Virtual Education
KNOWLEDGE • SKILLS • COMMUNITY
Virtual Class
Jill Brockman-Cummings of Janie's Mill
Jennifer Lapidus of Carolina Ground
Emma Zimmerman of Hayden Mill
Moderated by June Russell of Glynwood
June 6, 2023 via Zoom
6:00 - 7:15 PM EDT
A new generation of millers are building local grain economies, reviving heirloom grains, and connecting bakers to grains that nourish the soil. Join Jill Brockman-Cummings of Janie’s Mill, Jennifer Lapidus of Carolina Ground, and Emma Zimmerman of Hayden Mills for a discussion on the future of milling and what it could mean for you, your breads and your bakery. Special guest moderator, June Russell of Glynwood.
Meet the panel:
JENNIFER LAPIDUS is founder of Carolina Ground, a regional flour mill located in Hendersonville, North Carolina. Launched in 2012, Carolina Ground provides a niche market for large scale organic Southern growers, while reducing the food miles of Southern bakers’ key ingredient. From 1994–2008, Jennifer was owner, operator, and baker of Natural Bridge Bakery, one of the first wood-fired brick oven bakeries in Western North Carolina producing whole grain naturally leavened breads. With Carolina Ground, Jennifer stands between the farmer and the baker, seeking to understanding the challenges of both, while transforming regionally grown grains into high quality whole grain and sifted cold stone milled flours. Jennifer’s book, Southern Ground: Reclaiming Flavor Through Stone-Milled Flour was published in 2021 by Ten Speed Press.
JILL BROCKMAN-CUMMINGS
Good food, especially bread, became an important part of my life after I spent a year abroad in Luxembourg when I was in high school, and then a semester abroad in France when I was in college. Unbeknownst to me at the time, that was the beginning of my desire to be part of the good food movement. This desire continued as I was raising my four daughters in the rural midwest, surrounded by conventional farms spraying agrichemicals. So when my organic farmer neighbor Harold Wilken drove up one day and asked if I'd like to be a miller at the organic mill he was thinking of building, I jumped on it.
Together we toured other small stone mills across the country, and eventually built Janie's Mill where I am Mill Manager. In that capacity I run our certified organic stone-milling operation where we mill dozens of varieties of grains, many of which are grown just a few miles down the road on Janie’s Farm. I have managed all aspects of Janie’s Mill since its inception over 6 years ago, including strategic planning, day-to-day operations, monitoring quality of grains and milled products, developing new products, and working with both online retail and wholesale customers. I also participate in our regional Artisan Grain Collaborative and other groups to create and strengthen the Midwest Regional Grain Chain.
In the tale of?Rumpelstiltskin, The Miller’s Daughter has to weave straw into gold because of her father’s overly enthusiastic claims. In a modern-day fairytale, EMMA ZIMMERMAN has taken her dad’s obsession for heritage grains and transformed it into an award-winning flour business. Her alchemy also finds expression in the home kitchen, where she turns these unusual flours and grains into accessible and tasty meals, much to the delight of her friends and family. Emma’s passion for historical restoration extends beyond grains; she and her husband restored a burned out one-hundred-year-old house in downtown Phoenix, where they now live with their three sweet children and an affectionate pitbull. Emma tends an amateur garden and is just waiting for someone to ask her about the status of her compost pile.?
JUNE RUSSELL is the Director of Regional Food Programs at the Glynwood Center for Regional Farming, specializing in grains and staples. June has acted as a value chain coordinator for the revival of grains, flour and other foods in the Northeast for over a decade. June was formerly with GrowNYC where she spearheaded GrowNYC Grains, a ten-year initiative utilizing multiple strategies across the sectors to develop a market for regional grains. The initiative has resulted in dozens of new varieties of small grains, beans, and other staple crops coming to the consumer market, providing farmers with opportunities to diversify and grow regional food systems to scale.
In her role at Glynwood, June continues to work with stakeholders to build markets for emerging crops in tandem with climate adaptation strategies the strengthen regional food systems.
