October 24, 6:30 P.M. Talk and Taste: A Bread Baker’s Roundtable Discussion
October 24, 2023 06:30 PM
Sourcing, Sustainability, Starters, Sourdough: A Panel Discussion Moderated by Chicago’s Paul Kahan
25 11th Ave, New York, NY 10011, USA
Attention Bread Heads! If you geek out over the art of bread and the science behind baking, we invite you to join some of the most renowned bakers in the business for an interactive discussion. This casual conversation is hosted by James Beard Outstanding Baker Award winner Greg Wade, who is leading America’s bread renaissance at Chicago’s famed Publican Quality Bread. He will be joined by several of New York’s most celebrated bakers, including Zachary Golper (Bien Cuit), Amy Scherber (Amy’s Bread) and Amadou Ly (ALF), as well as three-time James Beard award–winning Chicago chef, Paul Kahan as moderator. The participants will dish on all things bakery—from milling to sourcing and sustainability to starters and sourdough.
Guests will enjoy a Publican Quality Bread “toast bar" of chef Wade’s Midwestern bread with sweet and savory spreads, such as whipped mascarpone and housemade jams, as well as ham salsa macha. Plus, we’ll raise a glass with sparkling “toasts" courtesy of Dough Wines.
Sparkling wine generously provided by Dough.
General Admission: $25
About Greg Wade:
Greg Wade is leading America’s bread renaissance in Chicago. Wade is managing partner at Publican Quality Bread, the renowned bakery under the Publican family of restaurants by Chicago’s nine-time James Beard Award–winning One Off Hospitality group and partners Donnie Madia, Paul Kahan, Terry Alexander, and Eduard Seitan. A graduate of the Illinois Institute of Art’s Culinary Program, Wade started his career specializing in breads and pastries. Joining Publican Quality Bread as head baker in 2014, Wade has transformed the concept’s baking program from a seedling operation within Publican Quality Meats to a highly successful wholesale division that works hand-in-hand with One Off Hospitality’s other concepts, as well as the top chefs, farmers and retail owners in the Windy City. In 2022, Wade and partners opened a standalone bakery for Publican Quality Bread, bringing his award-winning loaves and an expanded menu of artisan sandwiches, tartines, and decadent pastries to a public-facing location for the first time ever. Specializing in whole grains and fermentation, Wade was honored with a James Beard award for “Outstanding Baker” in 2019 and is an active member of the Artisan Grain Collaborative, an organization of farmers, millers, and chefs committed to biodiversity and preserving ancient grains. He is the author of Bread Head: Baking for the Road Less Traveled (Food & Wine, Eater, Epicurious: "Best Cookbooks of 2022") and has been featured in the recently released documentary, Sustainable: A Documentary on the Local Food Movement in America, which is available for streaming on Amazon Prime.
About Paul Kahan:
Widely recognized as the face of Chicago’s dining scene, executive chef and partner Paul Kahan has earned international acclaim for his hand in helping to pioneer the chef-driven farm-to-table movement, which subsequently swept across the country in the years to follow. His restaurants, now considered institutions, are all part of the renowned One Off Hospitality collective, and have included community pillars like Blackbird, avec, The Publican, Big Star, Publican Quality Meats, Dove’s Luncheonette, and Publican Quality Bread. Each establishment reflects Kahan’s commitment to working with Midwestern farmers—which helped him earn the James Beard Foundation Award for Outstanding Chef in 2013, Who’s Who of Food & Beverage in America in 2014, Best Chefs in America in 2004, and retain a Michelin star at Blackbird for all nine years that stars were offered by the tire company in Chicago while the restaurant was operating. Kahan has garnered the praise of many who claim him to be one of America’s most influential working chefs. In 2018, his cookbook Cheers to the Publican, Repast and Present: Recipes and Ramblings from an American Beer Hall, won the IACP award in the “Chefs and Restaurants” category. In 2019, Kahan released his second book, Cooking For Good Times, which was named ‘One of The Best Cookbooks of the Year’ by the New York Times Book Review. Despite numerous accolades, Kahan’s biggest accomplishment remains his work as a mentor for young chefs. Kahan is a co-founder of Pilot Light, an organization dedicated to enhancing school children’s perception of food through hands-on education, and he is a passionate supporter of Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation for pediatric cancer research.
About Zachary Golper:
Zachary Golper has an extensive background in the bread and pastry arts. Having worked with World Champion Bakers and Pastry Chefs as well as an M.O.F.(Meilleurs Ouvriers de France), he helped open Bakery Nouveau of Seattle, Washington, as well as the bakery for the M Resort of Las Vegas, Nevada and was brought on to recreate the menu and restructure the baking operation for Le Bec Finin Philadelphia. In 2011, he moved to New York to open Bien Cuit and has since been nominated for five Best Baker awards by the James Beard Foundation. In 2015, he published his first cookbook, Bien Cuit: The Art of Bread.
About Amadou Ly:
Born in Senegal and having immigrated to the United States in 1998 to study, before finding himself drawn to the restaurant world, baker Amadou Ly is a former pastry chef and chocolatier who has worked at some of the most respected and innovative kitchens in NYC, including Jean-Georges, Insieme, and All Good Things. Fascinated by the fermentation process and traditions of bread making, he turned his focus to artisanal baking at the legendary Arcade Bakery, perfecting his skills for five years under the tutelage of Roger Gural before the bakery closed in 2019. Amadou opened his own bakery-ALF-at Chelsea Market in April 2023, where he is sharing his own vision and creations with NYC.
About Amy Scherber:
Amy Scherber is the owner and founder of Amy’s Bread, a New York City bakery that celebrated its 31st Anniversary in June of 2023. Amy started with a staff of 5 in a small bread bakery on Ninth Avenue. Today the bakery has 100 employees and features her handmade bread and wide variety of morning pastries, sandwiches and salads, cookies, bars, pies, and layer cakes. The bakery has retail cafes in Hell’s Kitchen, Chelsea Market and Brooklyn Heights, kiosks in two locations of The NY Public Library, and cafés in the New York Design Center and the Museum of the City of New York, and bread and pastry kitchens in Long Island City, Queens. The bakery delivers to more than 200 wholesale customers daily, including many of NYC’s finest restaurants. Amy’s Bread is still a local neighborhood bakery, a family run business where all baked goods continue to be handmade daily with great care and the best ingredients. Amy is the co-author of Amy’s Bread and The Sweeter Side of Amy’s Bread. She is an original member of the Bread Bakers Guild of America, since 1993.
Tickets to events held at Platform at Pier 57 by the James Beard Foundation cover the cost of food, education and a unique dining experience. Meals are prepared by culinary masters from all regions of the United States and around the world. Unless otherwise stated, alcoholic beverages are provided on a complimentary basis and are not included in the ticket price.
James Beard Foundation events permit guests age 21 years and older to attend events where alcoholic beverages are served.