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Baking and Pastry Arts

Hands-on learning happens in our professional-grade pastry labs. Here, students learn the science and craft of producing breads, pastries, cakes and other items both savory and sweet.

Customers flock to the A.P. Smith’s Bakery, a boutique retail outlet fully operated by the students themselves. The campus community and our neighbors enjoy the results! Baked goods are also served at specific events. Over the course of two years, students will have the opportunity to refine their skills under American Culinary Federation certified faculty members. Students develop techniques while working off-campus with professionals, providing them with paid employment opportunities that support their career goals.

Students who excel in the A.A.S. program will have the opportunity to accelerate their degrees. The college offers an A.O.S. degree program that allows qualified, ambitious students to adjust their curriculum, take more credits per semester, and earn a Baking and Pastry Arts degree in as little as 18 months.

Graduates enter the workforce as journeyman bakers, assistants to pastry chefs, retail bakery management trainees or commercial bakers. This program also prepares entrepreneurs to operate a bakery or café. Graduates may also choose to pursue a four-year degree in Baking Arts and Service Management.

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Meet The Chefs
Key Facts
  • A.A.S. and A.O.S. degree options.
  • 62 credits (minimum) required.
    • 21+ credits must be in the liberal arts and sciences.
  • 400-hour industry work experience required.
    • 200 hours (minimum) required at each location.
    • This is non-credit bearing and there is no tuition fee.
Career Options
  • Pastry chef
  • Pastry sous chef
  • Caterer
  • Retail bakery menu designer
  • Cake decorator
  • Bakery owner
Courses & Objectives

At the end of the program students will be able to:

  • Professionally prepare, cost, produce, and present pastry, baked products, and desserts that exemplify emerging trends, nutritional awareness, and creative artisan quality.
  • Direct and oversee the pastry and baking functions of the kitchen(s), including menu development, inventory and purchasing of supplies, and cost control.
  • Create dessert menus and bakery inventory to maximize profits and minimize loss.
  • Test and develop recipes and presentation styles that exhibit current concepts, practices, and procedures.
  • Exemplify the effective marketing, management, and interpersonal skills for the development, delivery, sales, presentation, and evaluation of quality customer service.
  • Apply cost control concepts to develop appropriate systems for bakery operations this includes the ability to prepare, analyze and interpret financial documents as well as analyze trend and market data to develop effective business and strategic operations plans.
  • Successfully manage diverse individuals in group projects and multi-faceted tasks through effective team building, goal setting, needs analysis, supervision, training, and evaluation.
  • Apply ethical decision making, legal standards, and industry best practices in operating a safe food operation.
  • Follow federal, state, and local food sanitation regulations.
  • Exhibit quality judgment to plan and accomplish goals.

Sample courses:

  • Baking Essentials
  • Classic and Modern Cookies, Tarts, and Pies
  • Yeast Doughs and Artisanal Breads
  • Viennoiserie and Laminated Doughs
  • Effective College Writing
  • First Year Seminar
  • Restaurant and Plated Desserts
  • Chocolate
  • Nutrition
  • Psychology/Organizational Behavior
  • European and International Pastries
  • Principles of Marketing
  • Introduction to Food Production
  • Baking Retail Management
  • Sustainable Practices Entrepreneurship
  • Principles of Management

More program information and a full course list can be found in the College Catalog. For program planning sheets, click here.

A student-run bakery located in Cantwell Hall on the beautiful Paul Smith’s College campus. Sweet and savory treats are offered three days a week while classes are in session.

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