Before 1990, Washington’s idea of bread was blandly all-American, sliced, and bagged in plastic. Once Marvelous Market opened its doors that year, though, a whole new world of crisp, golden, European-style baguettes was revealed and the city’s tastes—and sandwiches—would never be the same.

Mark Furstenberg is the man behind that revolution, a pioneer tastemaker whose baking paved the way for the rich, varied, and delicious world of artisan loaves, semolina-dusted country breads, and rustic Palladins we now take for granted when we shop.

After a variety of careers, at age 50 Furstenberg decided that bread was his future, so he honed his baking skills in California and Paris before opening his first Marvelous Market on upper Connecticut Avenue. An instant hit, down-the-block lines for baguettes (limited to two per customer) were features of the shop’s early days.

After expanding, then selling the chain, Furstenberg opened the Breadline, a downtown bread-based restaurant that won him nominations from the James Beard Foundation as best chef in the Mid-Atlantic and selection as one of the Washington Post’s favorite spots. In May 2014, he opened Bread Furst, his personal take on a neighborhood bakery, not far from his first Marvelous Market’s site on Connecticut Avenue.

Join Furstenberg as he talks about his passion for bread, covers some of its history, shares tips for home bakers, and offers samples of his breads.