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This week on Saving Bread, I'm joined by Cat Cox, the baker and owner of Country Bird Bakery in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and the 2025 James Beard Award winner for Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker.

Cat's journey into baking began in restaurant kitchens, where her curiosity about sourdough and locally sourced ingredients eventually grew into a much bigger vision. In 2022, she opened Country Bird Bakery with a commitment to celebrating the grains, farmers, millers, and agricultural traditions of the American Heartland.

At the center of Cat's philosophy is the idea of terroir, that bread, much like wine, can and should reflect the place where it's made.

In this conversation, we explore what it means to create bread with a regional identity, the challenges of sourcing locally grown and stone-milled grains, and why limitations in ingredients can sometimes lead to our most creative work.

We also get into the technical side of baking with whole grains, including how Cat selects different wheat varieties for breads and pastries, adjusts hydration when working with unfamiliar flour, and uses grains like Sonoran wheat, rye, and buckwheat to create distinctive flavors.

In this episode, we discuss:

• How Cat's restaurant background led to the creation of Country Bird Bakery
• The meaning of terroir in bread and why regional identity matters
• Building relationships with local farmers and millers
• Using locally available ingredients when fresh-milled flour is difficult to source
• Why pastry can be a wonderful introduction to whole grains
• Choosing hard and soft wheat varieties for bread and laminated pastries
• Adjusting hydration and fermentation when changing grain varieties
• Making whole grains desirable through flavor rather than nutritional claims
• Staying true to your baking philosophy and finding your audience
• Cat's experience winning the 2025 James Beard Award

One of my favorite takeaways from this conversation was Cat's encouragement to look at what's growing around us rather than always searching elsewhere for inspiration. I was so inspired that afterward, I created a honey oat sourdough using 100% locally sourced ingredients.

Whether you're a home baker experimenting with whole grains or a professional looking to build stronger connections with your regional grain economy, this conversation is full of practical advice and inspiration to bring back to your own kitchen.

Connect with Cat Cox and Country Bird Bakery

Website: https://www.countrybirdbakery.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/countrybirdbakery/

Country Bird Bakery
1644 E 3rd St, Unit B
Tulsa, Oklahoma 74120

Connect with Saving Bread

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Podcast website: https://savingbread.buzzsprout.com/

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/saving-bread/id1896790106

Follow Allison and Matriarch Bread

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/matriarchbreadco/

Website: https://matriarchbread.com/

If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a fellow baker and leave a rating or review. Your support helps these conversations reach more people who care about bread, agriculture, and the people behind our food.

Long live real bread. 🌾