May 7 / 4:00-5:30pm ET

The Bread Bakers Guild of America and the Craft Millers Guild, a  network of small to midsized regional mills, are coming together to talk craft, technique and, of course, grain.  Bakers, come with your questions about milling.  And millers, bring your questions about baking.  Together we can build strong links of knowledge and collaboration across the grain chain.

Open only to members of both Guilds.

Free.

May 14 / 4:00 - 5:00 pm ET

Are you a production baker in search of a new career opportunity?  Or a student looking to understand the professional landscape of baking?  As a part of our free virtual series, Beyond the Bench, the Bread Bakers Guild of America and the Retail Bakers of America are thrilled to give you an opportunity to explore different career paths in the baking industry.  We'll hear from three stars in our industry who all got their start in production baking and have gone to build fulfilling careers in equipment, ingredients and education.

Panelists include:

Dafina Smith - Sales Consultant, Erika Record 

Jason Tucker - Technical Advisor, Puratos

Jesse Jackson III - Baking & Pastry Chef Instructor, The Culinary Institute of America

Jesse Jackson III is a graduate of both Johnson & Wales University and The Culinary Institute of America.  At both schools, he studied Baking & Pastry and graduated with honors.  He has worked in several of the country's best and most esteemed restaurants, and started his own business, Fedora Doughnuts.  He currently works as a Baking & Pastry Chef Instructor at The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park. In the short 3 ½ years Jesse has been a Pastry Instructor at CIA, he has achieved two notable professional certifications; Certified Master Baker in 2022 and Certified Higher Education Professional in 2021.

Dafina Smith is an Equipment Sales Consultant for Erika Record skilled in identifying solutions tailored to meet client needs and building long-lasting client relationships.  She is is a graduate of the International Culinary Center (Classic Pastry Arts), Essex County College (A.S. in Business Administration) and US Army (MOS 45K Armament Repair).  Dafina is dedicated to staying abreast of industry trends and technologies to provide a high level of expertise and value to clients.  Her commitment to training others how to modify manual processes, properly use their tools, and birth their creative passion in edible form is unwavering.

May 20 / 5-6:30pm EDT

Honey is a baker’s best friend. It contributes to exceptional flavor, performs essential functional roles, and is marketable.  Learn about honey--varietals, forms, uses in baking and the bees that produce it--with our partners at the National Honey Board.  The NHB will ship a honey tasting kit to sample during the virtual session.  You must register by May 6, 2024 to receive that kit, but may participate even without it.

The National Honey Board is an industry-funded agriculture promotion group that educates consumers about the benefits and uses of honey and honey products. Our research, marketing, and promotional programs are funded by an assessment on domestic and imported honey and are designed to increase awareness and usage of honey by consumers, the foodservice industry, and food manufacturers.

The National Honey Board (NHB), which operates under the U.S. Department of Agriculture oversight, is not a regulatory agency and does not have powers of enforcement. The Board is prohibited from using funds to influence legislation or governmental action or policy.

The NHB is authorized by the Commodity Promotion, Research, and Information Act of 1996 and was established under the rules and regulations of the Honey Packers and Importers Research, Promotion, Consumer Education and Industry Information Order, effective May 2008.

Craft • Culture • Careers• Community

June 11, 2024 5-6:30PM EST

El Congreso aprobó la Ley de Modernización de la Seguridad Alimentaria (FSMA) en 2011, cuyaimplementación plena tardótodaunadécada. El Congreso otorgó a la FDA la autoridad para implementar la FSMA y, comoresultado, la FDA elaborósietereglas. Una de ellas es la norma de Controles Preventivos para la Alimentación Humana que afecta a todos los procesadores de alimentos. Según esta norma, salvo exención, las empresas que producen alimentos deben contar con un Plan de Seguridad Alimentaria para sus productos. 

Un Plan de Seguridad Alimentaria comienza con el análisis de los peligros potenciales que podrían incorporarse inadvertidamente a los alimentos, seguido de estrategias para mitiga resospeligros. Esta conferencia dará una descripción general de la regla de controles preventivos para alimentos humanos de la FSMA y los pasos que una empresa debe seguir para implementar completamente un plan de seguridad alimentaria en sus instalaciones. 

