Thomas Haas PastryClass

Thomas Haas: Home Baker to Pastry Shop Owner

Continuing with journey through PastryClass platform, today we decided to bring you Thomas Haas PastryClass.

Thomas Haas is a renowned pastry chef and chocolatier with over 30 years of experience in the industry. He is known for his exceptional craftsmanship, attention to detail, and his use of high-quality ingredients to create beautifully crafted pastries and chocolates.

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Thomas's Story

Thomas Haas, a fourth-generation pâtissier, began his journey in the art of hand-crafting chocolates and pastries in the kitchen of Cafe Konditorei Haas, which his great-grandfather founded in Aichhalden, Germany, in 1918.

He continued his family's tradition and gained extensive experience by apprenticing and working with top chefs in Michelin-starred restaurants across Europe, eventually earning the title of Konditormeister, or Master Pastry Chef.

After being recruited to Vancouver in 1995 to assume the role of Executive Pastry Chef at the Four Seasons Hotel, Thomas met his wife Lisa and earned top-three placements twice in the esteemed annual North American Pastry Chef of the Year competition in New York City. In 1998, he moved to New York as the Executive Pastry Chef for renowned chef Daniel Boulud's flagship restaurant, Daniel, located on Manhattan's Upper East Side.

While in New York, Thomas was recognized as one of the Top Ten Pastry Chefs in America by Chocolatier and Pastry Art and Design magazines. He also appeared on several international television shows, including Martha Stewart Living, further elevating his reputation.

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Thomas Haas Online PastryClass Plan

01. Meet Your Instructor

Pastry Chef Thomas Haas shares the journey that took him from baking in his basement to building an award-winning pastry shop chain. Prepare for stories from every part of his life: from his apprenticeship at 16 to the most challenging day in his career, to the toughest lessons he's learned and how he eventually grew his professional career in Michelin restaurants, 5-star hotels, large production bakeries, and competitions.

02. Philosophy to Success

Learn some of Thomas's core pastry and life philosophies, including working on your mindset, the importance of daily goals, a consistent approach, and how to pace your pastry evolution.

03. Planning the Menu

Thomas introduces you to his approach to menu planning, keeping in mind your kitchen abilities and location. He will show you how to create your unique identity and ensure customers know what to expect from your shop.

04. Efficiency of Kitchen Workflow

"Production efficiency is the Achilles of every artisan operation." Thomas explains how to plan your kitchen space with an efficient workflow in mind. He shows his own kitchen's drawing plan and helps you determine yours no matter the size of the space available to you.

05. Financing the Startup

In pastry, according to Thomas, you have unique opportunities to build up your financing by using various options. In this lesson, he shares 10 ideas to help you finance your pastry journey.

06. Explore & Practice Leadership

Thomas believes leadership skills can be learned, a belief he explores in this lesson.

07. It's in Your Mindset!

Thomas believes that you can deal with any issues and setbacks that come your way with the right mindset! He asks, “What makes you happy?”. Once you have answered that question, you will stroll the philosophical path with Thomas to explore the mindset around success and his deep value of embracing yourself.

08. Building a Strong Team

Productive teams are built on good, effective systems combined with productive minds. Strong teams are built on positive team spirit and a culture where people believe in what they do. This lesson will show you how to bring different characters together, judge a team based on effort, and build productive and strong teams.

09. Marketing from Experience

We live in a fast-moving world where it can feel almost impossible to keep up with all the marketing do’s, don’t’s, and changes. Still, marketing is a skill that comes naturally to Thomas, so in this lesson, he reveals the strongest marketing tactic you can use to advertise your pastry shop. Yes, even stronger than social media! But before you start with marketing, he helps you identify your shop’s unique secret sauce.

10. The Values of Menu

Set your menu goals with Thomas and choose a balanced dessert selection built around flavors and textures that are accessible to you. Scroll through some pie charts, and pick the “pie slices” that speak to you the most.‍

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11. Pithivier: Inverted Puff Pastry

Chef Thomas teaches pastry fundamentals, starting with Viennoiserie and the foundational importance of laminated dough. He goes through the unique method of inverted dough that makes the most delicate pastries while sharing his principles of working with two kinds of flour, gluten development, creating the tension, and shaping the dough.

