:

• Key bakery ingredients and how they interact in baked products
• Good manufacturing practices related to the food industry
• Critical processes that ensure good quality of final products
• Essential management and leadership tools for succeeding in the modern food industry
• Focus on process control including quality management, project management, cost calculation, cost reduction and basics of finance.

Program Curriculum
As far as the curriculum is concerned, you'll typically be required to complete some core courses and take up some electives depending on your interest. To give you a general idea of the type of courses that you can find in different baking schools, we've listed some example courses along with their descriptions:

Food Safety And Sanitation
You will learn about the basic theories of safety and sanitation and their application in the hospitality industry. Various topics will be covered including safety and sanitary codes and regulations, food-related illnesses, care and use of baking tools, personal hygiene, and the sanitary procedures in the workplace.

Menu Design
This course teaches how to plan a menu, based on appropriate food choices as well as the aesthetic aspects. Food trends, nutritional concerns, layouts, recipe costs and customer demographics are all looked at. Assignments for online students may involve creating sample professional menus.

Food Purchasing
This course is intended to help analyze the types as well as quantities of ingredients that you'll have to purchase for baking. You'll deal with factors like cost control and reduction, supplier relationships and inventory management of staples like flour and sugar. Moreover, based on past trends, you'll learn to make predictions about future kitchen stocks.

Hospitality Management
You will learn about the basic business strategies of running a bakery or kitchen and supervising employees and subordinates. Other themes that will be covered include marketing your business and streamlining the production process. It might include basic knowledge of accounting practices. The names and range of courses usually differ depending on the institute you are enrolled in.

Employment Prospects
After completing a baking program, you can expect to be employed in bakeries, restaurants, supermarkets and other hospitality related businesses. Alternatively you can start your own business venture and be self-employed. According to O*NET Online, in 2012, bakers earned hourly and yearly wage of $11.3 and $23,140 respectively. Growth in employment during 2010 to 2020 was expected to remain in the range of -2% to 2%, with 46,800 new job openings.