World Bread Awards 2015 - Results

In the Sourdough category I was awarded Silver for both entries; the Porter Sourdough and Fruit & Cinnamon Sourdough.

However, my Normandy Couronne was Runner up in the Home Baker Open category which earned me an invitation to the awards night in London.  It was a great night where I met some of the other contestants, was able to applaud the winners and runners up, and took part in celebrating all that is good about the thing that we all are drawn to and want to be involved in - producing and eating 'real bread'!

 

World Bread Awards 2015

Following my Gold award in 2014 for my Ale Sourdough I spent the year planning, deciding and testing recipes for the 2015 competition. This year there were two bread categories for home bakers to enter - one just for Sourdough and the other an Open category. Rather than just one entry like last year I set out to put two loaves into each category.

In the Sourdough category I adapted my previous Ale recipe, using more beer and switching to a darker, Porter beer which I hoped would give the bread a deeper chocolatey/malty taste as well as a dark appearance to the crumb and crust.

For the other Sourdough I entered the Fruit and Cinnamon loaf I usually eat toasted for breakfast. 

In the open category I made three Ciabattas using a 24 hour 'biga' preferment and chose the best looking one to submit.  When we ate one of the spares and I was pleased with the texture and structure of the crumb.

For the other open entry I drew inspiration from bread I'd bought at a French market when on holiday in Normandy. I tried to replicate this loaf both in shape and (assumed) method, settling on using fermented dough as the raising agent; the overnight fermentation seemed to match the taste and structure.  The French market loaves resembled Pain De Campagne style bread so I also added a small amount of rye flour to the dough and used a little to line the proofing basket too.

So on the 16th of September (the day following the big bake) my loaves were securely packaged and labelled, and I headed to London. They were to be delivered to Westminster Cathedral Hall where I was met on the doorstep and along with many others (over a thousand loaves were judged in total) we handed over the boxes containing our creations and hopes for success...then fingers crossed, our wait for news began. 

#KingOfSourdough competition

To celebrate a bakery's sourdough culture reaching 60 years of age they ran a competition for enthusiasts to bake and photograph their own sourdough loaves with those adjudged to be the best winning some of the ancient culture. These are my entries, none of them successful to date.

https://hobbshousebakery.co.uk/sourdough-nation/king-of-sourdough/entries/

Baguette Couronne

One solution to fitting long baguettes into a domestic oven is to go circular! Use your favourite baguette recipe, form into a Couronne and you get the same bread, plenty of chewy crust and it fits perfectly onto your baking stone.

Hot Cross Buns

Recipe: 'The Fabulous Baker Brothers', Tom & Henry Herbert.

A bargain find

As the saying goes, 'a bad craftsman always blames his tools'. When you buy, or better still, make your own real bread you need a proper bread knife to do it justice.  A sturdy steel blade with a serrated edge and long enough to allow a comfortable sawing motion is what you need. As with anything you could pay as much as you liked for a quality bread knife but it pays to look around. 

I was lucky enough to notice this vintage Sheffield steel bread knife at a second-hand sale, in its original box and hardly used for £4.50!

It's smart, stylish, as good as new in condition and cuts like a laser beam!

Caraway seeds: sweet or savoury?

These are Rye, Caraway and Raisin loaves (recipe - 'Dough', Richard Bertinet). They contain only a small amount of caraway seeds which infuse the bread with their flavour but is this a citrus twang to go with preserves for breakfast or an aniseed savoury note to complement goat's cheese or cheese on toast for lunch?  

Time for some experiments I think, marmalade first.

Loaf shaping success and failure!

I've been trying out some shaping techniques to make attractive looking loaves. The first 'Fendu' from the French verb 'fendre - to split or to crack'.  This requires the shaped dough to be divided with a rolling pin before being placed into a banneton for the final proof. When this dough meets the heat and expands the weakness where the two halves joined separates evenly.

The second is 'tabatiere' which means 'snuffbox' in view of the flap or 'lid' which is created by flattening a portion of the shaped loaf and folding this back over the loaf.

 When baking the expanding loaf parts at the edges of the flap...or that's the idea. I've tried this method a couple of times without success. I intend to try again but so far it seems like my loaves are simply grinning at me, presumably in scorn at my failed attempts!

Holiday bakes

Some time off work over the Christmas and New Year period gave me the opportunity (and ideal excuse) to try some bakes I'd either not tried before or some that I don't usually have time for. Here are some pics...

Stollen (recipe: 'Crust', Richard Bertinet)

Packed with some boozy fruit and a marzipan/almond paste.

English Muffins

Perfect for smoked salmon & scrambled eggs.

Cheesy Breadsticks

Boxing Day Pie (Recipe: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/hand-raised_boxing_day_84945. )

(made with 'hot water crust' pastry and layers of the leftover turkey, stuffing and cranberries)

Fougasse (a 'tear n share' table centre piece)

Sourdough Pain Rustique: http://www.weekendbakery.com/posts/sourdough-pain-naturel/ 

and Date and Walnut Sourdough, perfect for breakfast, lunch or with a cup of tea.

Here's looking forward to whatever baking challenges 2015 has in store.