Dangerous Indicators to Look Out for at Bakeries; Purple Flags From Professional Pastry Chef

Meals can get costly, which implies it is as essential as ever to hunt out good worth with each buy — even the croissant you’ve gotten along with your morning espresso.

Simply ask Camari Mick, the chief pastry chef at The Musket Room, who’s additionally a accomplice at Raf’s.

Mick is aware of her approach round a bakery. She grew up visiting native retailers after which studied the artwork of pastry in fine-dining eating places throughout New York Metropolis. At Raf’s, Mick seems breads, croissants, and extra for the restaurant’s daytime bakery whereas main the remainder of the pastry program.

Dubbed NYC’s dessert doyenne, the chef has developed her personal set of crimson flags to look out for each time she visits high-end bakeries.

Here is how one can inform when you’re at a spot that is serving high-quality merchandise.

An important bakery ought to be capable to nail the fundamentals

The very first thing Mick does when she walks right into a high-end bakery is examine the classics. If she sees croissants, she’ll have a look at the plain selection, being attentive to the folds that make up the pastry’s lamination.

Some nice bakeries could have croissants with layers that look completely aligned, others may tackle a extra rustic really feel and appear extra clearly hand-rolled. Each are welcome traits, Mick says.

But it surely’s a nasty signal if the lamination is “very thick, or small, or not uniform,” she informed Enterprise Insider. And if the croissants look completely machine-made, one thing will not be proper within the kitchen.

Mick additionally appears on the coloration of the croissants, which might clue you into how they could style. If it is too blonde on the surface, it might not have a lot taste inside.

Equally, she says, a pastry in all probability will not be tremendous flaky if it appears as if it was “sweating on itself” after being coated whereas sizzling, and you’ll see its layers are wrinkly.

General, Mick says, if it does not look as if love has been put into the pastries, she “in all probability will solely simply seize a espresso.”

Watch out for bread that is wrapped

Mick says high-end bakeries ought to solely be promoting contemporary bread.

Ideally, it is best to contact the bread to see whether or not it is too arduous. If that is not an possibility, there are telltale indicators a loaf may very well be subpar.

“In the event you have been taking a look at any bread and it appears tremendous voluptuous and virtually contemporary out of the oven, you are good to go,” she informed BI. “However when you see that the bread is already wrapped, whether or not or not it’s in plastic or paper, it is in all probability an indicator that it was wrapped heat and isn’t going to be good.”

Mick says contemporary bread wants room to breathe, and wrapping it even whereas it is solely barely heat will trigger it to steam itself, doubtlessly making it soggy.

If the pastries do not look the identical in most photographs, it is arduous to belief they will be constantly good

Earlier than she even steps right into a bakery, Mick might flip to Instagram for visuals.

First, she’ll comb by way of the placement tag for any given bakery, holding a watch out for no matter merchandise she hoped to order.

She tries to see whether or not the baked attractiveness the identical in the entire photographs shared by diners. If it appears completely different each few footage, she’s in all probability not going to order it as a result of it is unlikely to be superb, or the standard might differ relying on the batch.

And when you are going to be spending a piece of change at a pricier bakery, you do not need high quality to be left as much as likelihood.

Some pastries ought to solely be made to order

The pastry chef says her understanding of chemistry additionally makes her hesitant to purchase sure pastries that are not made to order.

“You recognize {that a} crispy one thing full of a moist, moist filling goes to be soggy after sitting for, like, 10 minutes,” Mick stated.

For instance, a bakery that fills cannoli shells and leaves them within the case till they’re bought raises some issues.

Cleanliness in customer-facing areas says so much about cleanliness within the kitchen

Look out for flies across the pastry case, Mick warns.

“In the event you see any sort of fly drawback or any sort of insect infestation within the case, be certain it is in all places,” she informed BI.

You might even wish to peek into the bakery’s toilet earlier than putting an order.

She added: “I am an enormous believer on if their toilet is messy, their kitchen is messy.”

This story was initially printed on April 3, 2024, and most not too long ago up to date on December 29, 2025.