Josh Allen is the Founder of Companion Baking. Born and raised in St. Louis, MO, Allen was immersed in the food and baking industry from an early age. His great-grandfather founded Allen Foods, a well-known broadline food distributor with a large customer base across the Midwest. Allen spent much of his childhood delivering groceries to various foodservice operations, cleaning the freezers and sweeping the trucks for his family’s business. Today, Companion’s award-winning bread is served in more...
Feb 06, 2023•35 min
Pastry chef, entrepreneur and bon vivant, Cheryl Wakerhauser, sees every day as a chance to learn something new and contribute something else. After a short-lived career studying to be an astronaut, Cheryl received a degree in pastry arts from Vancouver’s Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts and then headed straight to Southern France to further train at the prestigious pâtisserie of MOF Philippe URRACA. Her eccentric dessert restaurant, Pix Pâtisserie, was born in Portland, Oregon in 2002, where ...
Jan 23, 2023•28 min
Maurizio Leo is the software engineer-turned-baker behind the award-winning sourdough website, The Perfect Loaf . He grew up in an Italian household and spent summers visiting family in Italy and the back kitchen of his family's Italian restaurant, learning the importance of making food by hand. He holds a master's degree in computer science and co-created the stargazing app, SkyView, before circling back to food and discovering the craft of baking sourdough bread. Since that first loaf of bread...
Jan 01, 2023•46 min
Cynthia Samanian is the founder of Culinary Creator Business School, an online business education company dedicated to the culinary industry. Her students learn how to create, sell and teach virtual cooking classes, corporate events and recorded courses that help them unlock more freedom and flexibility. Cynthia hosts the 5-star rated Culinary Creator Business School podcast. She's appeared as a guest on top industry podcasts and conferences including Eat Capture Share, Food Biz Wiz, the Food Bl...
Dec 12, 2022•49 min
Genevieve Ko is a deputy editor and columnist of New York Times Cooking and the Food section, for which she also writes articles and develops recipes. She came to The Times from The Los Angeles Times , where she was cooking editor. She is the author of Better Baking (HMH, 2016) and has contributed to more than 20 cookbooks, as well as other food publications. Born and raised in East Los Angeles, she now lives in New York City and cooks dishes from everywhere. Check out Genevieve’s recipes for Th...
Nov 16, 2022•46 min
Lasheeda Perry is the pastry chef and owner of Queen of Flavor, a company that specializes in everything from revamping your dessert menu to helping you design and execute your dream dessert menu. Lasheeda has always had a passion for culinary arts, and luckily for the sweet-tooth everywhere, this love has materialized into a successful and rewarding career. Prior to creating Queen of Flavor, she received her culinary education from Johnson & Wales University in Providence, RI. Immediately a...
Nov 02, 2022•35 min
Romain Dufour knew from an early age that he wanted to be a baker. He was inspired by his uncle who owned his own bakery in a small town near Bourges, France and Romain worked as an apprentice there for two years. Romain attended the Ecole de Boulangerie et de Patisserie de Paris, earning two diplomas in four years. For his second diploma, Romain was hired at the renowned Plaza Athenée Hotel in Paris, under the direction of Christophe Michalak, World Champion of Pastry. In 2016, Romain arrived i...
Oct 19, 2022•42 min
Cydni N. Mitchell (aka Cyd) is a Bakery Consultant and the Sweet Business Coach behind Sweet Fest. Based in Atlanta, GA, Sweet Fest is an online company that supports the business needs of the Sweet Community in the areas of professional development, marketing, branding and web design. By trade, Cyd is an Accountant & Financial Analyst with a Masters from the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is the Head Instructor of the Sugar Coin Academy...
Oct 08, 2022•43 min
Carol Gancia is the founder and head chocolatier of Kokak Chocolates, an artisanal chocolate company that specializes in small-batch single-origin heirloom chocolates in the Castro neighborhood of San Francisco and ships within the continental U.S. Hailing from San Francisco, Carol Gancia is an immigrant, LGBTQ member and rising female chocolatier. Kokak, which means “ribbit” in the Filipino language, is inspired by Gancia’s Asian heritage. She spearheads the creative process in designing each c...
Sep 20, 2022•32 min
As a graduate of the plant-based and raw food nutrition programs at Matthew Kenney Culinary Academy and the Pure Joy Academy, Crystal Bonnet has worked hard to learn the importance of the culinary aspect and nutritional elements of living foods. “With knowledge, anything is possible!” she emphasizes, and these five words inspire and guide her to create beautiful, innovative raw food and desserts and share her knowledge with those seeking to learn more about raw food and desserts. Her work within...
