Hewn Bakery’s Ellen King’s Effort to Bring Better Bread to Evanston

When Ellen King, owner of Hewn Bakery in Evanston, moved from the west coast to Chicago, she missed one thing in particular: the bread.

After seven years in the food industry as a classically trained chef, Ellen moved to Chicago, where she began baking her own “west coast bread.”

“I missed the bread, so I started making my own bread at home with the influence of my mentors in Seattle,” said Ellen. “Great bread really starts with the ingredients, and farmers’ markets are testimonial to the freshness and quality of the bread you bake.”

She was inspired by the chefs who cherry-picked fresh produce and ingredients from farmers’ markets (Seattle is renowned for its Pike’s Place Market).

So she brought that culinary tradition with her to the Midwest, and started an underground bread club, where she and an exclusive invite-only group would bake bread together and have the bread delivered to their doorsteps.

But then the number of members rose to 100 and Ellen realized that it was beginning to get harder to keep up.

So a former underground bread club member turned business partner, Julie Matthei, suggested that she open her own bakery.

So she did exactly that.

Hewn Bakery embodies just what you would expect: a commitment to 100 percent organic ingredients and fresh batches of rustic bread everyday. All ingredients used at Hewn are sourced locally, from mills and farmers Ellen trusts.

Naturally, Ellen’s investment in sourcing her bread from natural and organic ingredients comes from her love of farmers’ markets and belief in healthy eating. She even hosted a class with Dr. Geeta Maker-Clark called “Food as Medicine,” where she gave cooking demonstrations.

This week Ellen will be showing us how to mix bread while offering samples of her signature Rosemary bread.

“A lot of people think that flour isn’t supposed to have a smell, but good natural flour does have a smell that you’ll notice,” said Ellen.

Today Ellen serves on the Evanston Environment Board and is a member of Chefs Collaborative, Women Chefs and Restauranteurs and the Bread Bakers Guild of America.
We hope to see you at the Friends’ tent this Saturday!