Cooking Class: Baking Boot Camp

The Culinary Institute of America is hosting a Baking Boot Camp at its Texas campus, right in the heart of historic Pearl in San Antonio. It's a four-day course led by a CIA chef, and it's open to anyone from aspiring pastry professionals and food entrepreneurs to home cooks who just want to get better at baking. The campus itself is a hub for culinary arts, offering associate degrees alongside specialized programming for field leaders and boot camps led by top chefs, food executives, restaurant owners, and master sommeliers.

Over the four days, you'll spend your time in hands-on instruction. The goal is to help you turn your home kitchen into a bakery, and the curriculum starts with the basics: mise en place and proper sanitation. From there, you'll move into the science of baking—the function of different ingredients—and fundamental pastry techniques like creaming, blending, and dough production. You'll be preparing and tasting cookies, cakes, quick breads, and pies throughout the course.

One of the best parts is that you don't need to bring your own gear. All ingredients, tools, and materials are included, and you'll walk away with a CIA uniform and a recipe booklet to keep. The only things you need to bring are your appetite, your enthusiasm, and closed-toe shoes for kitchen safety. If you're in the neighborhood and want to see what the students are up to, you can also sample student-prepared meals at Savor at Pearl.

The boot camp kicks off on Tuesday, October 13, 2026, at the CIA Texas campus in the Pearl. It runs for four days, and since all the tools and ingredients are provided, you just need to show up in closed-toe shoes.