Martin Philip is an award-winning baker and author. His critically acclaimed book, Breaking Bread: A Baker’s Journey Home in 75 Recipes (HarperCollins, 2017), is a Wall Street Journal best seller and was chosen as the best cookbook of 2018 by the New York Book Industry Guild. It won the 2018 Vermont Book Award and Grand Prize at the 2018 New England Book Festival.
A native of the Arkansas Ozarks, he is a sought-after voice in the world of bread and baking and was named to the list of Top 25 Baking Educators and Mentors in America by Bake magazine. He has taught for the Bread Bakers Guild of America, the New England Culinary Institute, Johnson and Wales University, the Kneading Conference, the Grain Gathering, and the King Arthur Baking School. As a lecturer and presenter, he has appeared at Tufts University, Yale University, Dartmouth College, the Bread Lab, and the International Symposium on Bread.
In 2006, Martin left New York City and a career in banking, moving with his wife and family to Vermont to work under Jeffrey Hamelman at the King Arthur bakery. Over the course of 14 years as a production baker, Martin rose to Head Bread Baker and was chosen to represent the United States on Team USA in competition at the SIGEP World Cup in Rimini, Italy. Additionally, Martin was first US runner-up for the coveted bread spot on Team USA for the Coupe du Monde de la Boulangerie in Paris, France.
Martin’s interest in baking is deeply tied to the intersection of food and community. From volunteer work teaching wood-fired baking in rural Dominican Republic to time with organizations such as Hot Bread Kitchen and Homeboy Industries, he has consistently used food as a means of outreach and connection. Martin’s project in 2018, The Baker Maker Roadshow, garnered attention as he bicycled through rural Arkansas, cold-called homes, played his banjo, and baked biscuits for strangers.
As a writer, Philip’s essays have been published in the Kenyon Review and the Green Mountain Review. In 2016, he was awarded a prestigious MacDowell Fellowship for work in creative nonfiction.
A graduate of Oberlin Conservatory, Philip performed broadly as a baritone in both opera and concert work.
Beyond baking, writing, and work as King Arthur’s Baking Ambassador, Philip enjoys endurance sports, foraging, hunting, picking his five-string banjo in the old-time band Watson’s Creek (with his wife, singer Julie Ness), and spending time with his three children and chickens.