El Dr. Rubén Morawicki es profesorasociadoen la Facultad de Innovación y Tecnología de Alimentos y director del Centro Ecolab de CienciasCulinarias de la Universidad Johnson and Wales. El Dr. Morawicki recibió su Ph.D. en Ciencias de los Alimentos de Penn State University, una Maestría en Ingeniería Industrial de SUNY Buffalo y una Licenciatura en Ingeniería Química de la Universidad Nacional de Misiones en Argentina. El Dr. Morawicki publicó docenas de artículos revisados por pares, un libro y numerosos capítulos sobre procesamiento de alimentos, en liabilidad y seguridad alimentaria. Es una autoridad de procesos para productos regulados por la FDA e instructor principal de controles preventivos de la FSMA para alimentos humanos y el programa de verificación de suministros extranjeros. Antes de unirse a JWU, fue profesora sociado en la Universidad de Arkansas e investigador scientífico en Tyson Foods. 

Craft • Culture • Careers• Community

June 18 / 6-8pm ET

What do you think of when you hear the word 'masa'? Warm, pillowy tortillas? Fluffy tamales? Tacos, gorditas, tetelas? 'Masa' often refers to the kind of dough specifically made from stone-ground alkalized (aka nixtamalized) field corn. It’s the foundation of countless Mexican/Mesoamerican dishes and Jorge Gaviria, founder of Masienda and author of the cookbook “MASA: Techniques, Recipes, and Reflections on a Timeless Staple,” is here to prove it. We'll discuss the process for making fresh masa by nixtamalizing dry field corn and grinding it into a wet dough. We’ll also explore masa harina, the dried and milled flour form of fresh masa, which can be used in practically all the same ways as fresh masa, and potentially more. Jorge will tell you what to look for when buying masa harina, how to store it, how to use it to make excellent tortillas (as well as arepas/pupusas and sopes) in mere minutes, and also how to use it as an alternative baking flour. Think batters, breads, cookies, and waffles. He'll touch on the wide world of fillings for various masa applications and ways to scale all of these items for commercial purposes.

Jorge Gaviria is the James-Beard Award-winning founder of Masienda and the bestselling author of MASA: Techniques, Recipes, and Reflections on a Timeless Staple. In addition to being recognized as a Best Cookbook of 2022 by the LA Times, Food & Wine, The Washington Post, NPR and Saveur, the title was nominated for James Beard and IACP awards in the single-subject cookbook category.
Before founding Masienda in 2014, Jorge trained at top restaurants, including Maialino and Blue Hill at Stone Barns, He has been recognized by top international press outlets for his work and was awarded Forbes "30 Under 30" for food and wine.

October 29, 2024 / 7PM - 8:30PM EST

Members Only

Extensive research shows that 11 out of 10 people love chocolate. A critical ingredient in any bakery, chocolate can be a little mysterious. Join chocolatiers Donald Wressell and Josh Johnson for a guided tour of the world of chocolate. They will take you through a comprehensive tasting and cover best practices in working with this divine ingredient.

The Guittard Chocolate Company will ship a chocolate tasting kit to sample during the virtual session.  You must register by October 14, 2024 to receive that kit, but may participate even without it.

Many thanks to our partners at Guittard for making this class available to our members!

Donald Wressell, Executive Chef

Growing up in Issaquah, Washington, Donald Wressell credits much of his cooking career to his grandmother.  When he was seven, the duo would watch The Galloping Gourmet and entranced by the flipping, stirring, and sautéing, Wressell decided to become a chef.

As a young adult, he enrolled in the Washington State Chef Association Culinary program and continued to garner pastry expertise through positions at the Westin Hotel in Seattle, Watergate Pastry in Washington D.C. where he worked with Jean-Louis Palladin and the Breakers Hotel Sky Room in Long Beach, California.

He worked at the Four Seasons in Philadelphia in 1986 and remembers this as a formative time working with Executive Chef Jean-Marie Lacroix “who was brilliant with food and people.”  In 1987, Wressell was named Executive Pastry Chef at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills.  It was here that he wooed the hotel’s celebrity clientele with the sweet creations of his hands and humor.  While at the Four Seasons, Wressell made the City of Beverly Hills’ 75th Anniversary cake, a gâteau enjoyed by 10,000 people.  He continued to mix, frost and pipe at the hotel for 19 years. In 2015, he was invited to make the cake for Beverly Hills’ 100^th birthday, this time for 15,000 people.  The celebration took place April 27, 2014. 