12. Pithivier: Almond Orange Cream

Continuing with pastry fundamentals, this lesson focuses on creams - an essential part of a baker’s arsenal. Learn to make Almond Orange Cream for the Pithivier, the importance of following the ingredient temperatures for fat, and the water emulsion process within the cream.

13. Pithivier: Assembly, Scoring & Baking

Learn Thomas's tips for binding the dough, egg wash, scoring, creating a crusty surface, and finally achieving a magical multiplication of layers for your Pithivier goodness.

14. Kouign Amann

Together with Thomas, make the increasingly popular multi-layered Kouign Amann with yeast-based laminated dough—the second pastry of the Viennoiserie fundamentals—and learn the importance of baking and caramelization.

15. Chestnut Mont Blanc: Pain De Genes & Cassis Cream

Chestnut Mont Blanc is a favorite patisserie dessert of Chef Thomas’s! The lesson will begin with a light, classic Pain de Genes sponge recipe made by Thomas, including tips for minimizing production steps for higher efficiency. It will finish with a Cassis Cream made without starch that still achieves the silkiness and creaminess of a real classic.

16. Chestnut Mont Blanc: Rum Bavarian & Chestnut Paste

Learn Chef Thomas's method for making light and airy Rum Bavarian. Throughout the lesson, you will hear about the history and servings of sabayon cream, how to whip for less time and achieve higher volume, and the importance of waste in production. The lesson will finish with Chestnut Paste and variations of piping techniques.

17. Black Forest Verrine: Poached Cherries & Chocolate Shavings

Chef Thomas outlines how to make a classic Black Forest dessert in a modern verrine serving while maintaining respect for its flavor profile.

18. Black Forest Verrine: Microwave Sponge, Chantilly Decor

Dessert in a glass! Inspired by Thomas's past working in Michelin Star restaurants, you will learn how to embrace your skills and creativity by using as little recipe guidance as possible for this dessert. Thomas will show the importance of cream (fat) coming before the cherry (acid) when degustating.

19. Enrobed Chocolate: Whisky Bar

Enrobed Chocolate is one of the 3 chocolate-making techniques you’ll learn in this class. In this lesson, Thomas takes you through the unique process of merging your pastries with other ingredients, like liquor. He shows how you can infuse your cocoa in oakwood for special Oak Barrel Infused Whisky Paste, following the steps for liquor infusion, forming the chocolate bar, cutting, and enrobing.

20. Naked Chocolate: Tahitian Cube

In the second chocolate-making technique shown in this class, Thomas shows us Naked Chocolate. He speaks to the simplicity of cacao in its purest form by making a rich ganache, followed by tips on avoiding the incorporation of air in various ways to control the shelf life of your chocolate.

21. Casted Chocolate: Caramel Domes

The final lesson in our chocolate trilogy is Casted bonbons — a technique you can’t go without. You’ll learn how to hide the creamy caramel filling on the inside of the bon-bon, with added tips on creating various caramel gradations.

22. Chocolate Tempering

Chef Thomas demystifies tempered chocolate with an easy and effective way of tempering in a bowl—waste-free, hassle-free, and no clean-up required. He lets us in on the secret to an effective and glossy finish on the delicate bonbons and shows how to temper with your senses.

23. Caramel Domes: Decoration, Casting & Filing

Thomas creates the exquisite gloss seen on modernly decorated bonbons with the latest handmade stamping technique. Follow his lead to stamp, spray, cast, fill, close, unmold, and of course, enjoy!

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From Home Baker to Pastry Shop Owner

In this pastry class, you will have the opportunity to learn from the master himself, as he shares his techniques and expertise to help you elevate your pastry-making skills. Whether you're an experienced home baker, pastry blogger, influencer, pastry chef, instructor, or a creative professional, this class will provide the knowledge and tools you need to create delicious and visually stunning pastries and desserts.

Throughout the class, you will explore a range of pastry-making techniques, from creating the perfect buttery crust to mastering the art of tempering chocolate. You will also learn how to work with seasonal ingredients, experiment with different flavor combinations, and present your desserts visually appealingly.

An essential aspect of this class, the most important one, is that besides all the great techniques and recipes you'll learn, this online class will teach you how to transform your passion into a successful business.

So, whether you want to start your own business or improve your baking skills, Thomas Haas PastryClass is the perfect opportunity to learn from a master and take your pastry-making to the next level.