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Oct 14

Not just any old bread

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By Karen Barnes

Fresh from the oven…

How much do you love carbs? Imagine walking into a room crammed wall to wall with loaves of bread – artisan, mass-produced, big, small, flat, tall, crusty, soft-crusted & flour-dusted, fruity, cinnamony, oniony, sourdough, brown, white, seeded and soda… Whatever type you can think of, as long as it was some kind of loaf, it was there ready for judging at the Tiptree 2014 World Bread Awards.

All lined up, ready for for dissection and ruthless assessment

That was three weeks ago, and my job was to join a team of judges assessing the wholegrain section (we ate a lot of seeds). There’s a master baker on each team, and it was a revelation to learn from a man of 40 years’ experience about crumb, bake, oven spring (the burst of life when the dough hits the heat of the oven), crust and texture.

Listening intently to the expert (I’m third from the left; my fellow team-mates included Linda Collister, who writes many of the Great British Bake Off books)

The winners were announced this week. Here they are…

Tiptree World Bread Awards 2014: The winners

KitchenAid Young Baker (under 12 years)

Christopher Foster, Me and My Sister Bread

KitchenAid Young Baker (12-17 years)

Samantha Morris, Sundried Tomato and Basil Mixed Rolls

Sourdough

Alex Gooch, Alex Gooch Artisan Bakery

Heritage Sourdough

Wholegrain

Jim Bishop, Two Magpies Bakery

Seedy Swede

Ciabatta

Peter Cook, Peter Cook’s Bread

Ciabatta

Gluten Free

Ed Synnott

Bracklesham Brioche Burger Rolls

Sussex Bread Company

Baguette

Fergus Jackson, Brick House Bread

Sourdough Baguette

Real Bread Campaign

Aidan Monks, Lovingly Artisan

Oat and Barley Heritage Bread

Great British White

Tom Brucciani, Brucciani

Large White Tin

Fruit Bread

Lee Smith, Bexhill Farm Kitchen

Rosemary & Sultana Sourdough

Flatbread

Maurice Hartnett, The Revel Bakery

Red Onion Foccacia

Speciality

Dominic Salter, Bath Road Bakes

Stroud Big Cat Sourdough

Hand Baked at Home

Andy Munarriz

Munnariz Sourdough

People’s Choice

Aidan Monks, Lovingly Artisan

Tiptree Showstopper

Aidan Monks

Tiptree Mustard Glazed Miche

Special Mention for Innovation

Lee Smith, Bexhill Farm Kitchen

Rosemary & Sultana Sourdough

And finally…

The Overall Winner 2014

Peter Cook, Peter Cook’s Bread

Ciabatta

Well done, Peter.

Feel like baking a loaf of bread? Here’s some inspiration. You can make soda bread rolls (pictured below) in half an hour if you get your skates on…