In 2006, Wressell joined San Francisco Bay Area based Guittard Chocolate Company as the Corporate Pastry Chef. “I have used Guittard chocolate both professionally and personally and I was thrilled at the opportunity to be the pastry chef for the oldest family run chocolate company in the U.S.  I have always loved working with chocolate; it’s an amazing food with magical qualities.  What other food can be made into decorative shapes and visual amusements that not only tastes good but has incredible food value?”

Wressell’s accolades are many.  In 1998 and 1999, he was named one of the Top Ten Pastry Chefs by Chocolatier Pastry Art & Design magazine and in 2003 he was named Southern California’s Restaurant Writers Pastry Chef of the Year. He is the recipient of both Silver and Gold medals in the Grand Salon Culinaire and the winner and in 1995 won the opportunity to go to the Les Masters du Chocolate competition.  His pastry pedigree also includes “Pastry Chef of the Year” by the Organizing Committee of the 2005 National Pastry Team Championships as well as recognition from the White House for his work with the US Pastry Team. 

Wressell’s experience in domestic and international pastry competitions is unparalleled. As team captain during the 2011 National Pastry Team Championship, his team was awarded a Gold medal and First Place in Degustation. In 2012 as team captain at the World Pastry Championship, his team was awarded the Silver medal and First Place in Degustation. In addition, Wressell has represented Team USA seven times at the Coupe du Monde de la Patisserie, as a competitor, team captain, coach, manager and/or on the jury. He competed for the first time in 1993; in 1995 he was Team Captain leading the USA to a Bronze (the first medal won by Team USA at that time). In 1999, he was Coach/Manager with USA winning the Bronze. In 2001, he was Coach/Manager when the team won its first (and only) Gold medal to date. In 2003, he was Chairman/Coach/Manager/Judge with Team USA placing 4th. In 2005, he was Team Captain winning the Bronze. Most recently, in 2015, he was Coach/Manager winning the Bronze.

He has also made many television appearances: The Challenge Series; Coupe Du Monde; and Pastry Team Championship documentaries on the Food Network, ET, Roseanne Barr Show, Access Hollywood, Good Morning America and Chuck Henry’s Travel Cafe.

Today, Wressell continues to develop recipes using Guittard Chocolate and does speaking engagements, conducts demonstrations, participates in international competitions and leads his signature “Guest Chef Series” classes at the Guittard Chocolate Studio in Los Angeles. When he’s not in the pastry or demo kitchen or masterminding the design and production of a larger-than-life birthday cake, he derives great pleasure in his own kitchen and woodworking workshop.

Josh Johnson, Products Application Director

Josh Johnson is the Pastry Chef of Guittard Chocolate Company, the revered San Francisco Bay Area family-owned chocolate maker, where he brings his celebrated craft, artistry and palate in developing new recipes and ideas with Executive Pastry Chef Donald Wressell.

Josh has competed in and won the National Pastry Team Championship with team captain Donald Wressell and teammates Scott Green and Della Gossett.  The team went on to win Best Dégustation and Silver Medal overall at the 2012 World Pastry Championship in Las Vegas. Josh also competed in the 2015 Coupe du Monde de la Pâtisserie with teammates Scott Green and John Kraus, coached by Ewald Notter and Donald Wressell, where they brought home the Bronze medal.

Josh started working in pastry as a teenager in his uncle’s pastry shop in Illinois and honed his skills training under the tutelage of mentor Sébastien Canonne, M.O.F., and pastry chefs En-Ming Hsu, World Pastry Champion, and François Payard. He was Executive Pastry Chef at Everest in Chicago, co-owner of Cocoa Bean Fine Desserts in Geneva, Illinois, an instructor at The French Pastry School and, most recently, Head Pastry Chef at Destination Kohler in Kohler, Wisconsin.

He is inspired by chocolate’s infinite variety of flavor profiles and its versatility as an ingredient that can also be sculpted and shaped to delicious and delightful effect.

Craft • Culture • Careers• Community