A Day In The Life Of A Macaron Baker
Parisian macarons are all the rage nowadays. The classic French cookie, made with egg white, icing sugar, almond meal, and food coloring, is suitable for almost any occasion. It is no wonder that macarons are one of the most loved sweets by the French and visitors in general. Making macarons is an art, and it takes time and patience to create them perfectly.
Here in this post, we’ll tell you how pastry chefs go about their shifts and how they get it all done.
From the outside, being a macaron chef may seem to be a sweet and easy job. However, from developing and measuring the ingredients to tasting the final product, a lot of hard work and patience are required. A macaron chef has to make French macarons several times before they achieve perfection. Here are some skills that a macaron chef must possess:
- Creative: Baking a macaron is an art, and it requires artistic ability to come out with perfect macarons every time. The chef can try different combinations of ingredients to come out with a new macaron that everyone wants to try.
- Precise and organized: The chef must be thoroughly organized to provide detailed instructions on measurement and processes. It’s not something that you mix a few things in the bowl and put in the oven. Each ingredient needs to be carefully added at the right time and in the correct quantity.
- Patient: Baking is a slow process, and it may take hours to prepare, bake and refrigerate. If you are too impatient to take out macarons from the oven, it will spoil your preparation.
- Hard-working: Most of the working hours in a pastry shop are spent running around the kitchen, meaning a macaron chef needs to be hard working. The chef may also have to do multitasking, as working on many dishes may be required at a time.
Here is a typical day in the lift of a macaron chef
6:30 am to 9:30 am
A macaron chef arrives at the bakery early in the morning. Apart from making sure that they have got enough of everything, they need to check that the equipment is in proper condition and ingredients are fresh and ready to use. A big reason for the chef to start work this early is to prepare for the morning visitors who might visit the pastry shop for breakfast.
10 am to 11 am
On average, it takes about two hours and fifteen minutes to deliver finished macarons. It takes half an hour to prepare, an hour of waiting time, ten minutes of cooking time, twenty minutes cooling time, fifteen minutes of filling and sandwiching time. So by 10 am the first lot is ready, and it’s time to start loading up the display cabinets.
11:30 am
Effective communication between the kitchen and wait staff is important as it helps deliver a great customer experience.
Noon to 1 pm
Lunch break. The chef may go outside to grab something light and close by to eat.
1: 30 to 2:30 pm
A pastry cook joins and starts taking the brunch tickets. In this period, the chef may prepare menus and budgets for the pastry department.
3: 30 PM
Since each macaron demands different processes, the steps are usually complex. This means the chef has to work cleanly and methodically.
4 pm onwards
A long day’s work draws to a close, and it is finally time to wander and relax.
About Macaron Queen
We make dozens of delectable popular macaron flavors, including red velvet, key lime, champagne, and french raspberry. Our macarons are often said to taste better than the originals from France. What started as a personal passion for making delectable, edible treasures for close friends and family quickly became a fast-growing business. We now make these treats for private parties, celebrities, fashion spreads, music videos, and movie sets.
You can reach out to us at (908) 867-8336. You can also fill our online contact form here.
