Gwin Grimes, Owner and Operator, Artisan Baking Company, Fort Worth, Texas
Gwin Grimes comes from a family of bakers. She has been in the culinary industry most of her life, whether in the kitchen as a chef, baker or teacher, or with a pen as a food journalist and cookbook author. Today, she and her husband, Mark, own and operate Artisan Baking Company in Fort Worth, Texas. Since they founded the bakery in April 2007, Gwin and Mark have been selling handmade breads and baked goods made from local, seasonal and organic ingredients sourced from small family farms and co-ops. Gwin is the author of three cookbooks: Gorgeous Garlic; Nuts: Pecan, Pistachio & Pinon; and Coffee Creations (Rio Nuevo Publishers). She was also a food writer and restaurant critic for the Fort-Worth Star Telegram, and wrote and reviewed restaurants in the Dallas Business Journal and The News-Star (Monroe, Louisiana). Gwin’s true passion is teaching. She teaches baking and cooking classes at her own bakery, Central Market Cooking School, Culinary School of Fort Worth and as a volunteer in the Community Kitchens program at the Tarrant Area Food Bank.
Prior to opening Artisan Baking Company, Gwin had been using the line of products from The Perfect Purée of Napa Valley. She says when she decided to open her own bakery, she knew that there was only one choice when it came to fruit purees and concentrates. The Perfect Purée is always pure: just the fruit and a little bit of sugar. Gwin uses the purees both in the bakery and in her culinary classes. Her students enjoy experimenting with various flavors they might not otherwise have access to. The purees are convenient, consistent and fit into her bakery ethos of never using artificial ingredients. “I’m a huge fan!” she says.
At Artisan Baking Company, Gwin uses the fruit purees in the dough and glazes of her biscotti and scones. She creates various scone varieties that incorporate fruit flavors. The purees add true fruit flavor without compromising the texture of the scone. Often times with fresh fruit, the dough becomes heavy, wet and saturated. With The Perfect Purée, the texture is still light and consistent throughout.