Is being a pastry chef hard?

[MStorandelli]

Hopefully you did a bit of research before you made this decision.
Ok, here goes:
If focusing your attention for an extended period of time on one thing without being distracted is difficult for you, your crème anglaise will curdle and your caramel will be darker than your tires.
If your arms and hands aren’t very strong…say your mixer breaks and you’re in the middle of a wedding cake, it takes a good 10 to 15 minutes of hard beating to do a genoise by hand (it’ll happen more than once)…you’re going to hurt and so is your cake.
If you are attentive and strong, and have both technical design precision and some artistic sense, if your eye can divide things into fifths and sevenths easily and accurately, and if you can stand to see something you have attended to and fussed over for the past 6 hours to make beautiful be stabbed with a fork and eaten by someone who hardly notices and is talking (or worse in the old days, smoking) while they do it, then being a pastry chef will be a snap.
However, no matter how long you have been a pastry chef, or how many wedding cakes you have made, if you’re not nervous when you’re about to make your own daughter’s wedding cake in a month (like I am!), you’re not human.
Good Luck,
Mama Storandelli/ralphie

[Blueicus]

Do you want it to be easy?

[Fincher]

depends on where you work. With us at the Inn its a pretty sweet Job. very easy in my opinion if you have the skills. Tom used to do it by himself plus do his exec chef responsiblities.

Now we have one guy dedicated to it, plus Tom helps out as well as I on the rare occasion. Like today! I made Genevieve's recipe for Honey comb cheesecake.

[Silverfox]

As Fincher said, depends on where you work.

If you watched "Dinner Impossible" last night, you might consider it "hard". The "day" started around 6 pm I believe, and ended at 6 am and they really didn't slow down all night.

[bear]

Do bears poop in the woods? Mama Storandelli has got most of it(hi Ralphie) you will also need a thick skin, while you are beating, mixing, proving, baking, melting, tempering, calculating, scaling up mixes, waiting for things to set, waiting for things to cool and the myriad other things we do in the afternoon, or early am if your lucky enough to work days, the other chefs will be in the staff room on abreak or in their beds, later in the day when they are running around like lunatics you will be hanging around doing a little of this and a little of that waiting for the onslaught of dessert orders that you will handle alone because the "chefs" have all pushed off to the pub, the following day they will tell you how lucky you are not to have their jobs and what an easy life you have playing with the chocolate and marzipan.(try not to stab anyone with a dipping fork).
Are you sure you want to be a "sponge monkey"?

[carameladdict]

^ sounds like fun to me...

easy? not so much.

[Blueicus]

I think it's a testament to our passion for our profession when we desire to do something because it is hard and not because it is easy.

[naunga]

This all, of course, depends on your definition of hard.

If by hard you mean physically intense? Then yes pastries can be that. You lift 50 lbs bags of flour, sometimes carry them up a flight or two of stairs. 80 qt mixer bowls are not light, especially when they have 20lbs of butter cream in them. You may work in a very hot kitchen.

If by hard you mean technically difficult, then yes it can be that as well. There is a lot to know, but then again what kind of pastry chef are you? Are you working in a busy restaurant turning out 200 plated desserts a night? Or are you working in a catering kitchen making and decorating 200 cakes for an event?

There are those people out there who go into baking and pastry because they think it will be "easier" than the hot foods side. Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't.

In the end it is all about what you enjoy doing. There are pastry jobs that move super slow and emphasize detailed work, and there are those that are turner and burner jobs. Plate desserts, make creme brulee for tomorrow, plate more desserts, do a batch of ice cream, etc.

So what you're looking at is a varied field, that is very competitive and at times very intense, and like most food jobs is what you make it.

Naunga

[Frantastic]

One thing more, please.
If you want to be on the 'baking' side versus the 'cooking' side, know your math.

Know your percentages, your measurements, pounds, ounces, weights, yada, yada, yada!

Understand the formulas, because that's what makes the end product as good as it gets.

When I was in culinary school, there was a saying in the baking classes...... 'You get 1 chance to get it right in baking'

If you've got the passion, then you will want to understand and absorb what you need for the rest. Make it happen!

[harleypastrygirl]

every job is hard... until you get into it. until you master it. even then, it can be smooth sailing until you need 4 birthday cakes by the end of the day, and that is including your regular work. also, like Fincher and Silverfox said 'it all depends on where you work'. I worked 26 years at a country club. you get that 'groove' you get to know what you need to do in your down times to stay ahead. no its not always easy, no job is. its rewarding, both personally and financially once you become who you want to be. gest of luck to you honey!!

[daunp]

mm,,hard you ask? i live in the central valley, ca. we just had our heat wave, was 90+ in the bakery,still had to get my product out! gotta be able to make every dish the first of the day, hard,,yea i work hard, but everyday i go home feeling like i helped someone have a better day, just caused they ate my dessert