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Spend an afternoon at Berkeley Kitchen with Chef Michael Kalanty learning pâte à choux, piping, and crême pâtissière. This four-hour, hands-on class emphasizes technique over recipes — perfect for bakers who want repeatable results.
Spend an afternoon at Berkeley Kitchen with Chef Michael Kalanty learning pâte à choux, piping, and crême pâtissière. This four-hour, hands-on class emphasizes technique over recipes — perfect for bakers who want repeatable results.
Book with Kitchen on Fire
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Operated by Kitchen on Fire · Berkeley, CA
At Berkeley Kitchen - 1509 Shattuck Ave. Berkeley, CA 94709, Executive Pastry Chef Michael Kalanty teaches a focused hands‑on class in classic French pastry techniques, guiding students through pâte à choux dough, precise piping, and a rich crême pâtissière for filling cream puffs and éclairs over four hours of instruction.
Each session begins with a chef demonstration that breaks down technique, covering heat management, dough hydration, and egg incorporation. Participants split into small teams at bench stations to practice forming rounded choux and elongated éclairs, refine piping control, and taste finished pastries rather than taking food home in class together.
Michael Kalanty brings decades of practice, a Tiptree World Bread Competition winner and author of the Gourmand International award‑winning How To Bake Bread: The Five Families of Bread®. His teaching emphasizes reproducible method over rote recipes, translating apprenticeship‑style skill transfer into clear, repeatable steps and guidance for the home baker.
The class’s core features include hands‑on pâte à choux production, professional piping drills, crême pâtissière preparation, and timed oven practice that encourages hollow, shell‑forming rise suitable for filling. The teaching kitchen’s layout supports shared stations and immediate technician feedback, offering focused practice on pastry fundamentals in a studio with guidance.
Practical details matter: classes are for ages 18 and up, closed‑toed shoes are mandatory, and shoulder‑length hair must be tied back; aprons, tools, and knives are provided though you may bring a favorite. Students 21+ may bring their own beer or wine for personal consumption. For allergy questions, contact [email protected].
You will not take pastries home because local zoning prohibits distribution, but you will leave with practical skills: reliable pâte à choux technique, consistent piping control, a foolproof approach to crême pâtissière, and troubleshooting strategies for oven spring and shell collapse. Those takeaways translate directly into confident at‑home production skills.
Berkeley’s central location makes the class easy to pair with a weekend at local farmers markets, bookstores, and restaurants. BART and AC Transit serve downtown; street parking and garages vary, so arrive early or plan transit time for your schedule and to avoid delays during busy midday classes and evenings.
In this studio you will work amid flour dust, steam, and the warm hum of ovens, learning to read dough texture by touch and timing by sight and smell. The class pairs sensory work with practical instruction on ingredient temperature, piping tips, and simple finishing glazes to improve at‑home results.
Whether you want to master the hollow shell of a cream puff or gain piping precision for éclairs, this Berkeley Kitchen course delivers focused technique, immediate feedback, and practical skills you can repeat at home. Book early, arrive prepared, and expect to leave with confidence and a clearer approach overall.
Participants must be 18 years or older to enroll in this class.
No — local zoning prohibits distribution of prepared food, so pastries are eaten during class.
Yes, you may bring a favorite knife or apron, but the kitchen supplies all necessary tools.
Students aged 21+ may bring personal beer or wine for their own consumption; staff cannot open or serve alcoholic beverages.
Indicate allergies when registering and email [email protected] to review ingredient lists prior to class.
BART and AC Transit serve downtown Berkeley; parking and garages vary by time of day, so arrive early or plan transit time.
Kitchen on Fire is a hands-on cooking school and event producer that offers a broad calendar of culinary workshops, multi-week series, camps, and virtual classes. The school presents technique-driven, chef-led experiences ranging from single-session workshops to 12-week fundamentals courses. Classes focus on regional cuisines, baking, pastry, vegetarian and seasonal cooking — examples include Italian pasta and breads, Indian and Burmese dishes, Middle Eastern street food, Mexican and Latin specialties, and classic bistro techniques. Chef-led offerings feature named instructors and visiting chefs, with programs such as multi-week Basics of Cooking series, themed nights like A Night in Florence and A Night in Rome, specialized workshops including ricotta and doughnuts, and seasonal pie and baking classes. Kitchen on Fire also runs teen camps, school-break day camps, and virtual workshops to reach learners at different levels and schedules. Instruction emphasizes hands-on practice, practical skills like knife work and recipe fundamentals, and communal dining of the dishes created during class. Many classes run three hours or longer; multi-week series provide progressive skill development. In addition to in-person workshops, the organization publishes virtual classes and instructional series led by its roster of chefs. Kitchen on Fire’s program diversity — from single-session craft workshops to immersive multi-week courses and teen camps — reflects a commitment to accessible, skill-focused culinary education. The school’s transparent class descriptions, named instructors, and recurring series offer prospective students clear expectations and opportunities to build lasting cooking skills. Class sizes vary to prioritize engagement, hands-on practice, and personalized instructor feedback for students.
Book with Kitchen on Fire