Episode 42: Lionel Vatinet, La Farm Bakery (Cary, NC)

Master Baker Lionel Vatinet of La Farm Bakery in Cary, NC is a man of generous spirit. He gives bread for many a charity event, yes, but he truly wants to share something more -- the gift of learning how to bake bread if you want to learn. Recognized by the James Beard Foundation as a semifinalist for "Outstanding Baker" in 2015 and 2016, he also is the author of A Passion for Bread, which you'll hear us discuss in this interview. Through personal instruction and the book, he wants us to "get over it," get over our fear of working with yeast, of baking bread, of in that practice, failing to make the perfect loaf the first time and instead, have some fun. He sees beauty in the unpredictability of the art, and he continues to push that art by experimenting with heirloom grains from Carolina Ground in NC, 30 plus years after he completed his beginning apprenticeship in France.