Head Baker at Grand Central Bakery in Seattle. Mel Darbyshire is a leader in the sourcing of local grains, helping bakers (and bakeries) shift  off big-ag’s commodity flour. Along the way, she has been generous with sharing her deep knowledge of everything around baking and what goes into it. My relationship with her was developed on Facebook, and was initially inspired by a profile of her by MC Farine.​

Mel is a great advocate but also an educator. Someday I look forward to taking one of the courses she has been teaching, Start Where You Are — Using and Troubleshooting Local Grains. It’s a course that she has been teaching alongside another baker that we have had on Stir the Pots, Sophie Williams.

I have tried to interview Mel for years. Recently she slid into my Facebook DMs to let me know she was in New York for an event and suggested we finally meet up. And so I made my way to Brooklyn, and we finally made it happen. Welcome to the show.”