Ellen King, Owner/Head Baker of Hewn, is a Chicago native and classically trained chef who has cooked in various kitchens in Seattle, including under Thierry Rautureau (James Beard Award winner for Best Chef in the Pacific Northwest). She worked as the artisan cheese buyer/monger for Whole Foods in Bellevue, WA, and then learned to bake bread in a wood-burning oven at Quillisascut Farm School, a sustainable farm school in Rice, Washington. Ellen attended the Seattle Culinary Academy where she was awarded the Les Dames d’Escoffier 2003 scholarship and earned an AA in Culinary Arts. She holds an MA in American History from the University of Maine and a BA in History from St. Norbert College. She was previously chair of the Evanston Backyard Chicken Committee and served on the Evanston Environment Board. Ellen is currently a member of Les Dames d’Escoffier, Chefs Collaborative, Women Chefs and Restaurateurs and the Bread Bakers Guild of America. Ellen’s first cookbook, Heritage Baking, will be released through Chronicle Books in the fall of 2018.