Rise Up! The Baker Podcast with Mark Dyck

  "Second Rise" is a collection of Mark's favourite conversations from deep in the Rise Up! archives. This conversation with Blair Marvin and Andrew Heyn, was originally broadcast as Episode 65, in July 2019. In this episode, Mark, Blair and Andrew discuss building and running their wood fired bakery, committing to using locally farmed grain in their bread and bringing the same commitment to local...

Robyn is home for the holidays so she and Cindy sit down for a special live taping of the Rise Up! podcast. We share some of our favourite holiday stories from Orange Boot Bakery, with some insights into what it was like owning a family-run bakery from a teenager's perspective. With a special shout-out to Ben, the fourth member of the family who isn't home quite yet. Happy Holidays from our family...

"Second Rise" is a collection of Mark's favourite conversations from deep in the Rise Up! archives. This conversation with Jesse Merrill, live from his bakery in Guelph, was originally broadcast as Episode 30, in October 2018. In this episode, Mark and Jesse discuss his move from a home business to a retail bakery, how he's built his team and the strong emotional connection between his customers a...

When Joshua Bellamy decided to become a baker, he went for it, moving to Vermont to learn and apprentice. Then he moved back to his hometown of Raleigh, NC and eventually opened Boulted Bread with his partners Fulton and Sam. In this episode, Mark learns about Joshua's teachers and mentors, opening and growing Boulted Bread, the food scene in Raleigh, the new ideas he is pursuing and the challenge...

Sara Calkins loves baking and loves her team. She's worked all over Seven Stars Bakery in Providence, starting as a barista before moving to the bench, the stone mill and now to spreadsheets and coaching as Bakery Manager. In this episode, Mark and Sara talk about team building, keeping things fun during the holidays, planning massive holiday bakes and all about Sara's love of good bread and fine...

A summer work exchange in France changed the direction of Kyle Greer's life.  After experiencing the cycle of farming, milling and baking first hand, he moved back to Quincy, California to build his own farm and bakery, and to build the unique Astrié style mill that he used in France. In this episode, Mark learns about Kyle's transformative trip to France, the difference between the Astrié mill de...

From the moment Larry Harris learned that Canada was getting their own version of the Bake Off / Baking Show, he wanted to be a contestant. And once he was on the show, he knew he wanted to have his own artisan bakery. In this episode, Mark delves into Larry's Great Canadian Baking Show experience, baking every single Technical Challenge, and then gets the lowdown on Larry's new bakery, the transi...

Sarah Black is an OG of the New York baking scene. She's one of the first bakers at Tom Cat Bakery and was later a teacher alongside Amy Scherber, before moving home to Ohio to teach and write the excellent book " One Dough, Ten Breads " (one of Mark's favourites.) In this episode, Mark and Sarah talk about the glory days of baking in New York in the early '90s, making the move to teaching and con...

Kristen Richards was taking the slow & steady route to open her bakery, from baking school to apprenticing in NYC, to working as a pastry chef for a restaurant group in Maryland.  But Covid threw her a curveball which forced her into some quick decisions.  Thankfully, her community embraced Kristen, her baking and Front Porch Baking Co. was born. In this episode, Mark learns about Kristen's new ba...

With her bakery and lifestyle blog Homegrown Kosher, Ahuva Gottdiener is feeding her community two ways. Not only is she baking excellent kosher-certified sourdough bread, but she is promoting a life that is more connected to the land and the people who grow your food. In this episode, Mark learns how Ahuva started Homegrown Kosher, found a business model that works for her, and how she is able to...

Stephane Swane is the publisher and editorial director at Modernist Cuisine, which recently launched a deep dive into pizza with Modernist Pizza . In this episode, Mark and Stephanie discuss her Dakota roots, the work involved to compile such a massive compendium of history, culture and science about our favourite baked meal, the design decisions that went into the book and some of the myths that...

When Sarah Gonzalez moved from California to Tennessee, she found a community in desperate need of baked goods.  So she started feeding people, through farmers markets, a retail bakery and now with a cookbook and baking classes. In this episode, Mark and Sarah talk about how Spring Hill Bakery burst on the scene in her new town, how baking builds strong bonds within families and communities, and h...

