We Are Cortex | Lydia Long

By some estimates, humans have been baking bread for upwards of 14,000 years. So it might be surprising that innovation in the field of bread-making is still happening — and happening within the Cortex Innovation District.

In the midst of that work, you’ll find Lydia Long, a self-professed baking enthusiast who's thrilled to work in a baking lab for AB MAURI, a global developer and marketer of baking products such as yeast, dough conditioners, mold inhibitors, vinegars, syrups and more.

“I love it so much. It is such a dream come true,” Long said. “I talked to a friend that described how weird it was to dream about having a job, going to school for it, doing the work for it, and then just being here. I am so passionate about baking.”

As a bake lab technician for the global company, Long works with ingredients to make sure that bread proofs correctly, has the right crust color and that their products take as much worry off the backs of their baking customers.

“A lot of the time, we're just helping customers. They say, ‘This is our problem. Fix it.’ And it doesn't feel like true innovation,” Long said. “But then there are the days where we're researching enzymes, we're making something completely new.”

She recalls one example, an enzyme that literally creates sugar in bread so the bakers don't have to add as much — or any at all — to their dough.

Long said she was “absolutely starstruck” when she was first introduced to the baking labs in AB MAURI’s Cortex headquarters. The company relocated its headquarters from Chesterfield in 2015.

“I just was trying not to drool over the equipment,” she said, laughing, ticking off examples such as specialized dough mixers and analytical devices to measure bread properties such as silkiness, texture, resilience and volume.

Long has worked for the company since 2022 and revels in showing off the benefits of the proximity to the people and programs available in Cortex.

“I brought my husband here, and he was so jealous,” Long said. “He just liked the vibe — people eating lunch and random interviews, ping pong upstairs, the events that happen. You can meet other innovators who are just next door to you. We had a whole event to celebrate women. And so it was just all these women, and innovation, talking and celebrating who they are.”