WELCOME TO THE PASTRY SECTION
THE SECTION WHERE CHEMISTRY PLAYS A ROLE
It took a better part of 6 months before I was going to work and learn about the Pastry Section. In that section, one has to work very exactly by recipes. Every ingredient has to be weighed exactly to the gram. The reason for that is; The content of the recipe has to be precise due to the fact that the end result is a success. For those of you who have baked a cake before or made a dough for bread or cub cakes knows very well, that if the recipe is not followed, the end result can end up a disaster.
As a Chef, you need to have a good understanding about pastries and sweets, including how to make sorbets, ice cream, basic cakes, different puddings and cream deserts like vanilla cream, cream caramel, chocolate cream and fruit flavored cream desserts. Also small tarts filled with a cream patisserie (like a vanilla custard) and topped with fruits like berries, bananas, pineapples, cherries and the like. You also get to learn how to work with chocolate, how to melt chocolate as an ingredient for chocolate mousse, chocolate flan, chocolate ice cream plus lots more. Working with sugar, how to caramelize sugar without burning the sugar and most importantly to keep your fingers away from cooked sugar. You can burn yourself severely when you get cooked sugar on your hands. Sugar takes a while to cool down, so when you get caramelized sugar on your hands, it will not cool down for a while.
THE PASTRY CHEF IN CHARGE
There is a big difference between a Chef and Pastry Chef.
A Chef is qualified to cook all different foods with a basic knowledge about sweets and pastries.
A Pastry Chef has made a apprenticeship in baking, pastry and cake making and some of them in chocolate making and chocolate work. So in Switzerland, when you make first a bakers apprenticeship, you learn all about bread making to pastries, plus a separate apprenticeship as a "Chocolatier" (knowing how to make all types of chocolates from scratch). So in other words, the training to become a full fledged pastry chef will take up to 6 years, depending how much one wants to learn and qualify for the trade. Pastry Chefs are working in exclusive and luxurious Hotels and are wanted Worldwide. Some pastry chefs are also qualified as Chefs but your training will go for 9 years. I can assure you, I have ever only met one Pastry Chef who went all the way.
WHAT GOES ON IN A PASTRY SECTION?
In the hotel I made my apprenticeship, the Pastry Section is also a part of the Main Kitchen, but separated with dividing walls. our Pastry Section was equipped with a massive stainless table in the middle of the section. Around the table where the refrigerators also made of stainless steel, going from the floor up to the ceiling, a freezer for prepared sweets, a stand mixer for making dough's, whipped cream and different mixes for sweets. A huge dough roll machine, a marble plate for sugar and chocolate work, large containers on wheels with different flours, sugars, ovens, a gas stove with copper pots and pans, a tools section including copper bowls and a small desk area for the Pastry Chef for all the paper work and function and job sheets.
Been part of the Movenpick Group, a lot of the cakes where made in the main factory of Movenpick. They where delivered frozen and to finish them off, we had to bake them. Not all cakes where made there, just a few basic ones who where available in every Movenpick Resort Worldwide.
Cakes: Black Forest Cake, "Sacher" Torte, a chocolate torte specialty originated in Austria, Vienna from the Hotel Sacher, baked Fruit flans, a typically Swiss dessert made in a round and shallow cake mold with a crispy dough, grounded hazelnuts, layered with fruits like apricots, cherries, apples, pears and topped with a liquid egg and vanilla mix, then baked. We made also strawberry sponge cake and other specialty torts and cakes.
Biscuits: We made different biscuit dough mixes, then we rolled them into 15 inch and 1 inch thick rolls, wrapped each roll with clingfilm to be frozen. Daily we would take out a few rolls, unwrap them and cut about a quarter inch slices. Then we placed them on a baking tray and bake them. Once baked, we cool them down to room temperature and place them into a cookie tin. The biscuits will go to all our restaurants, to be served with a cup of coffee ordered by the guests.
Pastries: We made a range of pastries like cream slices, fruit tarts, and a huge range of different Swiss pastries.
Cream caramel: A dessert that takes skill especially when you make them from start.
Fruit salad: may sounds simple but when you work in a top hotel, the fruit salad has to be spot on. No seeds, no tough skins and colorful the fruit salad has to be.
Different cream desserts & mousse: Cream brule, chocolate mousse, caramel cream, chocolate cream, strawberry mousse, Charlotte Royal plus lots more.
Plated desserts: We had to make all the plated desserts for functions and events. We would have all the plates in a refrigerator, and before the desserts are plated, we would take everything up to the function kitchen to be plated. The timing had to be absolute priority.
I really enjoyed working in the Pastry Section. During my apprenticeship, in my third year, our great Pastry Chef fell ill for a few weeks. The Executive Chef Norbert Fontana gave me the responsibility to run the Pastry Section during the time our Pastry Chef was not present. That was a great honor for me and at one stage I contemplated to do a additional 2 apprenticeships as a baker and chocolate maker. However once I finished my apprenticeship, I had to march up to the Swiss Army Service, a must for every male 18 years old or older.
Next week we go to the function kitchen. A hectic place to work and long hours. Until then, enjoy life, eat great food and live well.
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