Baking and Pastry
Instructor: Chef Laura Bersticker
The Golden Isles College and Career Academy (GICCA) Baking & Pastry Pathway provides students with a comprehensive foundation in the culinary arts, focusing on high-level sweet and savory baking techniques.
Program Overview
This hands-on curriculum balances food science with creative design to prepare students for commercial food-service careers in a professional kitchen environment.
- Stackable Curriculum: The track shares its first-semester courses with the Culinary Arts Pathway, allowing ambitious students to complete both programs in just three semesters.
- Technical Mastery: Students develop skills in classical dough production, artisan bread baking, pastry decoration, and dessert plating.
- Kitchen Operations: Coursework covers production scalability, commercial equipment safety, precise ingredient math, and foundational inventory handling.
- Real-World Evaluation: Students participate in comprehensive final practicals where their culinary creations are assessed by a panel of judges on taste, texture, and execution.
- Community Integration: Successful pathway completers unlock eligibility for local Work-Based Learning placements and culinary apprenticeships.

