What is the schooling required to become a pastry chef?
Baking is all about chemistry for the uninformed. It is a lot more complex than throwing ingredients into a pan, sauteeing for a few minutes and hoping it turns out. You mess up on your measurements in baking, and you get a hockey puck or worse. You can go to a high-dollar school – there are numerous Culinary Academies, Culinary Institutes, etc. where you study the art of pastry & candies, and then work on your degree through general ed. courses offered there also. You can also work your way up through an apprenticeship program which is, in all honesty, the best way to go. There are thousands of students out there that, thanks to The Food Network and the glorification of the industry, are 30-40K in debt after graduating from one of the culinary academies only to find out they have to start out at the bottom in a bakery or restaurant anyways. Most start out at minimum wage, and you’ll also have a student loan to repay. Seriously consider an apprenticeship or training at a community coll
