By looking at the particular courses in the Baking - Pastry Arts Management program, this article demonstrates the distinct benefits of learning at Centennial College.

1. Pastry Arts Management Students Receive Significant
Amount of Practical Experience
Aside from retail bakeries, supermarkets, department stores, hotels,
resorts, camps and more all hire bakers with the ability to produce
advanced commercial quantities of breads, rolls, sweet dough, savoury and
sweet pastry, Danish and puff pastry, cookies, cakes and desserts. If these
professionals also have knowledge of materials purchasing and storage,
product cost control and marketing, hiring and managing personnel, they
are at a distinct advantage.
Centennial College’s Baking – Pastry Arts Management program balances
the practical skills of bakers with the business savvy they need to stand
apart from the competition. This learning occurs within the Culinary Arts
Centre, which boasts all of the latest equipment that in turn helps students
to make a smooth transition into the workforce.
Applicants are required to have completed an Ontario Secondary School
Diploma (OSSD) or equivalent, or have mature student status (19 years or
older) and English Grade 12 C or U, or equivalent (minimum grade
required) or take the Centennial College English Skills Assessment for
Admission.
Once they are accepted, students attend a range of courses that include:
Baking and Pastry Arts Theory: Used in this course are study sessions that
review major baking ingredients, their industry applications, trade
terminology as well as baking production principles and methods.
Mathematics for Bakers: Mathematics is an essential part of the baker’s job.
As such, students learn how to convert formulas from imperial to metric,
calculate baking percentages, determine flour factor, and prepare formulae
for practical applications.
Quantity Bakery Production: Large scale baking is quite common in bakeries
so students learn the basic principles of baking and develop the skills
necessary for success in such a baking environment. The course highlights
technique, terminology, organization, professionalism, safe handling and
storage of products.
Baking and Pastry Arts Practical (3 Levels): The first of these three courses
gives students a base with basic production principles and gains confidence
in weighing ingredients, mixing doughs and preparing batters, fillings and

2. icings. Students prepare, bake and finish specific sweet and savoury
doughs, quick breads, cookies, pastries, custards, pies and laminated
doughs. The second course, presented during the second semester, moves
onto re-enforcing techniques in selecting, weighing, and mixing ingredients.
Students prepare, bake and finish foam cakes, advanced pastries, petite
fours, special occasion cakes, creams, custards, advanced sweet and
savoury doughs and choux paste desserts. The final of the three courses,
meanwhile, is an advanced version of the second course.
To round out this baking program, students experience a field placement
during the final semester. This is students’ opportunity to work in
commercial kitchens applying what they have learned in their courses,
learning from seasoned professionals and making industry connections.
Graduates of the one year Baking - Commercial Bakeries program may
directly enter semester three of this program and earn a diploma in one
additional year.