Guild Members Price - Free
Non-Members Price - $15
Good Jobs Make Good Business Sense
Part 1
June 12, 2023
5:00PM - 6:15 PM EDT
Join the Guild and the Good Jobs Institute for an introductory session on how to improve your business performance and employee experience simultaneously by combining an investment in people with operational choices that raise the productivity, contribution and motivation of employees.
We will explore four operational choices – focus and simplify; standardize and empower; cross-train; and operate with slack – that have been proven to lower employee turnover and increase profitability. You will come away from this workshop with concrete ideas and tactics for your own operation and an understanding of why good jobs make good business sense.
GJI Fellow Amanda Silver will lead the session.
We will also hear from three bakery operators who believe that good jobs are good business, and have made meaningful changes within their own operations to improve jobs and performance: Natalie Abrams of Colson Patisserie, Amy Scherber of Amy's Bread and Kim Vallejo of She Wolf Bakery.
This session is the first of two with GJI on the Good Jobs Strategy. The second session will be held on July 18 at 5:00 pm EST. Attendance for the second session is optional.
Instructor: Amanda Silver is a fellow at the Good Jobs Institute, a non-profit based in Cambridge, MA with the mission to help companies thrive by creating good jobs. Amanda leads GJI's work with food and small businesses, supporting clients in their efforts to improve performance and reduce turnover through different operational and people investment choices.
Free to all!
For our Members Only
Fermentation & Yeast 101
Skill Level: Beginner to Advanced
June 13, 2023
7:00 - 8:30 PM EDT
Yeast is a single-celled living organism that is essential in bread baking and beer and wine making. Michael Bultel and Ralf Tschenscher explain the fundamentals of fermentation and different types of yeast solutions available for bread making. Join them as they take you through:
- History
- Processing
- Applications
- Types/ Market Forms
There will be a Q&A session to help you troubleshoot your specific yeast queries.
Ralf Tschenscher is a native German with a passion for baking. He apprenticed and earned his masters in baking in Stuttgart, Germany in 1986. A former bakery owner, Ralf joined Lesaffre in 2002, where he is currently Baking Business Development Manager. He provides custom baking solutions to the baking and pizza industries.
His adorable grandchildren keep him on his toes!
Michael Bultel has a food technologist background with more than 25 years of experience for ingredients in bakery & milling applications. He joined Lesaffre in 2006 at Lesaffre Baking Center French HQ, developing baking ingredient solutions focusing on customers from Europe and Africa.
Michael has been living abroad since 2013, in Central Europe and 5 years in Asia. This has given him great multi-cultural experiences and reinforced his passion for the baking environment. He started a new chapter in North America last year contributing at the development of Lesaffre baking solutions and technical support for our customers.
Guild Members Price - $10
From Sour to Sweet: A Chocolate, Gluten-Free Snacking Cake Demo
As part of our June Bread Celebration, this class has been donated by the instructor. All proceeds will directly benefit the mission, members and programs of the Guild, and support the craft, culture and business of artisan baking.
June 14, 2023 via Zoom
6:00PM - 7:00PM EDT
Sourdough leavens have a place in the sweet kitchen as well as the savory. A natural leaven’s chemical status means it can be a vital component for quick leavening: low pH sourdough + high pH baking soda = rapid, vigorous CO2 production. Also, as is the case with bread dough, slow sourdough fermentation alters a batter’s flavor and structure. If sourdough is used to make a sponge, and the sponge integrated into cake batter, the final product has a crumb of exceptional tenderness and taste. The sweet kitchen baker’s task, then, is to pace the process steps and additions of ingredients to take advantage of these facts.
In this 1-hour zoom demonstration, participants will learn how to strategize timing of processes, prepare ingredients, and assemble parts to make a cake of unique flavor and texture: quinoa-chocolate. Which is also gluten-free.
Charles Luce began baking with the gluten-free grain flours after being diagnosed with celiac disease, in 2002, and realizing the disappointing qualities of available GF breads. After 8 years of product development he created ways to make big-flavored artisan GF bread mixes for home bakers. His business, GF Creations LLC dba Luce’s Gluten-Free Artisan Breads, launched in 2012. Mixes sold by Luce’s included Classic Sourdough, Italian, not-really Rye, WholeGrain Sourdough (mostly buckwheat), cinnamon-teff, flatbread (also used for bagels), pancake, and all-purpose. In 2015 Luce licensed his intellectual property to Rana’s Bakery London (now My GF Bakery UK). In 2018 he licensed the IP to Marie Eiffel Market on Shelter Island NY and retired from his factory. Since, he has continued to invent methods and create recipes, placing them into the public domain at Luces9Grains.com. He has promoted the attributes of non-glutenous grains through a newsletter and in speaking engagements, including a presentation at the Johnston and Wales 2019 International Symposium on Breads.
