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held in the Food and Garden zone,
URBAN GREEN FAIR
Brockwell Park, London, September 20th 2009
URBAN WHEAT ... grow your own!
Contact now if you want to plant SPRING WHEAT in the South London area
We have already sown a mix of modern winter wheat varieties and another mix of traditional landrace varietes both designed for low input, high genetic diversity planting on school gardens, community gardens, allotments and unused ground around Lambeth and its surrounds. Next year Brockwell Bake will be expanding its activities to include providing support and equipment for harvesting and milling of local wheat in the South London area. We are paricularly interested to hear from schools and community groups who would like to learn how to grow and process their own wheat.
Thanks to all who made Brockwell Bake 2009 such a good occasion.
More pics here
This year we had a beautiful autumn day for the event without rain. Thanks to the Urban Green Fair we were also well provided for with plenty of tent space and tables and so on. Despite a crunch inspired reduction in sponsorship the event expanded from just being the bakery competition to give a more rounded take on 'real baking'. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Post Brockwell Bake 2009 thoughts from John Downes, chair of judges | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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It was a real honour to judge the Brockwell Bake this year, and thanks to Andy Forbes for inviting myself and compatriot colonial Ken Hercott and for crafting the awards which were distinctly post modern, being both real and virtual!
In the competition the best sourdough of Ralph Tattersall was still very good, and so were some of the cakes, especially the psychedelic visuals of the cup cakes. Most interesting for me was the excellent talk from John Letts about traditional and ancient wheats. John is ably qualified, being an archaeologist-botanist-geneticist, or as he said, while he was collecting ancient wheats and realising their immense value, his colleagues on the other side of the lab were developing genetically modified strains! This really summed up the divisions in the scientific community today. But he offered real information to bolster up the pop culture references. He also had samples of ancient strains, and accompanying stories, not to mention the medieval thatch he had carefully boxed for us to examine. His idea that the best wheat comes from fields of mixed strains resonated with me, not just as a baker, but a student of organic agriculture. It was almost the high point of my stay ... as was the perry thoughtfully supplied by Andy to keep us relaxed. Also of great interest was the talk given by Graham Cotton on the Chorleywood process, the conspiracy which gave us factory bread. This was so informative, as Graham had been a major player, employed to re-educate bakers to the beauty of “no time” doughs and “White death”. Good to meet some of the people who came to listen as well, chat and exchange ideas. The salvation for UK baking lies with the underground or alternative culture which I found really vibrant and interesting as opposed to the mainstream which relentlessly destroys traditional British baking as a fashionable caricature within the “Virtual” Zeitgeist. John Downes
the Brockwell Bake 2009 results
Special kids' pizza making session through out the afternoon! This year we are very lucky to have a mobile wood fired oven courtesy of Paul's Bakery, Melton Mowbray and we will be using it to bake pizzas made by junior fair goers! We will provide dough and toppings though you might like to bring your own as well? Donations to the event and to a project for developing and providing higher fuel efficency bakery ovens in Manica Province, Mozambique (full revised manual from Uganda) This year we will be providing a picnic area with suitable amenities where you will be able to bring your home baked bread with your other baked goodies plus suitable ingredients to go with and swap and share with others. Amongst many other attractions in the Food and Garden Zone there will also be cooking demonstrations and a foraging feast happening.more information HERE We will be providing a full afternoon's programme of talks and baking demos while the competition judging is taking place and after the results have been reached including ...  An introduction to the history and workings of windmills in the British IslesAn illustrated talk from the members of the Traditional Corn Millers Guild present covering the history of traditional wind milling in the British Isles, how wind powered mills driving stone millstones work and where you can visit traditional mills still working. This talk should be suitable for kids from age 7 as well as adults. 
The Oxford Bread Group and the re-introduction of multi-variety wheat plantingJohn Letts, botanical archaeologist and wheat grower for the Oxford Bread Group will be telling us both about the setting up of the group and also about his experiments in planting up to 150 older varieties of wheat to a single field to get a diverse, low input organic flour to bake for the members/consumers in the Oxford Bread Group.  What is "un-real" bread, how and why is it made?Introduced and lead by miller Jonathan Cook of Fosters Windmill, Swaffham Prior we will explore how the UK's staple white fluff sliced bagged supermarket loaf came about, the wheats that it is made from, how it is milled, mixed and baked and what is and what isn't in this "un-real bread". Andrew Forbes will talk about the affect that the wartime "National Loaf" had on public taste in bread and on the structure of the milling and baking industries up to 1961. Baker Graham Cotton who started his career in the sixites as a Chorleywood process trainer (but very much bakes for 'real' now at his New Forest Cottons Craft Bakery) will relate the impact of modern mass production plant bakery methods on our bread.  Campaign for Real BreadAfter the results of the Brockwell Bake competition have been announced, with introduction by Chris Young of the Real Bread Campaign the judges and participants will argue for and discuss "real bread". How do we recognise what is "real bread", why and how do we need to campaign for "real bread" in our homes and in our bakeries.  A selection of flours from members of the Traditional Corn Millers Guild (map here)will be available for sale to fair goers. We will be asking for the trade price of the flour + donation going a little towards the event and mostly to a project for developing and providing higher fuel efficency bakery ovens (full revised manual from Uganda) in Manica Province, Mozambique. All flours have been produced without the use of fossil fuel and have been ground between millstones as opposed to modern roller milling thus preserving many of the vital oils and other ingredients in the flour that are destroyed and/or removed by the modern method.We are happy to able to include in the flours available samples of "Beremeal" from Bere grain, an ancient form of barley with a unique earthy flavour grown in Orkney since at least 3,000 BC from the Barony (water) Mills, Birsay, Orkney where it is milled using a process including kiln drying and running through three different sets of millstones (see pic right). Beremeal is typically used to make bere bannocks but can be mixed with wheat to make a very special barley bread. For an analysis of its mineral, vitamins and other dietary content - better than wholemeal wheat see here A selection of books and other items relating to milling and baking will also be available for purchase. Brocwkell Bake is part of Food and Garden zone at top of rise from gates. Please note this map is not orientated North South. Herne Hill station is near Gate 3. Brockwell Bake vehicles should enter via Gate 2. Google map here 
enquiries, press and otherwise: Andy Forbes atty@area3.net 0207 733 3879 website URBAN GREEN FAIR and Food and Garden Zone | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
New additions to the event went really well. We were all surprised with the appetite of the visitors to learn more about and buy from the 
The new 
