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held at the
URBAN GREEN FAIR,
Brockwell Park
Brixton, London on
Sunday, August 31st 2008
picture gallery of the show HERE and HERE
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| White wheat bread sponsored by Bacheldre Watermill | ||||
| Any loaf made predominantly from wheat flour(s) that normally would be described as "white". In French flour terms this would be wheat flour extraction T80 or higher (T number 80 or less) | ||||
| amateur winner | Andy Forbes | for their rustic white - ‘A mix of Doves Farm strong white, French biologique Moulbie T80 with 5% rye’ | ||
| Brown wheat bread sponsored by Cann Mills | ||||
| Any loaf made predominantly from wheat flour(s) that would be referred to as brown including wholemeal, in French flour terms extraction less than T80 (T number more than 80). | ||||
| amateur winner | Madeleine Boase | for their Wholemeal and Spelt loaf - ‘I added walnut paste to make it a bit shorter and intensify the earthy flavour.’ - recipe here | ||
| Sourdough bread sponsored by Mount Pleasant Windmill | ||||
| Any leavened loaf made 100% without commercial yeast. Can be any mix of flours. | ||||
| pro winner | Mariuz Uszakiewicz Ottolenghi bakery |
for their Ottolenghi Sourdough - ‘Made with a hundred years old starter from Denmark’ | ||
| amateur winner | Antero Manocchi | for their Timo - ‘French Country Bread.’ | ||
| Non-Wheat bread sponsored by Foster's Mill, Swaffham Prior | ||||
| Any loaf whose main characteristic is to include non-modern wheat grain flours. | ||||
| pro winner | Emmanuel Hadjiandreou Judges bakery |
for their Rye bread - ‘Rye bread made with dark rye and light rye flour, rye sourdough and a little yeast’ | ||
| amateur winner | Zoe Perrett | for their Swedish vort limpa - ‘Wow! A seasonal rye-based recipe from Sweden with a decidedly festive taste.’ | ||
| Speciality bread sponsored by Little Salkeld Watermill | ||||
| Any loaf whose distinguishing characteristic is to include non-grain ingredients. | ||||
| amateur winner | Philip Borg | for their Fougasse aux olives - ‘Sourdough fougasse with black olives.’ | ||
| Cakes | ||||
| sweet unleavened baked items | ||||
| pro winner | Emmanuel Hadjiandreou Judges bakery |
for their Stollen - ‘German Xmas bread with marzipan’ | ||
| amateur winner | Zoe Perrett | for their Cardamom spice cake - ‘An Armenian recipe- a crunchier, pastry-style base layer topped with a moist, fragrantly spiced cake bejewelled with pistachios.’ | ||
| Pastries and Tarts | ||||
| pastry or pastry items with filling but without pastry top | ||||
| amateur winner | Andy Forbes | for their gooseberry and elderflower tart - ‘an almond pate brise tart with almond filling with gooseberries from my allotment and elderflower cordial’ - recipe here | ||
| Pies, pasties and patties | ||||
| Any item with 2 pastry layers with a stuffing in between, either vegetarian or meat based | ||||
| amateur winner | Zoe Perrett | for their Roasted vegetable & goats' cheese tart in seeded crust - ‘Homemade red onion jam scented with thyme binds the tasty filling to its crunchy, seed laden pastry.’ | ||
| Un-leavend and flat breads | ||||
| Can include any breads baked without yeast (commercial or sourdough) so could be soda breads, bun, unleavened flat breads plus leavened flat breads baked with fire still in oven when baking | ||||
| amateur winner | Zoe Perrett | for their Beer & raisin bread - ‘The tastes of beer, caraway, raisins and thyme combine for a hearty savour- perfect with a ploughmans or for sopping up stew.’ | ||
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Post Brockwell Bake thoughts from Dan Lepard, chair of judges "You never know with competitions like this one whether you'll get every entry possible or just a sprinkle. So the day was an utter surprise for us as well. We saw an avalanche of entries from home bakers, many more than we thought, yet very few loaves from commercial bakers, a few we had assurances from didn't turn up and very unfortunately some were unable to find us on the day. This can probably all be explained by this great upsurge in home baking, particularly by home cooks who are trying to keep their diet additive-free and who saw this event as just the place to waggle their skills. 60 entries in all from London is fantastic, an amazing turnout and such a reassuring sign that people are getting switched on about baking in Britain. What was exciting was noticing how far home baking in the UK has come over the last decade, when bakers were either too scared to attempt making a loaf with just a natural leaven for fermentation, or happy with a sourdough loaf that just tasted sour and didn't bother about aerating the crumb at all. At the Brockwell Bake we saw clear evidence that home baking skills are getting pretty refined. Many loaves had impressive aeration, a good bubbly crust and a rich crust colour. The cakes were full of flavour, and much more about the mixture than the decoration. There are areas the judges felt we could all do better in, and the key one was in getting more flavour from the flour. In a sourdough, the acidity of fermentation is just one part of the loaf's final flavour and it appeared that too many bakers are putting too much emphasis on the gluten characteristics of high-protein roller milled white flour and totally ignoring the lack of wheat flavour these flours exhibit. The answer lies in each baker tasting their own loaves much more critically, and in using a choice from whole-wheat, rye, spelt, barley etc for the leaven and final flour mix. Even loaves that are intended to be white will benefit from a very slight addition of these flours. So stock your cupboard up and start experimenting. The techniques many of you possess are really good, now get the flavour right."
"All entries were displayed with card showing the name and class of the item and description where provided and only a number for contestant therefore the judges were not aware of the contestants identity other than whether they were pro or amateur bakers. All entries were judged on a point scoring system by each judge judging a given class with a possible five points each under following headings, Appearance, Crust, Mouthfeel, Crumb, Aroma and Flavour. The Pro winners for Sourdough and Non-Wheat Bread were judged comparatively and the decision went to Judges, for their Rye Loaf (Non Wheat Pro winner); there were no Pro Unleavened, Speciality, Brown or White Wheat loaves to be considered. The best Amateur loaf was selected by comparatively judging the Amateur winners of the Non-Wheat; Unleavened & Flatbread; Sourdough; Speciality; Brown Wheat and White Wheat classes, and unanimously went to Philip Borg, for his Fougasse (Speciality Breads). The judges then considered all the Class Winners, Pro and Amateur, for the Best Item In Show, and finally settled on the Stollen, from Judges (Best Pro Cake), commenting on the difficulties of making a good Stollen, which this undoubtedly was, and the fact that it had won its own class outright on every one of the 6 categories for marking." |
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