CIT student baking world-best baguettes for World Skills

CIT student Rachel Crawford will take the skills she has learned studying commercial baking to the vocational training equivalent of the Olympics when she competes in the World Skills championships in Perth this August.

The competition will see regional winners from a broad range of trades compete and showcase their skills with the opportunity to represent Australia at the international competition in Shanghai in 2022.

Rachel’s training for World Skills has involved perfecting her creations including croissants, baguettes and a baking sculpture - skills she developed and honed while studying a Certificate III in Baking (FBP30517) at CIT.

“I have been training two to three times a week and trialling many recipes and developing my own. It’s a lot of practice and repetition,” Rachel said.

“With every successful recipe there have been multiple failures. One of my biggest challenges was designing a showpiece. I have always struggled with making a sculpture out of bread dough and the design has changed several times and there are still tweaks to be made.”

“Some of the highlights of my training would be having the opportunity to develop my own recipes, and getting to work and learn from some of the best in the business.”

Rachel started her studies as an apprentice pastry chef when she was 17 with the support of her parents who have been in the catering industry for many years. “They were one of the reasons I decided to join the industry, the other being my love of food and baking,” Rachel said.

CIT’s Certificate III in Baking (FBP30517) trains students to produce bread, cake, pastry and biscuit products in a commercial baking environment.

“In the future I hope to have my own little business, but before I settle and start my own place, I want to travel and work in as many bakeries and patisseries as I can. It is a dream of mine to work in a patisserie in France and to experience the way their culture creates and enjoys baked goods.”

To find out more about CIT’s culinary courses visit www.cit.edu.au.