If the Kitchen is creativity, the Pastry is chemistry. How many times have you heard this phrase that, in a sense, has a basis of truth. In the sense that, if in the kitchen often experimentation )through substitution of ingredients or modification of dosages) can also lead to new and interesting solutions, in pastry everything is weighed and calibrated to the milligram and very little is left to free interpretation.
La PASTRY, in short, it is a real science. Also proving this is the fact that the ingredients used in the preparation of cakes have a very specific function.
The Role of Ingredients in Pastry
Sugar, for example, in addition to imparting sweetness to desserts, "regulates the structure" of the dessert. Think, for example, that in the case of a meringue, crystallized sucrose acts to support the egg white proteins.
Not only that, sugar is highly soluble in water and absorbs moisture, which makes us understand why, if we sprinkle powdered sugar on a cake that is still warm and moist just out of the oven, an unsightly sticky syrup will form.
If sugar gives structure, eggs serve to bind doughs, as well as give body to creams, incorporate air for leavening. They are therefore an essential element in Pastry.
The best pastry chef in the world: Iginio Massari
Iginio Massari ranks first among star Italian pastry chefs. Born in 1942, trained at the school of pastry chef Claude Gerber in Switzerland, he founded his famous Pasticceria Veneto in Brescia in 1971, the most awarded in Italy and the most famous in the world. Master Massari, who also received a Leone d'Oro Alla Carriera (Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement) among many other awards in 2015, is considered Italy's number one pastry chef. Freshness, goodness and beauty are the main attributes of the work of the Maestro, who insists on not wanting to identify himself as an artist, and prefers to profess himself as an artisan. A craftsman who continues to contaminate his work with research, culture, study and technique...as well as poetry, which the great pastry chef is passionate about.
Learn technique in pastry making with a training course
Study is the imperative for those who want to become pastry chefs. One cannot improvise and experience is not enough: it must be corroborated by solid scientific foundations, by skills acquired both in the use and transformation of ingredients and in what concerns techniques and tools, which are always new and cutting-edge. The study of tradition and even ancient recipes must find support in innovation, toward pastry techniques that take into account, especially today, nutritional values, any allergies or ethical choices.
The Italian Food Academy Pastry Course
Italian Food Academy is the body of training in the field of haute cuisine which organizes masters and specific courses for anyone who wants to undertake a professional career in the kitchen industry.
The pastry course, specifically, aims to provide all the theoretical and practical knowledge in the art of pastry making and consists of the following stages:
- Propaedeutic lessons
- 20-hour online course to the HACCP Certificate of 3°level
- 48-hour laboratory phase
- 300-hour internship phase in the region of residence, in part-time or full-time mode
The topics covered in the teaching program are:
- Staff Organisation
- The enterprise system in confectionery
- Pastry Mise en place
- The tools
- Machinery
- Leavening and Baking
- Process cycle of products
- Base mixtures
- Fresh Pastry
- Traditional and modern cakes
- Bakery: cakes, biscuits, tarts
- Creams and fillings
- Chantilly, custard and pastry cream
- Chocolate decorations
