Five pastry chefs to watch: Meet Canada’s star bakers | Canada Voices

Bakeshops are a place of nostalgia, a go-to for milestones and a more accessible way to eat your feelings than forking out at a restaurant. They are also doing inventive things in the kitchen, combining traditional flavours with new and melding techniques that aren’t typically used together. Yet, when it comes to food awards or “Top 100″ lists, the pastry chefs and bakers behind our favourite bakeries often go unnoticed.

Across Canada, a fresh generation of independent pastry chefs is proving that excellence doesn’t have to be limited to stale Eurocentric definitions. By finding fun and exciting ways to tap into their cultural baking traditions, these five chefs are sharing a piece of themselves with every taste.

Mariana Martin, Carlota Boulangerie Mexicaine

Mariana Martin’s eyes sparkle the moment she speaks about food. “I believe food goes beyond the four walls of the kitchen,” said the Mexico City-born founder of Carlota Boulangerie in Montreal. “Food is a very important part of our culture and families; it’s our love language, and we tell so many stories through it.”

From a young age, Martin assumed she’d become a lawyer, just like everyone else in her family, including her father. Instead, her now-husband encouraged her to follow her passion for cooking. “There is this amazing bread culture in Mexico, but it’s not the same as the one we think about when we say French bread. It’s more like pastries, and we call that pan dulce. So, growing up in Mexico, bread for me was pan dulce, not crusty sourdough breads,” she explained.

While studying at the International Culinary Center in New York, she fell in love with the art of bread baking. “It was the first time in my life that I was able to understand chemistry, and I could also eat it,” she said with a smile. Eager to expand her knowledge, she gained experience at Rosetta, the Mexico City-based Michelin-starred restaurant of renowned chef Elena Reygadas.

In May, 2023, Martin opened the doors of Carlota (named after the Belgian Empress of Mexico, known for her sweet tooth) in Mile End to bring a taste of her home to Montreal. The menu boasts a selection of culturally significant items like concha (a sugar-crusted buttery brioche scented with Mexican vanilla bean), rosca de reyes (like panettone but crown-shaped and topped with candied fruit), and besos (named for the Spanish word for “kisses,” these two sweetened dough balls filled with raspberry marmalade appear to embrace). “We are ambassadors of our own culture,” she says. “I realized I had this great responsibility to not only sell bread but also kill all those terrible stereotypes about my culture, immigrants, ingredients or food in general.”

With Carlota, Martin aims to challenge the male-dominated narrative that still plagues the industry today. “All of the people who work at Carlota are women, and they’re immigrants,” she said. “Carlota has been a space for them to feel safe while learning another language. I wanted to give them the workspace I would have loved when I arrived and was adapting. I hope to keep on expanding that safe space for everyone.”

What ingredient do you love to bake with?

“I will always fight for Mexican vanilla. When you’re buying something at a Starbucks or store-bought containers of ice cream that say ‘French vanilla,’ I hate that. Few people know that vanilla is endemic to Mexico, so I will always give some credit to the vanilla production in Mexico, which will never compete with the monopoly of Madagascar vanilla.”

An Tran, Ba Noi

Since opening its doors in the summer of 2020, Ba Noi (which translates to paternal grandmother in Vietnamese) has quickly become a Toronto favourite. The Bloorcourt location holds a deep significance for chef An Tran. His father used to run a print shop above the family’s basement home. When he semi-retired, Tran – a former line cook – flipped the space into a kitchen. “I am very familiar with the neighbourhood. It’s changed a lot, but I’ve always been here. I don’t think I would have opened up a business if we didn’t have the space for it, and because we have this space, I had the opportunity.” But opening a grab-and-go micro-bakery wasn’t exactly his intention. “Ba Noi was originally supposed to be a hybrid model,” explained Tran of his prepandemic plans to open a modern Vietnamese restaurant that focused on house-baked items.

