Sarah Owens

Contributing writer

Sarah Owens is a cookbook author, baker, professional horticulturist, and instructor. She was awarded a James Beard Award for her first book, Sourdough, and released her second book, Toast and Jam, in 2017. Her latest book, Heirloom: Time‑Honored Techniques, Nourishing Traditions, and Modern Recipes explores cooking and baking traditions and offers 120 seasonal recipes.

Sarah believes strongly in the power of baking to foster community and social change; she is an advocate of sustainable agricultural practices to rebuild global grain sheds and believes stone milling can bring good bread back to the table. As a teacher of nourishing food traditions, she travels globally to encourage an interest in fermentation and has helped establish a bakery in Tripoli, Lebanon, working with Syrian refugees, as well as an annual Fermentation Summit in Oaxaca, Mexico. Her own subscription-based business and workshop space is Ritual Fine Foods (formerly BK17 Bakery), where she teaches the alchemy and digestive benefits of natural leavening.