Pastrycook

A pastrycook prepares and bakes sweet and savoury pastries, desserts, and baked goods in commercial kitchens, bakeries, or hotels. They use specialised techniques to produce items such as croissants, tarts, éclairs, and other pastry products to specification and quality standards. They work under food safety regulations and must manage timing, temperature control, and ingredient ratios to deliver consistent results.

Measure and mix flour, butter, eggs, sugar, and other ingredients according to recipes and portion specifications. Prepare pastry doughs and batters using industrial mixers and lamination techniques for croissants and Danish pastries. Roll, fold, and shape pastry using bench equipment such as rolling pins, pastry cutters, and moulds. Pipe fillings, creams, and icings using piping bags and nozzles to fill and decorate pastries. Proof dough in temperature and humidity controlled proofing cabinets and monitor rise time. Operate commercial ovens and blast chillers, setting and monitoring temperatures to bake pastries to golden finish. Apply glazes, egg wash, and toppings such as icing sugar, nuts, and chocolate to finished items. Prepare fillings including pastry cream, ganache, buttercream, and fruit compotes using appropriate techniques.

The standard entry pathway requires a Certificate IV or Certificate III with at least two years of on-the-job training (ABS skill level 3). Specific qualification requirements vary by employer and state. Some employers may accept equivalent experience. Check yourcareer.gov.au for available courses and dewr.gov.au/skills-reform/free-tafe for subsidised training options.

You'll start early (often 3 to 4am shifts) in a hot kitchen doing repetitive lamination and piping work. Pay caps out quickly without moving into management. Many bakeries run on tight margins, so hours can be unpredictable and casual work is common. Your hands and back take a beating.

Regional areas have fewer specialist positions. Hospitality jobs follow population centres. Some work is available in large supermarket bakeries, though these typically offer less skilled pastry work.

Published for ANZSCO unit group 3511, the wider group this job sits in, not for this job on its own.

This is the median for full-time employees who are not managers and are paid at the adult rate, before tax and salary sacrifice. It is a guide to what the work pays, not a wage rate.

Source: ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025, customised report.

• Adaptability and Flexibilitycore
• Administer ingredients in food productioncore
• Attention to Detailcore
• Basic Arithmetic and Numerical Accuracycore
• Continuous Learning and Upskillingcore
• Inventory Trackingcore
• Multitaskingcore
• Policy and Procedure Adherencecore
• Problem Solvingcore
• Quality Assurance and Checkingcore
• Regulatory and Legislative Awarenesscore
• Team Collaborationcore
• Time Management and Prioritisationcore
• Workload Self-Managementcore
• Act reliably
• Care for food aesthetic
• Goal Setting and Planning
• Incident Reporting
• Process Improvement Identification
• Risk Identification
• Stock Counting and Stocktake
• Supplier Communication
• Verbal Communication

• ABS OSCA 2024, occupation definition and task statements
• ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025, customised report.
• ABS, 2021 Census of Population and Housing based on usual place of residence (Custom Report). OSCA Experimental Estimates.

Role data is drawn from official Australian Government sources, and each figure names where it comes from. Where a role is not in the ABS classification, the page shows no government figures for it. Data may not reflect every local variation.

Where our numbers come from.

What Pastrycook workers move into, from ten years of tax records.

Last updated: 30 October 2026