Challenger Breadware, the company behind the highly successful Challenger Bread Pan, has named internationally acclaimed chef Matthew James Duffy as its newest brand ambassador. Duffy will create bread baking content on the Challenger Breadware website, including writing guest posts, as well as producing live streams on Challenger’s Instagram channel.

Duffy joins baker Greg Wade as the company’s two signature brand ambassadors. The 2019 James Beard Award winner for “Outstanding Baker,” Wade develops custom recipes for Challenger Breadware and creates how-to videos.

Known as “Sourdough Duffy”, Chef Duffy has a long and passionate history with sourdough. He has traveled to Freiburg, Germany to work alongside a master baker at Bäckerei Pfeifle and worked with King Arthur Flour’s bread master, Jeffrey Hamelman. He has also attended the San Francisco Baking Institute, Chicago’s French Pastry School and the Coupe du Monde De La Boulangerie, an invitational artisan baking competition held in Paris. Additionally, Duffy has worked in specialty bakeries and Michelin-starred restaurants throughout the world, represented Canada twice at the world Slow Food Conference in Turin, Italy and is Professor and Program Coordinator at Centennial College’s pastry arts management program in Toronto.

“I’m thrilled to be working with Challenger Breadware,” says Chef Duffy. “I love their products, particularly the Challenger Bread Pan. Since I’ve baked over 1,000 loaves in my pan, I can say without question, it’s the best bread baking pan and my favorite way to bake at home. I’m looking forward to working with the Challenger Breadware team as we provide key content and techniques to help home bakers make professional-quality bread right in their own ovens.”

In late March, Duffy will host a live Q & A with Jim Challenger, baker, founder and president of Challenger Breadware, followed by a guest post on Challenger Breadware’s Techniques page where he will write about his trials and tribulations in working with cast iron pans.

“We look forward to tapping into Chef Duffy’s passion for, and impressive expertise in, baking bread,” says Jim Challenger. “He’s very respected in the industry, popular in the baking scene and I know he’ll provide fans of Challenger Breadware with real-world advice they can immediately use to become even better bakers.”