Join us for a roundtable discussion with Pittsburgh bakers who frequently use the grains that this region has to offer. We’ll discuss recipe development, what their favorite products are, their best advice for sourcing, price differences, and more! Come ready with questions and you’ll learn from these experienced bakers how to better incorporate more regional grains into your own business.
This event will be live-streamed! Come back to this page to view the live-stream and participate in the discussion through the comments section!
Moderator: Jade Umberger
Jade is from Mount Sterling, a small, rural town in Central Illinois. She went to Illinois State University to study nutrition before serving as an AmeriCorps VISTA and FoodCorps service member in North Carolina. Most recently, Jade lived in St. Louis, MO, eating toasted ravioli and gooey butter cake while working as a nutrition educator at Operation Food Search, a hunger relief nonprofit.
As a Food Studies graduate student and CRAFT Food Innovation Lab Coordinator, Jade hopes to dive deeper into farmer support and small-scale food production.
Speaker: Chloe Newman
CrustWorthy LLC
Chloe first fell in love with sourdough baking in 2016, although she’s always had a deep connection to cooking and the community of food. Naturally-leavened bread has become a strong expression of her overlapping backgrounds in visual art and organic life sciences, as well as her more recent studies in sustainability and local food systems.
In January 2019, Chloe became the founder and baker of Crust Worthy, a small-scale, community-supported baking operation, providing organic-grain, hand-crafted, naturally-leavened bread and specialty baked goods to local areas in Pittsburgh, PA.
Speaker: Oliver Pinder
Wild Rise Bakery
Oliver Pinder is the head baker and owner of Wild Rise Bakery, a gluten free bakery in Pittsburgh, PA. Oliver grew up watching his mother in the kitchen and has since attended culinary school in South Africa, completed his Food Studies Masters at Chatham University, and billed experience at some of the city’s best restaurants. Wild Rise Bakery is a Black & Queer owned gluten-free bakery that prioritizes breads and pastries with a focus on seasonal, local, and wholesome. You can find Wild Rise goods at the Bloomfield Farmers Market, through Harvie, Farmer x Baker, the East End Co-op, and more!
Speaker: Erika Bruce
Le Beau Gateau
After working for years as a pastry chef in both bakeries and restaurants in the San Francisco Bay Area and Boston, Erika embarked on a 20-year career developing recipes, writing about the process, and appearing as a regular cast member on cooking shows. Most of her work can be found in Cook’s Illustrated, Cook’s Country, and Milk Street Magazines, and she can been seen on episodes ofAmerica’s Test Kitchen and Milk Street TV. She also worked as a food stylist before launching her wedding cake business, Le Beau Gateau. After relocating to Pittsburgh and raising her two young children, she’s ready to re-launch her baking business, this time with a focus on sustainability and community outreach. Her most recent stint preparing meals for 412 Food Rescue’s Good Food Project has been an important reminder of the power of food to do good.
Tickets for the day will be sold on a “pay what you can” basis, with a suggested donation of $20 per ticket. All are welcome to join, regardless of ability to pay.
Revenue from this event will go directly to paying student employees at Chatham University. We engage students across all of our programming at CRAFT, serving as a practicum space for students to gain work experience alongside their coursework.
Registration is limited! We look forward to seeing you soon!