Once he secured some government funding for kitchen equipment, he turned to what he knew. “The first thing I could do was bake without staff, so I just started baking bread. It extended to anything I could bake,” he said. That included his flaky yet gooey butter tarts, fudgy brown-butter chocolate chip cookies with a fat pinch of sea salt on top and the Hong Kong-style milk buns (ranging from char siu to coconut) he grew up eating in Toronto’s Chinatown. “The bake side kicked off from there; the momentum kept moving.” Now, he’s not sure if he will eventually transition to the original restaurant idea, or stick to how things are.

Tran’s butter tarts have become legendary. “I was born and raised in Ontario, so butter tarts are our thing,” he said. “It’s funny because I never expected them to be part of Ba Noi. I developed the recipe in my 20s, and it’s just this thing I know how to do very well.” His version boasta a flaky crust, caramelized exterior and a set but slightly runny filling. “I want it to ooze out a little bit but not so much that it empties upon your first bite,” he added.

What sweet treat do you really enjoy in Toronto?

“Motherdough Mill & Bakery has a pastry called xuxo. It’s a laminated dough – croissant – but she deep-fries it, tosses it in sugar, then stuffs it with custard. It’s really good! Carol is a whole-grain baker. She had been milling well before Brodflour came to Toronto. I guess she doesn’t get a lot of recognition because she’s a smaller business, maybe.”

Patricia Pilar, Duchess Bakeshop

After five years in Tokyo, co-founders Garner Beggs and Giselle Courteau returned to their hometown of Edmonton to open Duchess Bakeshop in 2009. “We started on a shoestring hope and a lot of passion. We didn’t have a lot of money, and none of us had any particular business acumen,” recalls Beggs. Still, he says the community welcomed them with open arms.

Now, the Edmonton institution is approaching its 15th anniversary. “We’ve gotten a lot more streamlined and professional in running everything,” he said. “I love that we’ve been able to offer benefits to our full-time staff now. We’re focusing on creating a long-term, happy, healthy work environment for everybody involved.”

When Courteau left the business in early 2022, Patricia Pilar (who started at Duchess in 2017) stepped in to head up the production kitchen in 2023. “When a personality as big – and wonderful – as Giselle leaves, it does create a bit of a vacuum, but it’s been interesting seeing how people have risen to the occasion to fill that void,” said Beggs. “It’s been lovely seeing a lot of our staff grow in that way – Patricia is a great example.”

Duchess may be known for its expertly crafted croissants, seasonal macarons and lush cakes, but Beggs says it is French-inspired rather than a French bakery. “Edmonton is incredibly diverse. I was counting the number of languages our staff speaks, and I got 14 or 15 different languages from a quick survey,” he said. “It’s really fun having all these different insights and attitudes.” That global influence has started to shine in the creations at Duchess through ingredients like ube (purple yam) and tropical fruits. “I’m trying to introduce little things I’m so used to – that feels so normal,” said Manilla-born Pilar.

One example is a citrusy kalamansi madeleine inspired by a popular honey drink in the Philippines. “Kalamansi is slightly sweeter than a lemon, and you get the tinge of orange, so it tastes more floral and fruity rather than full-on tart,” she said.

With a kitchen team of 25 and a full year of production behind her, Pilar admits the transition has been challenging but rewarding. “With the feedback I’m getting from the owners, I feel like I’ve been doing okay,” she said through an endearing laugh.

What is your favourite item to recommend at Duchess?

“Depending on the season, my favourite product is the Duchess cake. But that is usually just available in the springtime. It’s Duchess’s take on a prinsesstarta [a Swedish princess cake]. It’s a chiffon cake with pastry cream, raspberry jam and marzipan. It’s very light. The Asian in me likes it because it’s not very sweet. I love dark chocolate, but sometimes, it’s too much. This one has vanilla whipped ganache. It has chocolate, but it feels very valid.”

