Brockwell Bake #2, Food and Garden zone, URBAN GREEN FAIR Brockwell Park, London, 20th Sept. 2009

Thanks to all who made Brockwell Bake 2009 such a good occasion. More pics here

Brockwell Bake 2008 archive

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'.

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 Tradtional Cormillers Guild stall stocked with flours from around ten of their members, it was a sell out! Likewise the kids pizza baking with Dilly Boase as head baker and oven provided without charge by Paul's Bakery was busy, busy with pizza designers, young and not so young in action all day, finally running out of dough at around 6:30. Between the pizzas and the flour we raised �225 towards the Society for Protection of Ancient Buildings, Mills Section, Mill Repair Fund

The new talks programme after a slightly hesitant and delayed start due to speakers getting stuck in traffic or being too busy on flour stall was in the end a good success. High light of the programme was maybe the show and tell session of the ancient wheat varieties he is re-introducing to cultivation by John Letts of the Oxford Bread Group.

The bakery competition was very ably ejudicated by a team led by Australian sourdough guru John Downes, his compatriot Ken Hercott, traditional miller Michael Stoate and miller/baker Mervin Austen with a great crowd gathering to hear the results being announced by the judges' secretary, Chris Young of the Real Bread Campaign. Results below.

Thanks to everyone who took part and helped, hope to see you again in 2010.

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.