Sodexo chefs master the art of bread-making in Paris

A group of chefs from the independent education division at Sodexo, the world’s largest services company, have just returned from Paris after an intensive three-day course in the art of boulangerie.

Earlier this year Sodexo announced its exciting partnership with the world famous Ecole Lenôtre, where every year it will send up to 40 of its chefs from its Independents by Sodexo business to Paris to undertake an intensive three-day course, with each year focussing on a different skill.

The inaugural course was held last week (22-24 Oct) under the tutorage of Lenôtre’s chef baker, Dominique Levier, a professor in bakery and viennoiserie. The nine senior chefs from Sodexo were taught the science behind bread from the different flours and how they perform depending how they are treated through to the wide range of speciality breads which can be produced and finally about the presentation of the bread from the different patterns and shapes which can be created.

The chefs who attended this first course are responsible for the company’s innovation hubs at independent schools across the country, including Eton College; Licensed Victuallers School, Ascot; Abingdon School, Oxon; Woldingham School, Surrey; Tudor Hall School, Oxon; Bedford School and Reed’s School, Surrey.

The next group will travel to Paris in January 2014.

Tom Allen, executive development chef for Independents by Sodexo said: “Our chefs are already baking fresh bread each day but after this training they will be on a completely different level, you can’t beat the smell of freshly-baked bread and if you get that basic food to an exceptional standard, the rest of the food will follow at the same high level”.

“And it’s not just these courses in Paris which our chefs will have the opportunity to take part in, there will be numerous opportunities for them to attend master classes on various subjects, recently a handful of our chefs visited Cacao Barry’s UK Chocolate Academy™ in Banbury, Oxfordshire where Lenôtre’s head chocolatier gave a master class in using chocolate”.

Sodexo prides itself on serving fresh and creative food which inspires, nourishes and maintains the health and well-being of the pupils and their teachers. By investing in its chefs and their training Sodexo is ensuring its chefs deliver fabulous food consistently and to extremely high operational standards.