Guild Members Price - $20
Non Member Price - $25
A Hearthside Chat with Apollonia Poilâne & Kristine Borok
As part of our June Bread Celebration, this prorgam has been donated by the contributors. All proceeds will directly benefit the mission, members and programs of the Guild, and support the craft, culture and business of artisan baking.
June 26, 2023 via Zoom
12:00PM to 1:00PM EDT
Apollonia is baker and CEO for Poilâne, an internationally-acclaimed, family-run bakery founded in Paris in 1932. She began apprenticing in the bakery at the age of 16, and took over its operation at age 18, when her parents were killed in an accident. Apollonia now oversees 160 employees at five locations across France and London. She wrote a cookbook, released in 2020, for skilled and novice bakers called Poilâne: The Secrets of the World-Famous Bread Bakery. Through all of her work, Apollonia has maintained the traditions and spirit of Poilâne bakers who came before her while putting her own modern stamp on the bakery.
Apollonia will join Kristine Borok, Guild Board member and Chief Operating Officer of Hot Bread Kitchen, for a conversation about maintaining tradition and breaking with it, and inspiring a love of the craft of bread baking in bakery teams, and in customers.
Guild Members Price - $25
Non Member Price - $35
All About Hazelnuts
June 27, 2023 via Zoom
7:00 - 8:30 PM EST
Skill Level:All
Revered for centuries, Oregon’s state nut is a star that makes bakery goods shine. Whether highlighting their toasty, earthy aroma,?adding a crunchy texture or creamy contrast, hazelnuts are a premium ingredient with a range of applications. Learn the versatility of this premium ingredient as Certified Artisan Baker Ciril Hitz and Darrin Cline of the Oregon Hazelnut Industry Office guide you through a baking demonstration and overview of quality markers and market forms of Filberts.
By the end of this class, you will learn how to use hazelnut butter, roasted hazelnut flour and whole kernels. Chef Hitz, a lifelong filbert fan will demonstrate:
- Double-baked hazelnut and chocolate croissant filled with handmade chocolate batons accented with hazelnut butter
- Molded and filled hazelnut cookies using ground and toasted hazelnuts
- Swiss, hazelnut crispy cookie featuring whole hazelnuts. Perfect for your afternoon coffee!
Sign up before 6/12/2023 and a sample kit of Oregon hazelnuts, in various forms, will be shipped to you, courtesy of The Oregon Hazelnut Industry Office.
Ciril Hitz is a full-time Senior Instructor at the College of Food Innovation and Technology at Johnson & Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island and also teaches workshops at his private baking facility in Rehoboth, Massachusetts (Made by Ciril, LLC) cirilhitz.com. A native of Switzerland, Ciril graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design, completed a three-year Swiss apprenticeship as a pastry chef/chocolatier, and recently received his Master of Arts in Teaching from Johnson & Wales University. He is a passionate baker, author, and educator with an international reputation and over 20 years of professional baking and pastry experience.
Ciril is a guest instructor/expert at many national and international culinary events and schools and is an active member of the Bread Bakers Guild of America.? He has been featured on the?NBC Today Show, The Food Network, The Learning Channel, and?Ciao Italia. He is the author of two books,?Baking Artisan Bread?and?Baking Artisan Pastries and Bread, as well as numerous magazine articles, and is the producer of two DVD series,?Bread Artand?Better Bread. ?His baking philosophy embraces both the artistic and technical aspects of bread. Ciril is constantly trying to evolve both as an educator as well as an artist.
Darrin Cline is the communications director for the Hazelnut Marketing Board. He leads industry-wide promotion and marketing of all things hazelnuts, including trade shows, content creation, and event coordination. He joined the hazelnut industry four years ago and has grown an appreciation for the crop and its unique place in U.S. and Oregon agriculture.
