Master Baker Didier Rosada, head instructor at the San Francisco Baking Institute, will visit Pennsylvania College of Technology on Feb. 17-18 to work with School of Hospitality students and present a seminar for local members of the Bread Bakers Guild of America and other area bakers.
On both days, Rosada will work with students in the "Principles of Quantity Baking" class, teaching them artisan bread-baking skills. On Feb. 17, the School of Hospitality in collaboration with the BBGA will host a seminar and question-and-answer session featuring Rosada, who will address the "Art of Prefermentation."
The event will be held from 4 to 6 p.m. in Room B132 of the Hager Lifelong Education Center. A guild reception will follow from 6 to 7 p.m. in Le Jeune Chef Restaurant. Local guild members will be invited to attend the event, as well as area bakers who are not members of the guild. Students of the School of Hospitality also will attend.
Guild members should register through the BBGA. Other local bakers may register through Monica J. Lanczak, instructor of food and hospitality management/culinary arts, by sending e-mail or calling (570) 326-3761, ext. 7800. Invited bakers are asked to make a $20 donation to the BBGA.
Rosada began his baking career at age 15 with technical training at a regional French professional school and an apprenticeship under a local baker. After a few stints as a baker in exotic locales, Rosada was assigned by his employer, Club Med, to open new or remodeled bakeries at the company's resorts and train local bakers to work in them.
In 1995, Rosada returned to France to the Institut National de Boulangerie-Patisserie, Rouen, where, after five months of highly technical and business-oriented training, he was awarded a Brevet de Maitrise or "Masters in Baking."
While working on a private research project for Bay States Milling Co., Rosada became the unofficial trainer of the 1996 Baking Team USA. His expert advice and guidance were important factors in the team's first-place finish in the bread category at the Coupe du Monde de Boulangerie in Paris in February 1996. He also helped guide the team as it won a gold medal at the competition in February 1999 and a silver medal in April 2002.
Rosada has had many technical articles published in newsletters and baking magazines, and his formulas have been published in the professional press.
When the National Baking Center was created in 1996, Rosada was asked to develop and teach the bread curriculum. For the NBC, he also supervised various research projects and performed consulting for specialty bread bakers across the United States, Central America, South America, Europe and Asia.
For more information about the majors in the School of Hospitality at Penn College, visit on the Web or call (570) 327-4505.
The Bread Bakers Guild of America is a nonprofit alliance of professional bakers, baking educators, home bakers and ingredient and equipment suppliers that promotes interaction and the exchange of information among craftsman artisan bakers and encourages education and professionalism in the field. For more information, visit online.