NZ Herald ( 23/11/2022) featured an article on Sharmaine Allison, who reckons she’s got the best job.

Sure, she had to study at university, and her official title is “Senior Product Development Technologist”, at heart she’s a baker who works with a team to come up with new varieties of Ploughmans breads.

That involves a lot of taste-testing– and, as Sharmaine told media personality Hayley Sproull when she visited the Ploughmans bakery in Christchurch, “any job where eating food is part of the role description is always a winner.”

You can watch a video about Sharmaine and read the article by visiting NZ Herald

A Christchurch craft bread baker has won the 2022 Young Bread Baker of the Year Award after two days of demanding theoretical and practical testing.

Emily Baillie, a baker at Bohemian Bakery in Christchurch, has been awarded a $10,000 research grant from the New Zealand Association of Bakers. Runner-up is Mike Malloy from Quality Bakers Auckland who receives a $5,000 research grant.

Emily, a 20-year-old baker in the third year of her apprenticeship, produces breads and pastries at Bohemian Bakery’s two Christchurch locations. Originally from Hokitika on the West Coast, where she started her apprenticeship at Stone Oven Bakery, Emily moved to Christchurch to broaden her experience. She says working with people of many different nationalities at Bohemian Bakery is a good way to learn different styles and skills, and their diverse backgrounds are reflected in the bakery’s products.

Emily heard about the Young Bread Baker of the Year Competition from her NZ Bakels representative. “I told her that if she thought I could do it, put me in,” says Emily. She spent time working on her theory knowledge and doing practical training with a NZ Bakels tutor. She says she loves a challenge and learning new ways to do things, and the competition was the perfect place for her to do just that.

“Winning the competition will really kickstart my career and open so many new doors for me. The research grant will give me the opportunity to learn much more about the science behind the techniques and ingredients which is a part of the industry I’m passionate about expanding my knowledge on.”

Judging Co-ordinator Tania Watson says Emily won because she did well in both theory and practical sections. “We’ve invited her back next year to try out to be a representative at the 2024 LA Judge Competition in Australia.”

Runner-up Mike Malloy, a Production Manager at Quality Bakers in Auckland, entered the competition to challenge himself to keep his hand in with practical baking skills and the opportunity to network with the other competitors. Mike says he will use his research grant to look at bakeries and baking elsewhere. “I’m really interested in seeing overseas plant bakeries and the latest products.”

The competition requires entrants to demonstrate their ability in three areas: a presentation on a given research topic, a 90-minute exam which tests their theoretical knowledge of baking technology, and a five-hour practical session in which they bake a variety of bread-based products.

Judging Co-ordinator Tania Watson says the aim of the competition is to find bakers with potential whose talents can be nurtured through mentoring and development opportunities, and to reward the best young bread baker in the country. “It’s always good to have both plant and craft bakeries represented as they bring different strengths to the competition. This year we had four craft bakers and two plant bread bakers taking part. We were pleased to have bakers from diverse background and a variety of nationalities.”

Judges Joe Jarkiewicz, Grant Inns, Nathan Roberts, and Tania Watson said they like to see competitors showing confidence in their work. “They also need to be well organised and have a clean and tidy workspace,” says Joe Jarciewicz, “as well as an awareness of their surrounding and ability to work as a team. They need to communicate with each other to share the equipment and ovens in the kitchen. They must get the basics right and demonstrate skills such as hand moulding and scaling. Finally, the finished products have to be really good.”

The Judges said they were impressed in general with the standard of products. The competitors worked well together in the bakery and were calm and methodical in their approach. Grant Inns says the competition is an opportunity for competitors to get to know each other, form networks and advance their careers in baking.