Jamie Alexis was going to be a lawyer and a judge before she realized it was more rewarding (and tastier) to feed The People instead.  She opened Suga Brown Pastries and Catering in 2017 and hasn't looked back, making a splash at events throughout LA County. In this episode, Mark learns some of the ins and outs of the catering business, what it's like to dive into the deep end of an Art Show Gala...

From August 2019, Mark's conversation with John Reid, baker and owner of Red Beard Historic Bakery in Australia and one of the organizers of the 2019 Grainz Gathering . John died on September 16, 2021 at age 58. Memorial information can be found here .

Eric Pallant is an avid baker and bread head and is the author of the new book "Sourdough Culture: a history of bread making from ancient to modern bakers."  The book is both a love story to sourdough baking and an entertaining account of bread baking throughout history. In this episode, Mark and Eric take a deep dive into the history of bread, the complementary relationship between sourdough cult...

Chris Young is on a mission.  As Coordinator of the Real Bread Campaign, he wants to make bread better for us, for our communities and for the planet.   In this episode, Mark and Chris discuss the history of the #RealBread campaign, how they are advocating for improved package labelling for bread products, supporting independent bakeries in the fight to stand out from highly processed, chemically...

Richard Miscovich has been working with good bread, brick ovens and baking education for a while. He was part of America's 'Bread Renaissance', as a student at SFBI and in the very early days of the BBGA, before moving east to King Arthur Flour and Johnson & Wales University. In this episode, Mark and Richard talk about the early days, the vision behind the KA baking school, the current generation...

Andrew Janjigian is well known in the bread world as a teacher and writer at renowned entities like King Arthur Flour and America's Test Kitchen. Earlier this year, he launched the Wordloaf newsletter where he continues his work teaching home bakers everything about the craft of baking. In this episode, Andrew shares his long, winding road to becoming a food writer, why it's important to have cont...

"Second Rise" is a collection of Mark's favourite conversations from deep in the Rise Up! archives.  This episode was originally broadcast as Episode 109, in September 2020. Rose Gray is back!  After completing her cycling/baking adventure in Belgium and Denmark, Rosie returned to her native Scotland to oh, let's see, organize an awesome gathering on local grains, convert a horse trailer into a ba...

"Second Rise" is a collection of Mark's favourite conversations from deep in the Rise Up! archives.  This episode was originally broadcast as Episode 86, in January 2020. Jodi Whalen and Phil Merrick opened August First Bakery and Cafe in Burlington Vermont back in 2010 and step by step have grown it into a sustainable business for them, their staff and their community. They even have the team and...

"Second Rise" is a collection of Mark's favourite conversations from deep in the Rise Up! archives.  This episode was originally broadcast as Episode 25, in September 2018. Martin Philip spent time as a musician and a financier before turning his attention to baking and many, many people are glad that he did.  Martin is the Head Baker at King Arthur Flour in Vermont and author of the amazing memoi...

One farm, one bakery and a well fed community.  That's the Wide Awake Bakery story.  In this episode, Mark learns about the magical meeting when Stefan's neighbour Thor Oechsner suggested baking with wheat from Thor's farm, how they followed the CSA model for getting their bread to the people, and how, over the years, Stefan continues to explore new ways to use his bread for the greater good.   It...

Brooke Hanes is a self-taught bread baker making the good stuff for the people in her small town in rural Pennsylvania. She recently opened a retail shop and slowly growing her bakery, while keeping things manageable for a solo operation. In this episode, Mark and Brooke talk about her early travels in Colombia, returning to Pennsylvania, the regeneration of Brookville, finding other bakers and th...

Kevin Scollo worked in restaurants through college until succumbing to the baking bug. After several years working in restaurants and bakeries in New York and Ohio, he moved back to Georgia and took over Independent Baking Co. in February, 2020, just before everything turned upside down. In this episode, Mark and Kevin talk about his early days in music and food, taking over from the legendary Tho...

John Gerlach's family owned a bakery but John was convinced he would not be following in his dad's footsteps. But eventually, he found his way back to the dough, first as a bagel baker and more recently baking his own bread on days off for a growing list of happy customers. In this episode, Mark and John dig into New York bagels in Pennsylvania, coming back to baking after early resistance, his pl...