“Dead dough” pastry projects provide a lively display

Cincinnati State Pastry Arts students sculpted and baked a new collection of Pate Morte (“Dead Dough”) centerpieces and other bread-based projects in an accelerated Summer Semester version 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.

If you’re on Clifton Campus and want an in-person view of these accomplishments, walk past the Culinary/Pastry kitchen in ATLC 227, and you’ll see some of the “dead dough” and other projects on display.

(Photos provided by Chef Michael Vanfleet)