The Young Bread Baker of the Year Competition is sponsored by the New Zealand Association of Bakers and is designed to promote excellence in people emerging from their training.
ENDS ///
Images
Jpeg: Emily Baillie wins
Caption: “Emily Baillie is the 2022 Young Bread Baker of the Year”
Jpeg Emily’s products
Jpeg: Mike in action
Caption: “Runner-up Mike Malloy in action during the competition”

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For more information, please contact
Tania Watson – Judging Coordinator
New Zealand Association of Bakers
E: tania@bakingresearch.org.nz
M: 021 1659949

The “Young Bread Baker of the Year” is an award presented annually by the NZ Association of Bakers (NZAB) for the best newly or nearly qualified bread baker in New Zealand.

The 2022 competition will be held in Auckland on the 16th and 17th of November.

Please note nominations for the competition for 2022 are now closed.

Read more about the competition here – https://www.bakeinfo.co.nz/education/apprentice-zone/young-bread-baker-of-the-year/call-for-nominations-2022/

The “Young Bread Baker of the Year” is an award presented annually by the NZ Association of Bakers (NZAB) for the best newly or nearly qualified bread baker in New Zealand.

The 2022 competition will be held in Auckland on the 16th and 17th of November. The Association of Bakers are now inviting nominations for the award competition.

The 8th annual gathering, this year’s hui, is a hybrid event – with the option to attend in-person at the Majestic in Ōtautahi/Christchurch or online via a virtual platform.

Dan Barber – one of the world’s best chefs will be joining the event as the virtual keynote speaker. Dan is the voice of the farm-to-table movement, he is the author of ‘The Third Plate’, chef and co-owner of award-winning restaurant Blue Hill at Stone Barn in New York state, and was featured on the Netflix Series Chef’s Table. He’s also the co-founder of Row 7 Seed Company, a business which brings chefs and plant breeders to develop new varieties of vegetables and grains.

The 2022 theme is #LotsofLittle; the resilience of small and diverse solutions in such uncertain times.

Day 1: Eat NZ Hui – Tuesday 3rd May: 9.00am – 5.00pm
Day 2. Eat NZ Grains – Wednesday 4th May: 9.00am – 5.00pm
A day focused on celebrating New Zealand grown grains, particularly grain farmers, millers, bakers and eaters – supported by Foundation of Arable Research (FAR).
https://www.eatnewzealand.nz/food-stories/eat-nz-grains-weds-4th-may-session-overview

Visit the website for the full programme and to register – https://www.eatnewzealand.nz/events

Article provided by AGMARDT www.agmardt.org.nz

The Value-Added Wheat Group

Grant $195,000

A new genomic-based prediction tool to assist selection and breeding of New Zealand wheat suited to people with gluten sensitivities is being developed in an exciting industry-led project.

The Value-Added Wheat Group is made up of the Baking Industry Research Trust, Plant & Food Research, the Foundation for Arable Research and the Flour Milling Research Trust supported by AGMARDT.

The Group is developing genomic methods to enable selection of wheat varieties with low levels of gluten ‘epitopes’, the portion of the gluten protein that can stimulate an immune response. With lower levels of these epitopes, there is a reduced immune response.

“We’re looking to offer consumers who have a gluten sensitivity or intolerance, a new type of wheat that is suitable and acceptable for consumption,” says Tania Watson, Research Liaison for the Baking Industry Research Trust.

“Hopefully this will also give New Zealand grown wheat a strong point of difference in the market and obviously also provide opportunities for our wheat breeders to get ahead.”

While the low-gluten epitope wheats wouldn’t be suitable for people with coeliac disease, they could help prevent coeliac developing in susceptible people allowing them to eat wheat without overstimulating their immune system.

The first milestone of the project has been completed with analysis of the genotypes of some 500 wheat DNA samples from the year one field trial and collation of data to determine agronomic qualities. This data is then cross-referenced to select which lines of wheat to breed.

The next phase is underway with the planting and harvest of enough wheat for milling tests, and then ultimately bake testing planned for 2022.

The results of this work feed into other projects as part of a multi-year research focus for the Baking Industry Research Trust and Plant and Food Research looking into lowering gluten sensitivities to wheat bread.

“This is important research work and with AGMARDT funding and that of our other likeminded research partners, we are able to do these projects together in parallel in a way that they all feed into each other. Without that funding, we’d be missing pieces of the puzzle,” says Tania Watson.

