The French Pastry School | Introduction to Pastry Arts

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Course Curriculum

120-days | 20 Units | 220+ Tasks | Over 100 Videos

Introduction and Orientation

Program framework
Pastry principles
Course expectations

Introduction to French Pastry & Baking

Pastry overview

Prepare your Kitchen

Rearrange your kitchen and pantry
Basics of ingredients
Basics of tools

Kitchen Basics

Sanitations
Scaling

Basic Baking & Pastry Skills

Whipping
Mixing & folding
Piping
Rolling dough by hand
Baking process

Cookies: Basic

Dark chocolate and walnut cookies
Oatmeal raisin cookies
Creaming method for cookies

Quickbreads & Breakfast Items

Blueberry & flaxseed yogurt muffins
Creaming method for batters
Buttermilk & whole wheat pancakes
Well method

Sweet snacks: Pound cakes

Lemon sour cream pound cake

Sweet snacks: Bars

Dark chocolate brownies
Brown butter rice crispy squares
Silky lemon curd bars

Cookies: Decorated

Butter & vanilla shortbread cookies
Royal icing for decorated cookies

Introduction to Bread: Loaf Pan Bread

Base temperature methodology
Toast bread

Breads: French Breads & Italian Breads

Poolish yeasted starter
Traditional French baguette
Bountiful focaccia bread

Breakfast pastries: Yeasted enriched dough, yeasted laminated dough, laminated dough

Traditional brioche
Croissants & chocolate croissants
Quick puff pastry dough
Apple turnovers

Tarts & Pies: Fruit pies, apple tarts, almond cream tarts

Cherry pie
Thin apple tart
Baked pear & apple cream tart

French pastries: Crepes & Chouquettes

Traditional crepes
Choux paste dough
Vanilla pastry cream custard
Classic chouquettes

Cookies: Macarons

French meringue almond macarons
Bittersweet dark chocolate ganache filling for macarons

French pastries: Dark chocolate mousse & vanilla creme brulee

Bistro style dark chocolate mousse
Vanilla creme brulee

Frozen Dessert

Vanilla ice cream with raspberry coulis

Candies and confections

Bittersweet dark chocolate truffles
Salted butter caramels from Brittany

Brunch celebration buffet

Buffet and final assessment

Meet your lead instructors

Developed by the esteemed team of chef educators at The French Pastry School, including co-founders Sébastien Canonne, M.O.F., and Jacquy Pfeiffer, James Beard Award-winning author, who are both recipients of the French Legion of Honour Award, this course has been developed with special attention to both knowledge and competency-based learning. The course will include dozens of assessment activities, including production activities that will be evaluated by the chefs with opportunities for direct student feedback and engagement.

Founded in 1995 in Chicago, The French Pastry is the only major culinary school in North America dedicated to all things sweet and baked. The French Pastry School provides hands-on education taught entirely in our state-of-the-art kitchens by world-renowned chefs. Both chefs have received the Academic Palms, the highest French National Order in Education and Science. They were featured in the "Kings of Pastry" documentary filmed by Oscar winner D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.

Sébastien Canonne, M.O.F.

Jacquy Pfeiffer

Common questions

Are there any prerequisites or requirements to take this course?

While there are no formal prerequisites, Rouxbe does have expectations that our students are active learners, have the desire to take the time to cook each week, and are self-motivated and excited to learn new subject matter. You will get the most out of this course if you practice regularly, which means there will be plenty of food to cook and share.

What type of support do I get with this course?

We pride ourselves on providing students the support they need to become better, more confident cooks. There are many opportunities for interaction, engagement, and support throughout your course. As an instructor-guided course, you will have an opportunity to interact with our instructors in multiple ways. This includes regular live online Q&A sessions for our student community. Additionally, there are discussion forums to engage with classmates and your Rouxbe instructional team.

How and when do I attend class?

Your course is available on-demand 24/7 from any internet enabled device. The program is self-paced, meaning there are no specific dates to submit assignments or attend class. The only limitation is that you must complete the course within 90 days.

Do I have access to the course content after the 120 days are over?

We will be proud to see you graduate and receive your Certificate of Completion to hang proudly on your wall! If you need some extra time to finish your course you can purchase a one-month extension for $69.99. This way you can take the extra time you need to complete the course and receive your certificate. If this is not feasible, or you are not concerned about receiving a Certificate of Completion, you will continue to have access to your course for as long as you wish. You just won't be able to take the quizzes or upload assignments to our instructors for feedback.

What is the passing grade?

A passing grade is 75%, something we are confident can be accomplished, as we will set you up for success in this course. Leave it to us to get you inspired and cooking. We support you the whole way through!

What is your cancellation policy?

Once you have paid the tuition for this course, 25% of it becomes immediately non-refundable. As for refunding your tuition, we understand that there are sometimes unfortunate circumstances that are beyond your control that may require you to withdraw from the course (e.g. medical condition). We of course want to be supportive during these situations so will work with you on a one-on-one basis to help. However, after 7-days of the course start, there are no refunds.