Meet The Winner: National Festival Of Breads Baking Competition

Ronna Farley of Rockville, Maryland, is the grand prize winner in the 2017 US National Festival of Breads baking competition, sponsored by King Arthur Flour, Red Star Yeast and the Kansas Wheat Commission. The National Festival of Breads is the nation’s only amateur bread-baking competition. Judges selected Farley’s Seeded Corn and Onion Bubble Loaf, entered in the competition’s “Whole Grain Breads” category, from among eight finalist recipes baked at the public competition.
The champion recipe and all eight finalists’ recipes are available at http://nationalfestivalofbreads.com.

   2017 Eureka! Innovation award winner: Miller Milling

In July 2016, Bloomington-based Miller Milling launched Paul Bunyan Premium Patent flour for wholesale distribution. The flour has a high protein content, which creates a sturdy, stretchy dough for pizza crusts, bagels and other chewy breads. According to the judges: “In an otherwise stodgy category, with no innovation for a lot of years, these guys decided to re-invent the market. It’s a farm-to-table effort, a personalization of food.”

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Hummingbird Bakery founder Tarek Malouf receives MBE

Hummingbird Bakery founder Tarek Malouf has been awarded an MBE in the Queen’s birthday honours list for his services to baking and confectionery.

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Tembisa’s Clover Mama Afrika wins Business Woman of the Year award

Clover Mama Afrika, Clover’s CSI project, has announced Mama Mirriam Makamu as Business Woman of the Year at an award ceremony during this year’s annual Smarties Week held at the Ocean Breeze Hotel in Strand, Cape Town.

Mama Mirriam Makamu from Tembisa, Gauteng, began her small bakery, Sipho & Mary Bakery, in 2008. Today, it has grown into a well-known bakery in the Tembisa area which provides employment to 46 community members. With the help of Clover Mama Afrika, Mama Mirriam was able to acquire the skills to run a successful bakery and to have a clean and functional working environment.

Bakery And Brewery Team Up For Stout-Flavoured Bread

Northern Irish artisan bakery and restaurant business French Village has teamed up with craft brewer Yardsman to produce a stout-flavoured Irish wheaten bread. The bread is baked by French Village using Yardsman’s Original Double Stout instead of wheaten in the bread for a rich and moist flavour and has proved “tremendously popular”.

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Red Phone Box Cake Shop

Friends and bakers Holly Ford and Bron Campbell repainted a decommissioned red phone box near Cladich in Argyll, UK, before building shelves and decorating. Now, Cakes in The Call Box sells homemade cakes and tray bakes to passers-by.

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The baking industry is thriving in Pakistan. One of the success stories is that of Ayesha Adil who runs her own baking business Ayesha’s: We Bake Memories, which was initiated in 2012. Switching her profession from being an accountant to a baker, Ayesha started self-study and read numerous books on baking, ordered them from abroad and even read them online. Then she started taking her own baking classes. Ayesha says that 90 percent of her customers re-order, which she believes is the biggest proof of the quality of her cakes.

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Baking without a storefront.

Teton River Baking, a specialty baking business, has been operated by Rick and Carol Keats from their home at 15 Fifth Ave. N.E., in Choteau, US, since last year. They sell a variety of breads, loaf and free form as well as artisan breads and specialty breads like chocolate braids. “We do a lot of our recipes whole wheat as we feel it is healthier than other flours,” Rick said. “We offer several different cinnamon-type rolls with a variety of icings and toppings”. Scones are one of their best sellers. “We work hard at doing high-end scones, like pumpkin, cranberry pecan, ginger apricot and chocolate hazelnut,” he added.

Unlike a traditional business, Teton River Baking doesn’t have a store front. They operate under the guidelines of the state’s Cottage Food Industry law. This allows individuals to bake and sell out of their own homes and requires approval of recipes, labels and allergens on all the products. They bake once a week, normally Tuesdays, with the scheduled pick-up time between 4:30 and 6 p.m. Their clients are, for the most part, in their 40s on up to senior citizens, who seem to greatly enjoy the homemade products, and watch for bake days and ordering options on the Teton Facebook page.

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BakerSA spoke to Matthew Ballenden of Fresh Earth Bake House in an exclusive interview about the growth of this “Free From” bakery, the top trends in the industry and his bakery success secrets.