Chef Jonathan Bethony of The Bread Lab - Biography

Classically, a career in baking starts around the fires of the home hearth. Jonathan Bethony found his calling after returning from extensive soul searching, traveling through West Africa and South Asia, far from his kitchen.

Once back, he got baking, going from avid amateur to unpaid apprentice in the locally famous Burnt Toast restaurant of his Adirondack Mountain hometown. Bethony next made a pivotal move to the hearth-heartland, the Bay Area, where he attended the Professional Training Program of the San Francisco Baking Institute. Just days after graduating, Bethony was developing artisan bread programs for Bay Area bakeries, including a local, organic wholegrain-centered bread and pastry program for Good Earth Natural Foods. 

Bethony then found his way to Craig Ponsford, who introduced him to the latest trends in whole grain milling and baking. Since becoming part of the Washington State University research team, and now resident baker of The Bread Lab, Bethony has worked with hundreds of wheat varieties. Under Doctor Stephen Jones and in conjunction with the WSU plant breeding team of agronomists and graduate students (also, bakers, farmers, and chefs), Bethony is working to advance usage, knowledge, and consumption of noncommodity whole grains.