“Dead dough” bread sculptures show Pastry students’ skills

Cincinnati State students sculpted and baked a new collection of Pate Morte (“Dead Dough”) centerpieces and other bread-based projects in an accelerated Spring Semester offering of the course Pastry 225, Artisan Bread Baking, under the direction of Chef Michael Vanfleet.

The decorative bread showpieces are referred to as “dead” dough because the recipe has no yeast and therefore the bread doesn’t rise– making it an appropriate material for artistic sculptures.

Students also created braided, lightly-yeasted bread platters.

For the course final exam, each student created two loaves of artisan bread made with a pre-fermented starter, and then put together a display for their bread along with various other edible ingredients.

The photos above and below showcase examples of the projects prepared by CState’s talented Pastry Arts students.

For an in-person view of these projects, walk past the ATLC 227 Culinary/Pastry kitchen, and you’ll see some of the “dead dough” and braided breads on display.