This webinar took place on March 8, 2016.
About the Webinar
Join bakers and pasta makers for a webinar on the practical aspects of incorporating locally or regionally grown organic grains into a commercial enterprise. Four panelists will discuss why they began working with local grains, the development of their product lines and how they have dealt with such issues as sourcing local grain and flour, flour quality, pricing and marketing, and what customer reaction has been. Stefan Senders (Wide Awake Bakery, Trumansburg, NY), Peter Endriss (Runner & Stone Bakery and Restaurant, Brooklyn, NY), Dan Avery (Dakota Earth Bakery and Pasta Shop, Alcester, SD), and Steve Gonzalez (Sfoglini Pasta Shop, Brooklyn, NY) are included on the panel. The webinar was organized by the Value-Added Grains for Local and Regional Food Systems Project (NIFA-USDA award #2011-51300-30697).
About the Presenters
Stefan Senders owns and operates the Wide Awake Bakery (Trumansburg, NY) in partnership with grain farmer Thor Oechsner and the Farmer Ground Flour mill. Wide Awake, which has been in business for nigh on five years, runs a large Community Supported Bakery. Stefan and the bakery have worked with OGRIN and NYC Greenmarket to teach bakers how to use NYS grains more successfully. In 2014 the bakery hosted a bread-making evaluation of modern and heritage wheat varieties sponsored by the Value-Added Grains for Local and Regional Food Systems Project.
Peter Endriss began his bread-baking career at Amy’s Bread in New York City. In 2006, after a stage in a bread bakery in his father’s hometown in southern Germany, Peter accepted the position as Head Baker of Per Se restaurant and Bouchon Bakery in New York City. After leaving Per Se, Peter spent time working at the Parisian bakery L’Étoile du Berger before moving to Italy. Upon returning to New York, Peter began working with Hot Bread Kitchen, and is now the Head Baker and co-owner of the bakery and restaurant, Runner & Stone, in Gowanus, Brooklyn.
Dan Avery draws unique experience from sales and marketing with an agri-business fortune 100 company. Using this experience, Dan and his wife Elizabeth began Dakota Earth, an unconventional gourmet bakery and pasta-making business in Alcester, SD. Dakota Earth is now known locally and regionally for its quality food products and has created an awareness and demand for food products made with heritage-identified grains.
Steve Gonzalez earned a degree in Culinary Arts from the Art Institute of Colorado and has been a chef for 14 years. He was first introduced to the art of handmade pasta while working at Vetri in Philadelphia. To refine his skills, Steve traveled to Europe, working first at El Raco de Can Fabes, a Three Star Michelin Restaurant in Sant Celoni, Spain and then in Italy at Frosio in Villa d’ Alme, Sapposenta in Cagliari, Sardegna and Trattoria Majda in Friuli. Since returning to America, Steve opened his own restaurant, Zavino, in Philadelphia and has worked at Insieme, Company, Hearth, Roberta’s and Frankies Spuntino in NYC. Together with co-owner Scott Ketchum, he now runs Sfoglini pasta shop in Brooklyn, NY, overseeing the production of small-batch, freshly extruded pasta, including pasta made from organic, locally grown hard red wheat and emmer.
