Tara Smith

Tara Smith grew up in Duluth, Minnesota, where baking the day away next to a warm oven was both an enjoyable pastime, and a good way to keep the North Country chill away. She worked for several years at a bookstore, where her ever-growing cookbook collection signaled a career change. She left her hometown to attend The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. She spent the year following graduation as the Teaching Assistant at the school's award winning Apple Pie Bakery Café.

Tara is now head pastry chef at Standard Baking Co. in Portland, Maine, where she supervises pastry production and develops the expanding menu of rustic pastries. She has taught cooking classes, occasionally gives baking demonstrations, and has had a recipe featured in Bon Appétit. Tara loves sharing her passion and enthusiasm for baking with others. More often than not, that passion takes the form of a lovely blueberry buckle!