Kneading Conference 2026

Stephanie Swane is the publisher and editorial director of Modernist Cuisine’s in-house publishing department The Cooking Lab. She develops and leads new publishing projects and partnership opportunities. She brings over 25 years of experience working on book publishing, global sales & distribution, brand management, foreign rights, production, and licensing to the team.

In 2017, after four years of compiling research, the award-winning Modernist Bread was published. In 2019, the translations of Modernist Bread in French, German, and Spanish, were published. In 2021, pizzaiolis around the world embraced, Modernist Pizza with translations of Modernist Pizza in Italian, French, German and Spanish published in June 2022.

Over the last nine years she has traversed the globe to help the team research bread and pizza from every imaginable angle. Stephanie has met with experts in baking, milling, agriculture, production, history, fermentation, equipment and ingredient manufacturers, and beyond. She regularly attends industry workshops and conferences that cover all aspects of baking, from commercial production to cereal science.
Prior to joining Modernist Cuisine, Stephanie worked with publishers that include becker&mayer!, Simon & Schuster, Penguin Putnam, Reader’s Digest Children’s Publishing, and Golden Books. She has worked with diverse groups of global brands, retailers, wholesalers, and licensors ranging from CBS/Paramount, Disney/Lucasfilm, Fox Entertainment, Hasbro, NBC/Universal, and Warner Bros. to Amazon Publishing, Barnes & Noble, Costco, Indigo, Target, and Williams-Sonoma. She holds an M.A. in media studies from The New School in NYC and a B.A. in art and a B.A in art history from University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Stephanie was honored to recently contribute an essay to The Washington Women’s Cookbook: Good Eats and Votes for Women in 2020 featuring a collection of recipes, essays, profiles, interviews, and art from Pacific Northwest women https://www.wawomenscookbook.com/.
Stephanie is a committee member for the 2022 KCLS Foundation Literary Gala and a board member for the KCLS Foundation - https://www.kclsfoundation.org/.

In 2021, Stephanie was part of the IACP Cookbook Awards Executive Committee. The committee is responsible for managing the integrity and efficiency of the judging process and she oversaw 9 judges in 3 categories: Baking, Culinary Travel, and Health and Nutrition.

In 2022, Stephanie returned as a judge for the IACP Food Photography & Styling Awards which honors the best in editorial and commercial food photography annually.
Stephanie is the host of a variety of Women in Pizza IG Lives highlighting the amazing and inspiring pizzaiolas from around the globe.

Stephanie is the host of the Women in Pizza IG live series and co-host of Pizza Cultura on the I Need Pizza Club YouTube channel.

When not working on the next Modernist Cuisine project, Stephanie can be found in her Seattle garden and greenhouse. True to her Dakota farming roots, she enjoys growing exotic and native vegetables and fruits, including varieties of grains and tomatoes. She loves all things fermentation—from beer brewing to pickling.