Andrew Schneider / Chef and Baking Instructor, Milwaukee Area Technical College
What started as a way to make money while training to be a fire fighter became a lifelong career in the culinary industry. Andrew Schneider graduated from Milwaukee Area Technical College’s Apprenticeship program and, years later, is now an instructor there in pastry baking and breads.
Along the way, Andrew has worked in the kitchens of several Milwaukee area restaurants, including Sanford, where he apprenticed with James Beard Award winning Sanford D’Amato. Andrew then served as pastry chef on the opening team of Coquette Café, working his way up to head chef. Andrew was also the head pastry chef at Gilbert’s Restaurant in Wisconsin’s Lake Geneva area where he focused on organic ingredients grown on the property and sourcing products from local farmer markets. Andrew honed his pastry skills with stages in New York under François Payard (who comes from three-star Michelin rated pastry kitchens in Paris) in Manhattan’s Payard Patisserie and Bistro.
In 2008, Andrew opened up Le Rêve Patisserie and Bakery in Wauwatosa as the chef-owner with his partner Therese Hittman. The patisserie serves traditional French fare from macarons and crème brûlée to savory crepes, boullibase and charcuterie made in-house. They stick to classic French techniques using ingredients sourced from small farms, but keep dishes on the lighter side.
Andrew was introduced to The Perfect Purée products in his early days at Sanford. He has continued to use them in everything from desserts to sauces to cocktails because the flavors are consistent and the preparation is convenient and efficient. He uses The Perfect Purée to flavor butter cream in Le Rêve’s macarons, which have become a customer favorite at the patisserie. He also uses the flavors in the pate de fruit as well as the fruit gelée in the Napoleon, a caramelized puff pastry made with layers of mousseline, gelée and almond sponge bisquit. He utilizes The Perfect Purée Mango Puree and Passion Fruit Concentrate for his Mango Passion Fruit Napoleon and The Perfect Purée Red Raspberry Puree for his Raspberry Macarons. The fresh fruit purees also go into other dishes at Le Rêve, both sweet and savory, as well as the cocktail menu.