Guild Members Price - $25
Non Member Price - $35
Bake-A-Long
Pizzas and Flatbreads
With Matt "Sourdough" Duffy
In this virtual bake-along class, join baking professor and chef Matthew James Duffy as he guides you through the process of making a variety of sourdough and yeasted breads, pizzas, and flatbreads. Over the course of two days, you'll learn how to make:
- Focaccia
- Neapolitan-style pizza
- Roman-style pan pizza
- Pita bread
- Wood-fired Red Fife Lavash
Each recipe will be made with sourdough, except for the pita bread which will be made with yeast. Chef Duffy will provide step-by-step instructions and tips for each recipe, and you'll have the opportunity to bake along with him in real-time. By the end of the course, you'll have a repertoire of delicious breads and pizzas to impress your family and friends with.
By the end of this class, you will understand how to mix these live-fired products by hand and by machine, you will work with sourdough variations, handle high-hydration and very low hydration doughs, work with hand pulled and pinned doughs and discuss a variety of toppings.
July 9 & July 10, 2023
Via Zoom Webinar
Skill Level: All
Day One
7/9/23
3-6 pm EST
Day Two
7/10/23
11 am- 5 pm EDT
Guild Members Price - $325
Non Members Price - $425 (includes a 1 yr membership fee)
Baking Professor, Chef and bread fanatic Matthew James Duffy exploded on the sourdough scene with over 400K social media followers. After fifteen years of international industry experience, from specialty bakeries to Michelin-starred restaurants, Matthew is following his baking passion as a baking professor at Centennial College with online courses and consulting.
Sourdough has taken Matthew to Freiburg, to work alongside a German master baker at Bäckerei Pfeifle and to King Arthur Flour to work with bread master Jeffrey Hamelman. San Francisco’s San Francisco Baking Institute and Chicago’s French Pastry School also made the list. Special mention goes to a recent experience attending the Coupe du Monde De La Boulangerie in Paris, France.
Career Highlights:
- Working alongside Chef Daniel Boulud at Café Boulud NYC and the Sous chef opening Café Boulud Toronto
- Langdon Hall, Relais & Châteaux
- Michael Stadlander of Eigensinn Farm
- Neil Baxter of Rundles Restaurant
- Edward Tuson formerly of Sooke Harbour House, British Columbia
- Il Canto in Siena, Italy
- Ichiban Ueno Osaka, Japan
- Restaurant Noma Copenhagen, Denmark
- El Bohio Madrid, Spain
- Comerç 24 Barcelona, Spain.
- Represented Canada twice at the world Slow Food Conference in Turin, Italy.
- MAD Food camp in Copenhagen, Cook it Raw in Charleston
- The World Pizza and Bread Expo In Las Vegas
Educational Highlights:
- University of Guelph in Hotel and Food Administration
- Stratford Chefs School
- Red Seal Certified Chef
Learn more about Matt via his Instagram
Understanding the Different Types of Slicers Available For Your Baker
Join us as Erika Record Baking Equipment provides a broad overview of slicers. Their team will highlight the best use cases for each category, from traditional options such as chute-style, self-service, and other fixed blade slicers, to more sophisticated horizontal, vertical, and waterjet solutions. Additionally, they will provide an opportunity to answer any slicer questions you may have.
July 11, 2023 via Zoom
4:00PM EDT
Guild Members Price - $10
Non-Members Price - $15
Presenters:
Daniel DaRocha has served as President of Erika Record Baking Equipment since 2015. Dan spent his early career as an auditor and accountant before joining Erika Record in 2010 as Controller. He quickly found himself learning about bakery equipment and the baking industry as a whole. In short time he was helping bakers address their production concerns. Under his leadership, Erika Record has continued to experience unprecedented growth while continuing to deliver a customer-centric approach that puts the needs of bakers first.