Said M’Dahoma, The Pastry Nerd

When neuroscientist Said M’Dahoma moved from Paris for a research position at the University of Calgary in 2015, he was unaware that he was about to embark on a new career in pastry. “I realized how much I missed French pastries and decided to make them by myself,” recalled M’Dahoma. “What was a hobby became a passion, and I decided to make this my full-time job.”

Since his leap of faith in 2021, the charming French-Comorian scientist has transformed into a full-fledged pastry nerd (hence @thepastrynerd handle), gaining 181,000 Instagram followers with his bite-sized instructional videos (ranging from croissants to puff pastry to eclairs), virtual masterclasses, deep-dive courses and a new monthly recipe club via Patreon. “I love to teach,” explained M’Dahoma. “I was not a great baker when I started, so I wanted to give the keys to French pastries to people interested in baking to give them a head start and make their life easier.”

M’Dahoma’s heritage shines brightest when he’s “seasoning” his creations with spices. “Food should reflect who you are and where you live; I like to use Canadian ingredients like milk and butter, but I also use Comorian ingredients, like vanilla from my grandmother’s farm,” he said “I always get very nostalgic when I smell vanilla because it reminds me of my grandmother and where I’m from.” That is most evident in the layers of his ultrasleek mousse cakes. “I like to infuse those cakes with flavours I grew up with, whether French or Comorian,” said M’Dahoma. One of his most successful combinations infuses vanilla from his family’s village in East Africa and mango using traditional French techniques.

Having made several TV appearances, including on The Good Stuff with Mary Berg on CTV, the Calgary resident hopes his online pastry school continues to grow. As for the future?

“The real dream is to one day have a physical location so people can take those skills back home for their friends and family.”

Do you have a tip for home bakers?

“Everybody could benefit from preparing all the ingredients in advance. You’ll have a much better flow as you’re baking because you know what comes first and last. I know it’s not popular in North America, but trust me, your life will be much easier if you weigh your ingredients. It’s not more complicated. There are fewer dishes to clean. It’s more precise. It’s more predictable. I really encourage anyone to buy the cheapest scale for making pastry.”

Sandrine Raffault, Sandrine French Pastry & Chocolate

Sandrine Raffault was born and raised in the Beaujolais area of France, near Lyon. Despite coming from three generations of French chocolatiers, Raffault worked as a business consultant for startups before entering the world of pastry.

When she moved to Kelowna, B.C. in 2004, she opened La Boulangerie Gourmet Café. In 2010, that evolved into Sandrine French Pastry & Chocolate, an airy bakeshop specializing in gorgeous chocolates, crisp yet chewy macarons and all-butter croissants and pastries with the Okanagan terroir in mind. “Our focus is on crafting everything by hand – with love and precision – to offer an experience that reflects the rich heritage of French patisserie,” said Raffault. “I can’t believe it’s been 20 years!”

Her flaky croissants are a must-try, made with 86 per cent fat butter and stuffed with Okanagan pears or apricots. “A croissant is alive, so every day, we have to pay attention and adjust to make them as perfect as possible,” she explained. “Making the dough, resting it, shaping, proofing and baking: Every step is very important. We are lucky that all our staff are dedicated to their craft and pay attention to those details.”

Two decades in, Raffault and her skillful team continue experimenting with new flavours, textures and trends. “We’ve begun introducing more mainstream items like our New York rolls and created our own coffee brand, Sandrine French Roast, that Tug 6, a local specialty roastery, makes for us.”

Sandrine’s most exciting development of the year is a new vending machine at Kelowna International Airport. “We wanted to create something that offers convenience to travellers but doesn’t compromise on quality,” said Raffault. “The machine has been a hit so far, allowing visitors and locals to grab fresh pastries, macarons and even our signature coffee beans right at the airport. We’ve already seen a great response.”

What’s a common mistake that you see home bakers make?

“Don’t be afraid to bake a bit longer. When I was teaching classes, most people thought something was baked when it was golden. A few more minutes in the oven will give you a deeper and more caramelized flavour to the end product.”