Ever since the pandemic began, I’d been trying to reach Joe Ortiz — the author of The Village Baker, one of the baking books on the crest of renewed artisanal bread baking at the time, for pros and serious home bakers. Then, almost miraculously, Joe reached out to me. After exchanging messages and trying to find the right moment to connect, we finally sat down together for a short conversation one afternoon, recorded over Zoom. The video has been lightly edited to preserve as much of that exchange as possible — warmth, pauses, and all.