by Brigette Schmidt, March 16, 2017

This quarter has been quite different from my normal schedule. I am on internship and completely in the workforce. Although school was a tough schedule, getting back into working mode really kicked my butt in the beginning. I am now on my last week of internship and am used to the long days and working weekends. Although my internship wasn’t the perfect fit for me, I am leaving with great experiences and many new friends.

My boss wanted me to get a fully rounded experience, and because of this, she moved me around the bakery quite a bit. I worked mainly in the cupcake room frosting and decorating cupcakes. But also worked on a little bit of fondant prep work for custom cakes. I also worked in the baking room making batters an frostings and doing a little bit of baking. I was excited to also be solely responsible for the production of King Cakes for Fat Tuesday. The bakers there hate working with yeast and haven’t been successful creating a sellable King Cake. I was able to successfully mix, shape, bake, and decorate 55 King Cakes for Fat Tuesday and I am proud of that.

I attended the Upper Midwest Baking Association expo in St. Cloud, MN with a couple other employees. I entered a jalapeno cheddar bread for competition and achieved a silver medal. There I also met Bradley from King Arthur flour who knows Chef Kelson very well and is also a Kendall Grad. We talked for some time about the industry and our experiences at Kendall College. I also met a vendor who sold baking equipment and used to work with Chef Heid’s father at their family bakery. We also talked about the industry and Chefs we knew. I was very happy to meet Ralf Tscheuschner from Lesaffre yeast. He is a CMB from Germany who is very interested and eager to help the baking world learn about Artisan Breads.

I also attend the WRA and WBA food expo in Milwaukee which is much larger than the other expo. There I met up with Ralf again and watched a demonstration he performed. We also got to talking a little bit about sourdoughs and sauerkraut rye bread which was awesome. I entered two loaves into the braided bread competition, a bread sculpture, and a four tier fondant wedding cake for competition. Unfortunately, I didn’t place with my braided breads or cake, but took home a bronze medal for my bread sculpture.

I am excited to say I have been offered and have accepted a new job starting March 27. I will be working as a mixer/baker/bencher for Breadsmith in Appleton, WI. They are now a franchise but started in Milwaukee, WI. They make artisan breads the right way with proper ingredients and old school proper methods. I see myself growing with this company and expanding my knowledge of artisan breads.

I was happy with my experience and Tamara’s the Cake Guru and have learned I think I belong in a bread bakery for now, and eventually a full retail bakery will probably be the proper fit. I will miss my coworkers dearly but I am excited for this new opportunity. I can’t believe my time at Kendall is officially coming to an end in just a few days. I have truly enjoyed my experience and choosing to study at Kendall has been the best decision I have ever made for myself. Thank you to Chef Heidi, Chef Webb, Chef Sidd, and especially to Chef Kelson and Chef Mark who have shaped me into a young baker bursting with passion at the seams.