Introduction to the MGU Pastry System

Introduction to the MGU Pastry System

Current MGU classification:

1. Laminated Pastries
2. Shortcrust & Tart-Based Pastries
3. Choux Pastry
4. Phyllo & Ultra-Thin Dough Pastries
5. Sweet Puff & Convenience Pastries
6. Enriched Dough Pastries
7. Fried Pastries
8. Meringue-Based Pastries
9. Hot Water Crust Pastries

The MGU Pastry System contains nine pastry categories making it one of the most complete modern systems because it separates techniques (lamination, choux, meringue) from dough families (shortcrust, phyllo, enriched), allowing clarity for students. For comparision to classical French pastry, "French patisserie" generally uses four foundational pastry doughs, not nine categories.

How MGU Compares to The French Hierarchy

The “Four Mother Pastries”

1. Pâte Brisée (shortcrust)
2. Pâte Sablée (sweet shortcrust)
3. Pâte Sucrée (sugared shortcrust)
4. Pâte à Choux (choux pastry)

French patisserie treat laminations (puff pastry, croissant dough) as techniques, not categories. This is useful for quick early learning, which is a good thing, but hits scalability issues later on. What they are doing is preserving French Identity and making complex subjects easy to absorb. The smart idea here is that by mastering key techniques from four learning groups endless creations are possible. This is a very elegant solution given their mission parameters. MGU expands these four doughs into a broader, student-friendly taxonomy that includes products resulting from those doughs, not just the doughs themselves. Most formal culinary schools organize pastries into about 6 major families:

CIA Bleu Standard Categories

1. Laminated Doughs (puff, croissant, Danish)
2. Short Doughs (tarts, pies, cheesecakes, flans)
3. Choux Doughs
4. Yeasted Doughs (enriched breads & pastries)
5. Fried Doughs & Pastries
6. Specialty Pastries

Le Cordon Bleu Standard Categories

1. meringue
2. sugar work
3. chocolate work
4. phyllo
5. hot-water crust
6. international pastries

MGU has done something better by seperating “specialty/international pastries” into clear, distinct, student-friendly subcategories instead of grouping them into a vague catchall section.

How MGU Compares to Modern Western Innovations

Professional Bakers’ Guilds (U.S. & Europe)

1. Guild training models often use 5 universal categories:
2. Shortcrust pastries
3. Laminated pastries
4. Choux pastries
5. Enriched dough pastries
6. International pastries (phyllo, strudel, baklava, etc.)

The MGU version is more granular and recognizes the culinary significance of:

1. Fried pastries (often separated in modern curricula)
2. Meringue-based pastries (professional recognition due to structure & technique)
3. Hot-water crust (important for savory pastry work)
4. This granularity is extremely helpful for academic clarity.

How MGU Compares to Cultural Pastry Systems

Middle Eastern, Asian, and Latin American pastry traditions don’t use the French hierarchy at all. Instead, they tend to classify pastries by:

• Cooking method (baked, fried, boiled, steamed)
• Dough type (phyllo, semolina dough, rice dough)
• Filling type (nut, cheese, custard, fruit)

The MGU system is Western-centric, but importantly it includes the missing global category, "Phyllo/Ultra-thin dough". Most Western pastry guides ignore it entirely. To build a comprehensive world model, MGU could add steamed pastries (bao, dim sum dessert buns, rice cakes), semolina pastries (basbousa, ma’amoul dough) and rice-flour pastries (mochi-type desserts) since these overlap with dessert classifications which are a hallmark of Western patisserie. Plans for building Global Sister Cities in foreign countries are underway to establish diplomatic channels and foster cultural exchange.

How MGU Classification Stacks Up

The MGU system is the most comprehensive practical pastry taxonomy. It is ideal for a university setting. It gives students clear, discrete categories. It aligns closely with professional training while improving clarity.