CUL-46 — Fundamentals of Baking and Pastry

Prerequisite: None

Description: An introduction to the fundamental skills, concepts, and techniques of baking. Through lectures, demonstrations and lab work, this elementary baking course will cover the theory of safety and sanitation, purchasing and receiving, business and math skills, weights and measures, baking terminology, the use of hand tools and equipment found in the bakeshop, the exploration of baking and pastry ingredients and their functions. Students will gain a working knowledge of the major methods such as creaming, blending, foaming, meringues, precooked, cut-in, lamination, straight dough, custards, pies, tarts, cookies and brownies. This course covers the steps in the bread baking process, straight dough mixing method, sponge dough mixing method, shaping rolls and breads, sour dough starters, nutritional and specialty breads, and organic bread with an emphasis on artisan breads, enriched yeast breads and specialty breads. Emphasis will be placed on fundamental production techniques and evaluation of quality characteristics. Creaming method will be covered by the production of muffins and quick breads, also included will be bread variations with low sodium and sugar. 54 hours lecture and 297 hours lab. (Letter grade only)