The Kneading Conference brings together grainiacs and bread buffs from all over the country. Farmers, professional and home bakers, brewers, chefs, cooks, grain researchers, maltsters, food entrepreneurs, and wood-fired oven enthusiasts gather to educate one another about the art and science of growing and milling grains, baking artisan breads, and brewing delicious beer. Whether you are a professional, or just yearning to know more about the craft, this event is for you.

David Bauer is a miller, baker, seed collector and the founder of Farm and Sparrow in Mars Hill, NC. Farm and Sparrow works with family farms to grow landrace grains, which are carefully milled and sold fresh every week.

David began his baking journey as an apprentice to oven mason Alan Scott. He opened Farm and Sparrow in 2006 as a wood-fired bakery that milled all of its flour daily and baked breads fermented with the natural leaven.  In the following years, Bauer began growing out ancient seed varieties and built a sprawling community of farmers to grow the grains for his bread and pastries.  From 2011-2013 he operated Rose’s Rye which supplied shops around the southeast with sliced packs of heirloom rye bread. He co-founded All Souls Pizza in 2013 which explored the concept of seasonal milling in farm to table cooking.

In 2017, after 13 years of baking, David transitioned the bakery into a commercial milling operation with an emphasis on Southern landrace maize. He now supplies chefs and bakers around the country with his freshly milled grains.  In 2024, he co-founded Bakers for Bakers, a group of 100 bakeries in 5 countries, to fund the renovation of 2 mobile bakeries in Ukraine.

David is also a teacher who enjoys helping others to bridge the gap between the mill and the bakery. His work has been featured in the New York Times, Food and Wine, the Wall Street Journal, Saveur, and many other publications.