Craig Kominiak is an experienced Pastry Chef who has served as a Sales Consultant at Erika Record Baking Equipment for over 15 years. Craig began his journey in the culinary world when he served in the Navy as a cook aboard multiple vessels. After completing his tour of service, he enrolled in the Culinary Institute of America. Before joining Erika Record, he helped oversee baking operations on both artisan and wholesale levels. This includes Marriot Marquis in Times Square, Ecce Panis, Viera’s Bakery, and Fresh Direct. One of his most memorable experiences was filming with the legendary Julia Child, where they baked focaccia on her PBS special Baking With Julia. Craig now leverages his experience and insight to help fellow bakers streamline their production with meaningful equipment solutions.
Good Jobs Make Good Business Sense, Part 2
Workshop the Good Jobs Strategy with the Good Jobs Institute, the Guild & your Peers
July 18, 2023
5:00PM to 6:30PM EDT
In this interactive workshop, we will go further into the Good Jobs Strategy and discuss ideas for implementing change within your business. The session will result in alignment on how to use investments in people and operations to improve business practices and an initial list of actions and ideas for where to start. To get the most out of this workshop, plan on attending our first session with the Good Jobs Institute on June 12 (or watch the recording later).
This session will be facilitated by Amanda Silver, fellow at the Good Jobs Institute.
Instructor: Amanda Silver is a fellow at the Good Jobs Institute, a non-profit based in Cambridge, MA with the mission to help companies thrive by creating good jobs. Amanda leads GJI's work with food and small businesses, supporting clients in their efforts to improve performance and reduce turnover through different operational and people investment choices.
Guild Members Price - $25
Non Member Price - $35
Virtual Demo
Advanced Rye Techniques
with Matthew "Sourdough" Duffy
Skill Level: Professional
August 8, 2023 via Zoom
2:00 - 4:00 PM EDT
In this whole grain sourdough webinar, join baking professor and bread fanatic Matthew James Duffy as he guides you through the art of sourdough bread making. You'll learn how to create three unique whole grain breads.
- 100% Rye with Fig and Pink Peppercorn
- Rugbrød
- Two Stage Rye
With over 15 years of industry experience, Matthew has worked alongside renowned chefs and bakers from around the world and has garnered over 400K social media followers. Don't miss out on the opportunity to learn from a true expert in this field.
Guild Members Price - $75
Non-Members Price - $100
Baking Professor, Chef and bread fanatic Matthew James Duffy exploded on the sourdough scene with over 400K social media followers. After fifteen years of international industry experience, from specialty bakeries to Michelin-starred restaurants, Matthew is following his baking passion as a baking professor at Centennial College with online courses and consulting.
Sourdough has taken Matthew to Freiburg, to work alongside a German master baker at Bäckerei Pfeifle and to King Arthur Flour to work with bread master Jeffrey Hamelman. San Francisco’s San Francisco Baking Institute and Chicago’s French Pastry School also made the list. Special mention goes to a recent experience attending the Coupe du Monde De La Boulangerie in Paris, France.
Career Highlights:
- Working alongside Chef Daniel Boulud at Café Boulud NYC and the Sous chef opening Café Boulud Toronto
- Langdon Hall, Relais & Châteaux
- Michael Stadlander of Eigensinn Farm
- Neil Baxter of Rundles Restaurant
- Edward Tuson formerly of Sooke Harbour House, British Columbia
- Il Canto in Siena, Italy
- Ichiban Ueno Osaka, Japan
- Restaurant Noma Copenhagen, Denmark
- El Bohio Madrid, Spain
- Comerç 24 Barcelona, Spain.
- Represented Canada twice at the world Slow Food Conference in Turin, Italy.
- MAD Food camp in Copenhagen, Cook it Raw in Charleston
- The World Pizza and Bread Expo In Las Vegas
Educational Highlights:
- University of Guelph in Hotel and Food Administration
- Stratford Chefs School
- Red Seal Certified Chef
Learn more about Matt's work through his Instagram
Virtual Class
Exploring the Different Types of Deck Ovens Available For Your Bakery
August 15, 2023 via Zoom
4:00PM EDT
Join us as Erika Record Baking Equipment provides a broad overview of the different types of deck ovens available. With options including cyclothermic, steam-tube, and electric deck ovens, their team will answer your questions and provide an overview of each deck oven type.
