WHEN I THINK ABOUT THE AMERICAN FOOD
revolution of the past two decades, I think about
people like Ryan Morgan.
Morgan, 44, spent the early portion of his
wage-earning years working as a mechanic. You can
tell. Stocky, solid, salt-and-pepper-haired, and the
furthest thing from a hipster, Morgan talks with a
kind of no-bullshit midwestern gruffness that’s com-
mon in the city where he lives, which is Cincinnati.
He happens to bake some of the best bread and pas-
tries I’ve ever tasted, but you won’t catch him being
precious about it. Ask and he’ll tell you that the
whole thing was an accident.
Back in 2011, Morgan and some relatives took over
a family-owned Ohio bakery primarily so that his
father, who was suffering from multiple sclerosis,AARON CONWAY50
THE SHORT STORIESPISS OFF, KETOThe unlikely story of how RYAN MORGAN became one of America’s best bread wizards
by JEFF GORDINIERB A K I N G B A D