Welcome to Pastry School 101

weekly deep dives + fun recipes to bridge the gap between pastry chefs and home bakers

Hi everyone! Welcome to Pastry School 101, a newsletter teaching you creative recipes + baking skills and techniques! I’m so glad you are here.

If we’ve never met, I’m Anna.

I’m a pastry chef/food writer/recipe developer/food photographer/culinary educator/freelancer/all around food person. During the day, I create recipes for clients and brands, run the food blog Gathered At My Table, and teach people how to cook. I really love what I do.

Before I launched into a culinary career, I was an elementary school reading teacher, baking fervently on my nights and weekends, doing as much research as I could to understand all of the processes and techniques used in the pastry kitchen. My cousin (who was in culinary school at the time) would pass down his baking textbooks and I would devour them, scouring them for as much information as possible because what I really wanted to do was create. I was tired of googling a recipe and having to follow it exactly because I didn’t really understand how to make changes and create new things when it came to baking. And to be very honest, I was really tired of making cupcakes and brownies. I wanted to go deeper. To learn more.

So I went to culinary school. I traded in my teacher lanyard for an apron and went to pastry school. I soaked it up. I learned how to make mousse and meringues, I studied the chemical reactions of different types of sugars and leaveners, and I learned how to create brand new recipes from scratch. Then I graduated and went on to work in some very fancy restaurant kitchens where I made desserts with 8 different components and learned how to play with flavors and textures.

Now I want to help you. I think that there is a space that exists somewhere between simple home baking and multi-component restaurant desserts, and it’s completely untapped in the food writing world. I want to help home bakers stretch their creative muscles, learn new skills and techniques, and create really fantastic desserts and pastries in their home kitchens.

In Pastry School 101, I aim to do just that. There will be a free component, that will include monthly recipes that feature a certain skill. I’ll break down how to make chocolate mousse, or the secret to perfect pie crust. Free subscribers will also receive a monthly recap where I’ll share all of the fun kitchen stuff I’ve run into lately—book recommendations, recipes I’m trying, an the occasional non-recipe recipe for easy weeknight cooking (because I do more than just baking!), and probably cute pictures of my angel puppy Tahini.

There will also be an option to become a paid subscriber, which allows me to focus on creating really great recipes and spend a little extra time investing in you—my baking community! As a paid subscriber, you will receive all of the free newsletters + an extra recipe each month and a technique/ingredient deep dive where I’ll break down specific pastry skills or ingredients. You will also gain access to our Pastry School 101 community, where you will be able to comment and ask questions directly on each published piece.

I’m so excited to launch this new chapter, and I’m so grateful for all of you who enable me to be able to do what I love for a living.