Sep 07, 2022•37 min
Michael Laiskonis joined the Institute of Culinary Education in New York as Creative Director in 2012, fresh off of an eight-year tenure as Executive Pastry Chef at Le Bernardin. He has long been one of the industry's most creative and talented chefs, noted for helping Le Bernardin earn four stars from The New York Times and three Michelin stars. Laiskonis was also named among America's Top Ten Pastry Chefs by Pastry Art & Design in 2002 and 2003, and was Bon Appétit's Pastry Chef of the Yea...
Aug 26, 2022•50 min
Tavel Bristol-Joseph is the Pastry Chef and Partner at Emmer & Rye, Hestia, Kalimotxo, Henbit, TLV and Canje in Austin, Texas. He began his culinary journey as a young boy, spending every Saturday afternoon baking cookies, cakes, and pies with his aunt. After moving to the United States from Guyana when he was 17 years old, Bristol-Joseph attended the New York Restaurant School. He then worked in a variety of restaurants in New York before moving to Tucson in 2006, where he joined Fox Restau...
Jul 21, 2022•43 min
Born and raised in the Bronx, Pastry Chef Shaun Velez graduated from the French Culinary Institute, now known as the Institute of Culinary Education, in 2008. Following his studies, he established his career in the award-winning kitchens of Chef Daniel Boulud, where he worked closely with his mentor and James Beard Award winning pastry chef Ghaya Oliveira at both Boulud Sud and Restaurant DANIEL. Before making his way back to New York, Shaun spent some time in Boston as the Executive Pastry Chef...
Jun 09, 2022•26 min
Dee Frances is the voice and creator behind the baking blog One Sarcastic Baker, where she shares sweet baking recipes and different information about baking and baking science. Working in retail bakeries and years of exploring and learning has given Dee the experience and knowledge to dive deep into the world of baking science and write her new book, Baking Science (April, 2022, Page Street Publishing), where she talks about the importance of science in the baking process and how we can use it ...
May 04, 2022•39 min
Chef Amado began his foray into the culinary world at the age of 16, selling churros in the streets of Guadalajara, Mexico. As a young man he made the move to the U.S. to pursue an education in culinary arts. In 1992 he graduated from Grand Rapids Community College, and not long after, traveled to Belgium where he worked to develop his knowledge of classical European pastry and chocolate. He returned to U.S. in 1994 and worked in a variety of positions at private country clubs and fine dining re...
Mar 30, 2022•35 min
Jimmy Griffin is a sixth-generation master baker from Galway Ireland. He has forty years' experience in the bakery industry, growing up in the family business. He is a specialist in viennoiserie, sourdough, bread and cake production. He holds a Master's degree in Food Product Development and Culinary Innovation and lectures to honors degree bakery students at the School of Culinary Arts and Food Technology, Technological University, Cathal Brugha Street, Dublin. He also works as an advisor and c...
Feb 25, 2022•57 min
Known as “Sourdough Duffy”, Chef Matthew James Duffy is a sourdough expert and teacher with an impressive resume. He spent over a decade working as a professionally trained chef in the some of the world’s finest kitchens, including a time at Relais & Chateaux property Langdon Hall in Ontario, Restaurant Noma in Copenhagan, as well as five years working with Chef Daniel Boulud at Café Boulud NYC and as Sous-Chef opening Café Boulud Toronto. But even as he toiled in these restaurant kitchens, ...
Jan 27, 2022•48 min
Originally from Sydney, Australia, Richard Hawke discovered his love for pastry during an apprenticeship with a French pastry chef in his home city. Inspired by this experience, he traveled to Lyon, where he landed a job with Jérôme Langillier (Champion du Monde de Pâtisserie, 2009). Hawke continued to hone his pastry skills at various pâtisseries in the region, then took a position teaching at l’Ecole Nationale Supérieure de la Pâtisserie, the school founded by Yves Thuries and Alain Ducasse, w...
Dec 08, 2021•42 min
Zoë François studied art at the University of Vermont while also founding a cookie company as a way to earn extra money. She then traveled throughout Europe, tasting pastries along the way, and later studied at the Culinary Institute of America in New York. Since then she has been a pastry chef at several Twin Cities restaurants and has worked repeatedly with Andrew Zimmern. Together with Jeff Hertzberg she wrote the book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, which turned into a bestselling serie...
Nov 04, 2021•46 min
From January 2007 to July 2014, Bill Yosses held the prestigious title of the White House Executive Pastry Chef. As Pastry Chef of the White House, he was closely involved with Mrs. Obama’s Let’s Move initiative with the goal of reducing childhood health problems related to diet. While there, he conducted bi-weekly tours of the White House vegetable garden for school groups. In a related project, he has given lectures for the “Science and Cooking Course” in the School of Engineering and Applied ...