Unfortunately the Young Bread Baker competition for this year is cancelled.  Given the current uncertain Covid 19 situation we don’t believe we can run a successful competition.  Well prepared candidates are the key to a good competition and this requires time and effort from both candidates and their employers in the weeks leading up to the competition.

Hopefully next year will bring more certainty.  In 2022 we will ensure that anyone who was eligible for the competition in 2020 and 2021 will be able to participate.

Kea Kids News: Toasted vitamins? Bread’s folic acid health boost

Source Kea Kids – Stuff .co.nz

Over the next two years, folic acid will be added to most of the bread made by businesses.

Folic acid helps embryos (the stage before babies become babies) develop healthy brains and spines.

Associate Health Minister Dr Ayesha Verrall has previously said that about 34 per cent of bread already includes the vitamin B supplement. Folic acid will not be added to organic and non-wheat breads.

9-year-old Kea Kids News reporter Beth Thorogood, from Fernridge Primary School, asked her baker dad Ralph what bread with folic acid tastes like.

Watch the video to see what it looks like as well.

Media Release: Hon. Dr. Ayesha Verrall – Beehive.govt.nz

The Government is taking action to prevent spina bifida and similar conditions, with the approval of the addition of the B vitamin, folic acid, to non-organic bread-making wheat flour.

“This is about protecting babies. Low folate levels in mothers cause neural tube defects that result in the death of babies, or life-long disability,” said Minister for Food Safety Dr Ayesha Verrall.

“New Zealand’s rate of NTDs remains too high compared to other countries who have a mandatory fortification approach, such as Australia, Canada, and the United States.

“A little over half of pregnancies in New Zealand are unplanned, so it’s not practical for all women to take a folic acid supplement one month before they conceive – to reduce the risk of these conditions,” Ayesha Verrall said.

“This B vitamin is safe and essential for health; particularly for development of babies early in pregnancy. Folate is naturally present in food; folic acid fortification restores what is lost during processing such as flour milling.

“Organic and non-wheat flour will be exempt from fortification, providing a choice for consumers who don’t want to consume folic acid,” Ayesha Verrall said.

A review by the Ministry for Primary Industries estimates fortifying all non-organic wheat flour for making bread could prevent between 162 and 240 neural tube defects over 30 years, and reduce health, education and productivity costs by between $25 million and $47.4 million over the same period.

“Introducing mandatory fortification is a safe way to ensure women of childbearing age are supported to increase their folic acid consumption.

“This move aligns us with Australia’s fortification approach, which has achieved declines in the prevalence of neural tube defects, particularly in pregnancies among teenagers and indigenous women,” Ayesha Verrall said.

Officials will work closely with industry to ensure the recommended level of folic acid fortification is achieved, by providing support to flour millers; including financial assistance for the purchase and installation of the necessary infrastructure, which is estimated to cost $1.6 million.

There will be a two-year transition period.

• New Zealand’s estimated neural tube defect rate (10.6 per 10,000 births) is higher than countries that have implemented mandatory folic acid fortification, including the United States (7.0 per 10,000 births), Canada (8.6 per 10,000 births) and Australia (8.7 per 10,000 births).
• In Australia, NTDs rates fell by 14% overall following the introduction of mandatory folic acid fortification. This resulted in improved equity in health outcomes, particularly for indigenous communities (74% decline in NTDs) and teenage mothers (55% decline in NTDs).
• During public consultation, the majority of submitters were supportive of a mandatory approach, including public health professionals and organisations, academics, and consumers. Of those who specified a preferred approach, 85% supported mandatory fortification.
• The Ministry of Health supports the mandatory approach, and a 2018 report from the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor and the Royal Society Te Apārangi found no evidence that folic acid, when fortified in food, had any harmful effects.

The report, The Health Benefits and Risks of Folic Acid Fortification of Food, is available here:

https://www.pmcsa.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/The-health-benefits-and-risks-of-folic-acid-fortification-of-food.pdf