While Western North Carolina is widely known for its craft beer scene, brewing isn't the only artisanal industry on the rise. The Asheville area is also emerging as a nexus in the Southeast for baking knowledge. The growing popularity of home baking, abundance of educational opportunities and strong network of seasoned professionals combine to make Asheville a baker's paradise.
WNC has long been home to its fair share of skilled bread makers and pastry chefs, but it was the Asheville Bread Festival, launched 14 years ago by Steve Bardwell and Gail Lunsford, that first fostered cohesiveness in the local baking culture. "That was the first time all of us bakers came together, and we realized what a rich baking community we had," explains Jennifer Lapidus, co-organizer of the event.
The festival has since evolved into a two-day happening featuring a Bread Fair plus a full day of hands-on workshops for hobbyists, a networking dinner and a six-hour master class for professionals. This year's event takes place May 5-6 with a few changes that are aimed at cementing a relationship between WNC's baking and brewing communities, which Lapidus says have a "symbiotic" history of fostering local talent and creativity.
The Bread Fair and "ground zero for the festival" will relocate from its longtime home at Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College to New Belgium Brewing Co., says Lapidus. Workshops will be hosted at a variety of locations, including the facility of brewing-yeast producer White Labs, along with Rhubarb, Smoke Signals Bakery and Living Web Farms.
Lapidus now fields orders from all over the U.S., which she admits "wasn't even on my radar when I first started it." Yet her product remains most popular close to home. Among the many area bakers who use Carolina Ground flour is Rhubarb and The Rhu pastry chef Kaley Laird. Originally from upstate New York, Laird came to Asheville two years ago by way of California and was immediately struck by the area's wealth of baking talent and knowledge.
In addition to doing the day-to-day baking for The Rhu and Rhubarb, Laird works to engage the growing community through education (see sidebar for details on an upcoming sourdough lecture). With the benefit of access to Rhubarb's event space and demonstration kitchen, she is developing a consistent rotation of educational offerings with the goals of not only bolstering local baking acumen but also of attracting students from around the country.
Rhubarb pastry chef Kaley Laird and Jennifer Lapidus of Carolina Ground flour mill will partner with Edible Asheville magazine to host a FED Talk workshop, The Secrets of Sourdough Bread, with seatings at 5:30 and 8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 1, in the Rhubarb event space, 7 S.W. Pack Square. Laird will present a bread-tasting and sourdough starter demonstration, and Lapidus will discuss the milling process and the ways various grains impact baking. Each guest will leave with a jar of sourdough starter and instructions for baking bread at home. The ticket price of $28 also includes snacks from Rhubarb. For details and tickets, visit facebook.com/EdibleAsheville.
Gebhart hosted her first class in the OWL space in September with New York-based James Beard Foundation Award winner Sarah Owens. The positive response to the event prompted plans for future workshops for professionals and amateurs alike.
Jensen, originally from Maine, came to the area to work for Bauer at Farm & Sparrow before starting Smoke Signals six years ago. She refers to Smoke Signals as a "project" rather than a bakery due to the transformations the concept has undergone. Like many getting their start with artisan food businesses, she began selling her products at local tailgate markets with the intention of one day opening a retail space. But everything changed about a year into the project when she hosted a weekend apple pie workshop.
People come from throughout the U.S. and as far as Canada, Ireland and Puerto Rico to take part in Jensen's small workshops, which often sell out months in advance. Her ever-growing popularity even garnered a glowing 2016 write-up in Bon Appétit magazine celebrating her rural bakery's signature dedication to simplicity and mindfulness.
OWL Bakery is one of our favorite spots in West Asheville, especially in apple season: https://www.beverly-hanks.com/blog/5-fresh-apples-west-asheville/. Would love to take a few of their classes!