First Baking Class at George Brown College

My new chef whites!

I just got home from my baking class at George Brown College. It's part of the Hospitality and Culinary Arts program offered in GBC's School of Continuing Education. I was looking for a class to take to improve my baking skills and came across this description for the course: "Calling all baking enthusiasts! Join us to develop essential techniques, and learn to create a variety of products in our state-of-the-art commercial baking labs. Acquire the fundamental skills you need for further studies in the baking and pastry arts". I immediately signed up for it, and after this first class today I know I made an excellent choice!

It's a very professional class with about 20 other students enrolled. We have uniforms to wear that made me feel a little goofy at first, but ultimately make me look like a chef!


Our instructor for this class is Chef Yasmin Johaadien. Until she began teaching at George Brown in 2010 she was a pastry chef in Toronto and the UK. From 2005-2007 she worked at North 44 which is owned by Chef Mark McEwan. She then worked in London, England in Chef Gordon Ramsay’s restaurant Maze from 2007-2008. Then it was on to The Café Anglais from 2008-2009 where she worked under chef proprietor Rowley Leigh. Chef Johaadien then returned to Toronto where she worked from 2010-2011 at Buca, owned by partners Gus Giazitzidis and Peter Tsebelis.

Chef “Jo” seems very knowledgeable and I look forward to learning from her for the next 11 weeks of this course.

See my following post for our first creation, apple pie!