About This Program
An 8-week live baking intensive that takes you from good home baker to professional-level pastry and bread: naturally leavened sourdough, hand-laminated croissants, choux, tarts, entremets and plated desserts, plus Philadelphia's own bakery classics. Limited to 12 students, with weekly 1-on-1 coaching.
Baking is where precision meets craft, and it's where most home cooks hit a wall. This intensive is built for people who already bake and want to do it at a professional level: bread with an open crumb and a crackling crust, croissants with clean, honeycombed layers, and desserts that look as good as anything in a pastry case. Over 8 weeks you'll bake live with Rasha Kamal for 4 hours, 3 times per week. That's 96 hours of hands-on baking on Google Meet, with real-time feedback on your dough, your shaping and your bake. Every student also gets a private 60-minute 1-on-1 coaching session each week (8 in total) to troubleshoot their own bakes, review photos of their crumb and lamination, and plan practice between sessions. You'll start with the science that makes baking predictable (flour, hydration, fermentation, temperature and baker's percentages), then work through naturally leavened sourdough and enriched doughs, laminated doughs, choux and tarts, cakes and entremets, and plated desserts. Along the way you'll bake Philadelphia's bakery classics: soft pretzels, sticky buns, Italian Market cannoli, Pennsylvania Dutch shoofly pie and tomato pie. The program closes with a final showcase: you plan and bake a bread basket and a three-item pastry selection, present it live to the cohort and receive a written assessment from your instructor. Graduates receive a Certificate of Completion from Philly Culture Academy and keep lifetime access to every recording, recipe and formula from the program. Program Format: Hybrid. Self-paced recorded technique library, plus live hands-on baking sessions via Google Meet (recordings available afterward), plus weekly private 1-on-1 coaching. Includes a complete recipe and formula book in baker's percentages, a production schedule for every bake, shopping lists, and a private student chat for ongoing support. Cohort size is capped at 12 students.
Inside the Program
What You'll Learn
- Use baker's percentages, hydration and dough temperature to make every bake predictable
- Build and maintain a sourdough starter and bake naturally leavened loaves with an open crumb and crisp crust
- Shape, score and bake baguettes, boules, batards and enriched breads like brioche and challah
- Laminate dough by hand for croissants, pain au chocolat and Danish with clean, even layers
- Make choux pastry, éclairs and profiteroles with stable, glossy fillings
- Bake sweet and savory tarts with crisp, even shells and silky creams and curds
- Assemble layered cakes and entremets with mousses, glazes and clean finishes
- Plate restaurant-style desserts with contrasting textures and temperatures
- Bake Philadelphia's bakery classics: soft pretzels, sticky buns, cannoli, shoofly pie and tomato pie
- Plan a production schedule and bake a complete bread and pastry showcase
Curriculum
- 1
Week 1 · Baking Science & Foundations
Flour, water, salt and yeast; hydration, baker's percentages, dough temperature and fermentation. Mixing, kneading and folding methods, finished with Philly soft pretzels.
- 2
Week 2 · Sourdough & Artisan Bread
Building and maintaining a starter, long fermentation, shaping and scoring boules and batards, and baking for a crackling crust in a home oven.
- 3
Week 3 · Baguettes, Enriched Doughs & Sticky Buns
Baguettes and rolls, brioche and challah, hoagie rolls, and classic Philadelphia sticky buns.
- 4
Week 4 · Laminated Doughs
Hand lamination for croissants, pain au chocolat and Danish: butter blocks, turns, proofing and baking for clean, honeycombed layers.
- 5
Week 5 · Choux, Tarts & Pies
Choux pastry, éclairs and profiteroles; pâte sucrée and pâte brisée; pastry cream, curds and frangipane; Pennsylvania Dutch shoofly pie.
- 6
Week 6 · Cakes & Entremets
Sponges and genoise, mousses, glazes and inserts, and assembling layered entremets with clean, professional finishes.
- 7
Week 7 · Italian-American Bakery Classics & Plated Desserts
Italian Market cannoli and ricotta fillings, Philadelphia tomato pie, and restaurant-style plated desserts that combine sauces, crunch, and hot and cold elements.
- 8
Week 8 · Production Planning & Final Showcase
Planning a multi-day bake schedule, then baking your bread basket and three-item pastry selection live for your final assessment.
Prerequisites
- Regular home-baking experience and comfort following recipes by weight
- A digital kitchen scale accurate to 1 g (a stand mixer helps but isn't required)
- An oven that holds temperature, a Dutch oven or baking stone, sheet pans and a rolling pin (a full equipment list is provided)
- Availability for three 4-hour live sessions per week for 8 weeks, plus time for overnight doughs between sessions
- A kitchen where you can set up a laptop or phone camera to show your work surface
- Stable internet connection for Google Meet, and a budget for ingredients (detailed shopping lists provided)
Program Details
- Program Type
- intensive
- Duration
- 104 hours
- Difficulty
- intermediate
- Language
- English
- Certificate
- Included upon completion
- Access
- Lifetime access
- Category
- culinary
⭐ Student Reviews
Pay by card or SEPA Direct Debit
No account needed — pay securely with Stripe
- 24 live baking sessions with Rasha Kamal
- 8 private 1-on-1 coaching sessions
- Small cohort: max 12 students
- Recipe & formula book in baker's percentages
- Final showcase with written assessment
- 104 hours of content
- Lifetime access
- Certificate of completion
- Secure checkout via Stripe
- No account required