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!

Join baker, writer, and regional grain leader Amy Halloran in a baking class exploring Ukrainian Pampushky. These garlic buns have intense flavor from a cold leavain, and are commonly served with borscht. Amy developed this recipe and class with her friend Ellie Markovitch, using Ukranian chef, cookbook author and activist Olia Hercules' recipe as a springboard. Participants will explore the intersections of baking, activism, and regional grains by learning how to prepare this traditional Ukrainian bread.

Tickets 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 Grainstorm 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. 

If you plan on attending the event, please register for Grainstorm and register for the workshop below!

Instructor: Amy Halloran

A writer and change agent, Amy works to add social values and economic viability to farms, cities, families, the emergency feeding system, and communities. Her love for pancakes led her to write a book about flour, THE NEW BREAD BASKET: How the New Crop of Grain Growers, Plant Breeders, Millers, Maltsters, Bakers, Brewers, and Local Food Activists Are Redefining Our Daily Loaf.

She lives in Troy, New York, and works with the Artisan Grain Collaborative in the Upper Midwest, and the Northeast Grainshed to create networks that support regional grains. She loves to create bridges between ideas and people through food. Her newsletter, Dear Bread is a record of the research she's doing about her city, her family, and the history of American baking. 

Join us for a day learning all about the regional grainshed in Western PA with hands-on workshops and roundtable discussions. This event is perfect for regional grain leaders, industry professionals, business owners interested in incorporating more regional grains into their product lines, and everyday enthusiasts of regional grains. A day of learning will close out with a happy hour, networking event and snacks from our wood-fired bread oven. 

Tickets 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. 

Stay tuned for an email with details about the sessions and sign-ups for hands-on workshop opportunities.

Registration is limited! We look forward to seeing you soon!

Schedule

12:00pm - 1:30pm

Roundtable Discussion with Regional Grain Leaders

This event will be live-streamed on our website!

12:00pm - 1:30pm

Workshop: Indian Breads with Regional Grains

Please register for this event separately!

2:00pm - 3:30pm

Workshop: Ukrainian Pampushky

Please register for this event separately!

2:30pm - 3:30pm

Ask a Baker: Roundtable Discussion with Bakers Using Regional Grains

This event will be live-streamed on our website!

4:00pm - 6:00pm

Happy Hour & Networking Event! Come enjoy pizza from the Eden Hall Bread Oven, some favorite local brews, and meet other grains industry professionals. Open to all!

Join us for a roundtable discussion with regional grain leaders from across the country as they share about their organizations and the work that they’re doing. We will learn all about the challenges and success stories of these organizations, and speakers will share their thoughts about the local grain movement’s future in their region. We’ll have representatives from Common Grain Alliance in the Mid-Atlantic, Artisan Grain Collaborative in the Mid-West, and CRAFT in Pennsylvania. We’re looking forward to an interesting conversation with questions welcomed from participants.

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: Amy Halloran

A writer and change agent, Amy works to add social values and economic viability to farms, cities, families, the emergency feeding system, and communities. Her love for pancakes led her to write a book about flour, THE NEW BREAD BASKET: How the New Crop of Grain Growers, Plant Breeders, Millers, Maltsters, Bakers, Brewers, and Local Food Activists Are Redefining Our Daily Loaf.

She lives in Troy, New York, and works with the Artisan Grain Collaborative in the Upper Midwest, and the Northeast Grainshed to create networks that support regional grains. She loves to create bridges between ideas and people through food. Her newsletter, Dear Bread is a record of the research she's doing about her city, her family, and the history of American baking. 

Speaker: Ben Shorofsky

Common Grain Alliance

Ben is the Vice Chair of the Common Grain Alliance Board, a Mid-Atlantic based nonprofit focused on developing a regenerative grain economy. He brings close to a decade of project development, management, and facilitation experience working with a variety of nonprofit and for-profit organizations. Ben works in the nonprofit sector and as an independent consultant to food and farm businesses throughout the country through his own consultancy, Stepwell Strategies. In addition, Ben co-founded the Artisan Grain Collaborative, a parallel organization to CGA in the midwest, and served as the first program coordinator as the organization grew. Benreturned home to Baltimore in 2019 with his wife and dog, Marty where in his free time, he runs a pre-order bagel business, Back Alley Bagel. For the last few years, Ben has worked with CGA partners as aproject administrator for a SARE-funded education program.

Speaker: Keith Williams

Artisan Grain Collaborative

Keith is a crop improvement and sourcing specialist living and working in Minneapolis, with 20+ years’ experience in the horticultural, agricultural and biotech industries. He currently serves as a Food Grade Grains Outreach Specialist with the University of Wisconsin-Madison and leads the Research & Variety Testing Working Group for the Artisan Grain Collaborative. Keith received his PhD in Plant Breeding & Genetics from Cornell for his work in wheat with the Cornell Small Grains Breeding Program and holds a BSc in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology from the University of Michigan. He has worked in Breeding R&D, Product Development and Procurement for a wide variety of organizations ranging from large, international CPG companies (PepsiCo) to lean startups (Row7 Seeds). In addition to his work with industry, he also maintains an independent, full-scale commercial maize breeding program developing flavor-driven maize hybrids for use throughout the United States. His passion is exploring the interface of crops and commerce and he enjoys projects that connect grains and other crops to food and exciting new products.

Speaker: Cassandra Malis

CRAFT, Chatham University

Cassandra is a program manager for the Center for Regional Agriculture, Food, and Transformation at Chatham University where she helps to manage the educational offerings, including community workshops and workforce development programs. Additionally, Cassandra’s work has been focused CRAFT’s USDA grant involving supporting the regional grains industry, and has had the opportunity to connect with national organizations around this work.

Cassandra is a graduate of the Food Studies Masters of Arts program at Chatham University with a concentration in food politics. She manages the Eden Hall wood-fired bread oven and works to build community around baking at the Eden Hall campus.

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!

Join Jay Iyengar from Popping Mustard Seeds to learn how to make two popular Indian breads, roti and naan, using regionally grown and soured grains! We’ll experiment mainly with whole wheat flour, and we’ll explore both sourdough and natural leaven options. Participants will be able to taste the bread alongside an Indian chutney and raita prepared by Jay.

Tickets 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 Grainstorm 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. 

If you plan on attending the event, please register for Grainstorm and register for the workshop below!

Instructor: Jayashree (Jay) Iyengar

Jay is the owner of Popping Mustard Seeds - Indian Cooking Classes and More. She specializes in teaching Indian vegetarian cuisine. She grew up in Chennai, India before she moved to the United States more than three decades ago. She is an experienced chef and has taught several cooking classes in the Pittsburgh area, since August 2015.

She is also a Mechanical Engineer who worked at Westinghouse as an engineer for more than two decades. Her passion for cooking and teaching led her to transition to the culinary world. She has recently completed her Master’s degree in Food Studies at Chatham University.

Find out more about her at:poppingmustardseeds.com