Confectioner is a profession. Description and Features

To date, the profession of confectioner is popular and is considered quite in demand. Confectioners specialize in masterful sweets. Thanks to their work, consumers can please themselves with waffles, cookies, cakes, muffins, chocolate, jelly, ice cream, jam, as well as other types of desserts and pastries.

The preparation of different types of dough, fillings and creams, as well as semi-finished products for subsequent baking - these are the duties that the profession of confectioner implies. A description of the profession, qualities, skills and responsibilities will be given below.

What is the feature of working as a confectioner

The specificity of the profession can be called the fact that a confectioner is forced to do a significant part of the work with his hands. Often this applies to the manufacture of decorative elements of dishes and decoration of products (cakes, pastries).

Unlike a pastry chef, a specialist in sweets acts as a master with more universal skills. The pastry chef program includes training in the preparation of soups, snacks and other culinary delights.

Qualifications and ranks

To determine the skill level of confectioners, the division of specialists into six categories has been introduced. With an increase in rank, the master acquires additional skills that testify to his professionalism and help him perform more complex tasks.

The characteristics of the discharges are as follows:

1. The first. At the very beginning of his career, a pastry chef cuts ready-made biscuits, delivers semi-finished products to workplaces, loads fillings and creams into machines, and also controls the operation of equipment. More and more complex tasks can be performed by such a novice only in the presence of masters with extensive experience.
2. Second. The confectioner, who is at this stage of mastering the specialty, is entrusted with the preparation of creams, their whipping and coloring, cooking syrups, cutting biscuits, lubricating them with filling. The preparation of some semi-finished products, the placement of dough in the machine, the launch and adjustment of its work is also carried out by a novice confectioner. This profession is not simple, therefore, to get each next rank, the masters have to take exams.
3. Third. Having received this qualification, the master can make simple types of confectionery and bakery products, prepare some types of creams, fillings and dough. He is also trusted with the preparation of semi-finished products, the design of sweets with fondant or glaze.
4. Fourth. At this level, the program of the profession of a pastry chef involves the training of masters in the preparation of certain types of rolls, biscuits, cakes from all types of raw materials. They can also pick up creams according to the dish and prepare individual elements that are part of the decorations of complex confectionery (cakes).
5. Fifth. After receiving this discharge, the confectioner is assigned additional duties. While still under the supervision of a senior master, he is responsible for the correct course of the process of preparing non-standard cakes ordered individually. Also, a pastry chef, whose profession is always inextricably linked with sweets and desserts, gets the opportunity to control the work associated with the manufacture of sweets, can decorate cakes and pastries with complex decoration.
6. Sixth. The professional of this level can handle the manufacture of complex curly highly artistic confectionery. He is able to select the necessary materials in accordance with the color and size, as well as independently prepare the most complex of them. In addition, a confectioner of the sixth category can develop a technology and a recipe for making sweets.

Confectioner (profession): advantages and disadvantages

Choosing a future profession, you should carefully weigh all its inherent advantages and costs. Cooks and pastry chefs will always be in demand, as the demand for their services remains stably high. Improving his skill, the master can build an excellent career and receive good money.

For a talented employee in this field, there are many opportunities for self-realization as a hired employee or as the owner of his own enterprise.

Speaking about such a specialty as a confectioner, whose profession is associated with many dangerous factors, it is worth highlighting the risk of injury and the occurrence of a number of diseases. Masters who are almost all their workday in a standing position are prone to damage to the joints of the legs, spine. The effect on the human body of high temperature and humidity is also unfavorable.

In order to reduce the number of injuries in contact with sharp and hot objects, all cooks and confectioners undergo safety training both during training and at the place of work.

What qualities a good pastry chef should have

When deciding on the start of training for the confectionery craft, one should take into account one's predisposition to this type of labor activity, as well as the correspondence of temperament, character and abilities to the requirements that this profession presents to the master.

In order to fully master the intricacies of the confectionery craft, you should have the following qualities:

• developed sense of smell and delicate taste sensations;
• excellent memory, which is useful for remembering ingredients and recipes;
• developed imagination;
• sleight of hand and the ability to quickly switch between different types of work (after all, many processes and operations are performed simultaneously);
• physical stamina.

What is required to become a confectioner virtuoso

The above features, combined with a decent education, will allow you to successfully work in the kitchen. However, to go beyond the ordinary pastry chef and become a specialist of the highest rank, one cannot do without artistic taste, ingenuity and creativity.

In addition, in the course of his work, the confectioner interacts with team members and superiors, therefore, he is expected to be patient, patient, affable, friendly, sociable. Sloppy, inattentive and negligent workers are not successful in this area of ​​activity.

How to become a pastry chef

Many educational institutions offer special programs and courses. Given the relevance that the profession of confectioner possesses, training quickly begins to bear fruit.

Elementary knowledge is taught in institutions of primary and secondary vocational education. To qualify a confectionery technologist, you need to go to a higher education institution. The program, which is guided by teachers in public and private institutions, must comply with statutory standards.

GEF profession of a pastry chef regulates the content and the process of presenting information to students, and also determines the result of training in the form of specific skills of graduates.

Where can a confectioner apply his abilities

Having received education, the master can be admitted to the state of a bakery, catering establishments (cafe, restaurant, canteen), to health camps or to sanatoriums. In addition, all educational institutions, without exception, have confectioners on staff.

Being a master of confectionery production, you can get a billet factory or a semi-finished product factory.

Career ladder

Career growth within a certain enterprise is possible for those confectioners who have managerial skills and ambitions. They become leaders of shifts, workshops or production.

For those who want to test their strength in private enterprise, there is the opportunity to open their own confectionery or bakery.