Oct 02, 2021•46 min
Fran Costigan, chef, cookbook author, and Director of Vegan Baking and Pastry at the Rouxbe Online Culinary School, is internationally renowned as the authority on vegan desserts. Professionally trained, Fran was a chef in both traditional and vegan pastry kitchens before moving into teaching over 25 years ago. Her unapologetically luscious confections lack nothing — except dairy, eggs, white sugar, and cholesterol. Fran’s vegan desserts are appropriate for everyone who loves dessert, whether or...
Jul 19, 2021•52 min
Gianni Vietina is the co-owner and Executive Chef at Bianca, an Italian, Argentinian and French restaurant with bakery in Culver City. Most of Gianni’s earliest memories are of times he spent immersed in hospitality. Gianni’s parents are restaurateurs, so instead of going home after school, he headed to the restaurants in Forte dei Marmi, Tuscany, to cook and help out. In the 1980’s Gianni’s family moved to Los Angeles, where his father opened celebrity acclaimed Madeo Ristorante in Beverly Hill...
Apr 30, 2021•32 min
Known as the ‘Diva of Desserts’, Rose Levy Beranbaum is the author of eleven cookbooks, including her best-selling book The Cake Bible (1988), which was inducted into the International Association of Culinary Professionals Culinary Classics. Her next book, The Cookie Bible , will be published in November of 2021. A luminary in the world of food writing, Rose was a Contributing Editor for over a decade to Food Arts Magazine where "Rose's Sugar Bible" (April 2000) received two prestigious awards: ...
Mar 18, 2021•56 min
Tish Boyle is an editor, food writer and cookbook author with expertise in baking, desserts and chocolate. A graduate of Smith College and La Varenne Ecole de Cuisine, Tish has held a variety of positions in the food world, including chef on a luxury barge traveling the canals of France, pastry chef, caterer, food stylist and recipe developer. Tish has written several dessert and baking books including Chocolate Passion (Wiley, 2000), Diner Desserts (Chronicle Books, 2000), The Good Cookie (HMH,...
Feb 05, 2021•42 min
Originally from Kent, England, Ed Tatton has worked in fine dining kitchens around the world and has been making sourdough since 2008. Ed and his wife Natasha moved to Canada in 2013 to snowboard for a season, and both worked in hospitality, Ed working at farm-to-table restaurant Alta Bistro in Whistler, BC. While taking some shoulder-season leave and working on Vancouver Island farms in the summer of 2014, Ed started a sourdough culture that he took with him back to Alta Bistro and implemented ...
Dec 15, 2020•49 min
Elisa Strauss founded Confetti Cakes in 2000. She is a graduate of Vassar College and The Institute of Culinary Education, where she received a degree in pastry and baking arts. Elisa also spent one semester studying at the Art Institute of Chicago. Prior to culinary school, she worked as a designer for Ralph Lauren. In fact, it was a cake she made for Ralph (in the shape of a Bugatti, his favorite sports car) and the heaps of praise it received from fashion industry notables that inspired her t...
Nov 18, 2020•43 min
David Vidal was born in Canada, but moved to Malta with this family at the age of 12. His uncle owned a pastry shop there, and the young David worked at the shop after school during the week. He decided to go to culinary school in Malta at the Institute of Tourism Studies and later set out to become a savory chef. His education led him to London where he honed his skills cooking in hotels and restaurants throughout Europe. He and his wife decided to move to his wife’s hometown on the west coast ...
Oct 25, 2020•27 min
Known as "The Sugar Daddy" and "King of Cakes," Dana Herbert is the Executive Pastry Chef and owner of Desserts by Dana in Newark, Delaware. Chef Dana began his culinary career when he received a Bachelor’s degree in Hotel and Restaurant Management from the University of Delaware. He then went on to complete a second Bachelor’s degree in Culinary Arts and an additional Associates of Arts in Pastry. His first professional cooking job was at the Four Seasons Hotel in Boston, working the savory sid...
Sep 22, 2020•35 min
Widely known under the moniker @pastryschiff , Caroline is a celebrated pastry chef and culinary consultant based in Brooklyn. She got her start in the restaurant industry a decade ago cooking at The Good Fork, and worked her way up through a number of acclaimed restaurants and bakeries including Mas (la Grillade), Maysville NYC, Kenton's NOLA, and Greene Grape Provisions before coming full circle to work with Sohui and Ben once again as Gage & Tollner’s Pastry Chef. Heralded as one of the “...
Aug 19, 2020•29 min
Born in Senegal of Lebanese parents, Karim Bourgi moved to Paris at the age of 16. After graduating from Le Cordon Bleu Paris in 2001, he began his career in Beirut at La Cigale, followed by Laduree Paris Champs Élysée, Makyan Traiteur, Goû Beirut, and Fauchon Paris in Dubai. Currently, he is the head pastry chef of Al Mana Group, and the regional development and creation chef for La Maison du Chocolat Paris. He believes that excellence is achieved by virtue of persistence and surrendering to tr...
Aug 04, 2020•27 min