Guild Members Price - $10
Non-Members Price - $15
Presenters:
Lara DaRocha – Vice President of Erika Record Baking Equipment
Lara DaRocha joined Erika Record Baking Equipment in 2016 as a Special Project Manager. Her background is grounded in accounting, auditing, and specialty drug pricing. As a home baker and cake decorator, her transition to Erika Record felt like a well-fit match. Presently, Lara serves as Vice President of Erika Record and remains active in managing projects critical to the company’s success. This includes the launch of Pomati chocolate equipment and a deep dive into the Tagliavini oven lineup. Lara enjoys connecting with bakers and helping them solve some of their more complex and challenging production issues with custom solutions.
Patricia Juncal Luques – Experienced Pastry Chef & Sales Consultant at Erika Record Baking Equipment
Patricia Juncal Luques is an experienced Pastry Chef who has served as a Sales Consultant at Erika Record Baking Equipment for over 4 years. Patricia is a graduate of the French Culinary Institute and has been in the baking industry for over 12 years. Her career includes working both as a baker on the production floor as well as operational management. This includes working at Keith McNally’s Pulino's Bar and Pizzeria, Crystal Springs Resort, and Carlo's Bakery. Prior to joining Erika Record, she served as bakery manager and a certified trainer for The Fresh Market; where she traveled across the country training the bakery team and helping launch new store locations. Patricia now leverages her experience and insight to help fellow bakers streamline their production with meaningful equipment solutions. One of her biggest passions is helping clients solve non-conventional production issues with unique adaptations of our equipment solutions.
The Sweet Side of Sourdough
September 14, 2023 via Zoom
5:00PM - 7:00PM EDT
0195.jpg)
Sourdough has the potential to bring a tangy punch to everything it touches and in the case of sweets, that extra zip can be unwelcome. Not only that, but sourdough yeast can also struggle when suddenly switched from its natural, acidic environment to a dough with a high volume of sugar. That’s why baker and author, Tara Jensen, uses a sweet, stiff leaven for her brioche, donuts, cinnamon rolls, croissant and more. Built with a portion of sourdough, a low hydration, bread flour and fine sugar, a sweet stiff starter allows a baker to still use natural leaving, while avoiding the pitfalls mentioned earlier. In tandem with freshly milled flours, the sweet side of sourdough has never been better!
Join Tara Jensen while she walks step by step through the process of making a stiff, sweet leaven, and using it to create irresistible sourdough doughnuts. This is a perfect workshop if you’ve been curious about various kinds of sourdough and using a sweet stiff starter in your own baking.
0645%20(2).jpg)
Tara Jensen is an award-winning baker, sought after baking instructor and author of two baking books, A Baker’s Year (St. Martins, 2018) and most recently, Flour Power (Potter 2022), listed as one of the Washington Post’s top 10 cookbooks books of 2022. Her breads, pizzas, pies and pastry have been featured in Bon Appetite, Food & Wine and she was named one Southern Livings’ chefs of the year in 2021. Jensen hosts monthly, in person baking workshops featuring her mobile, wood fired oven, along with virtual classes on everything from bread to pies, to pizza. She writes a bi-weekly baking focused newsletter to over 9,000 subscribers and posts fun baking content to over 111k Instagram followers under the handle @bakerhands. You can learn more about her here: taraejensen.com.
* photographs by Johnny Autry.
Guild Members Price - $75
Non Member Price - $100
For our Members Only
A Taste of Chocolate!
Chocolate 101, presented by Donald Wressell & Josh Johnson from Guittard Chocolate Studio
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.
Guittard Chocolate will ship a chocolate tasting kit to sample during the virtual session. You must register by September 25th, 2023 to receive that kit, but may participate even without it.
Skill Level: Beginner to Advanced
October 11, 2023 via Zoom
7:00 - 8:30 PM EDT
Guild Members Price - $25
Donald Wressell
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’ 100th 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, Pastry Chef, Guittard Chocolate Company
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.
How to Pay
•Pay online with a credit card by using the registration button..
•Call the office at 707-935-1468
Cancellations
• In the event that your class is cancelled we will notify you as soon as possible by email and issue you a full refund.
Refunds
•No refunds will be issued for this demonstration. A recording of the demo will be made available to all registered participants.
