7 minute read
Tiptree World Bread Awards
Baking’s Upper Crust
The Tiptree World Bread Awards USA judges chair shares a taste of what it represents for the industry.
BY ANNIE HOLLON
The Tiptree World Bread Awards celebrate the best in bread baking technique, innovation and artisanship.
© Credit goes here While the Tiptree World Bread Awards USA is just four years old, it has quickly established itself an authority on breadmaking. The awards will make their post-pandemic return at IBIE, where, for the first time, judging will take place at the show. Hundreds of loaves will go head-to-head in a competition that lauds technique alongside innovation and artisanship.
When you’ve been baking for decades like Stephen Hallam, you learn what it takes to make and judge a great loaf of bread. Currently working as brand ambassador for English bakery Dickinson and Morris, Hallam also serves as chairman of the Tiptree World Bread Awards in the UK and US. He will be one of the 22 expert judges on the floor at IBIE working to determine the winners of this year’s contest.
The competition presents a unique opportunity for bakers to show off their technical prowess and put their bread to the test in 15 awards categories. To be evaluated fairly, the different groups adhere to specific, clear definitions, providing a baseline standard that allows judges to fairly use their senses to make sound judgements.
MEET THE JUDGES
Stephen Hallam | chair | brand ambassador, Dickinson & Morris
Charles Alexander, Jamel Lewis and Mark Edmond | co-founders, The Black Bread Co.
Ken Blanchette | president, Kenneth Blanchette Food Consulting
Andy Bray | managing partner, Brook Bake
Jansen Chan | noted pastry chef
Lisa Clayton | artisanal baker, The Beach Cottage Bakery
Philippine Coste | export sales manager, Wilkin & Sons Ltd.
Lauren Dickerson | vice consul food and drink, Dept. for International Trade
Fany Gerson | chef/founder, La NewYorkina and Dough
Zachary Golper | baker, Bien Cuit
Scott Goodfellow | joint managing director, Bien Cuit
Dennis Gunnell | IBIE 2022 committee chair
Abby Hocking | food and lifestyle photographer
Jonathon Jones MD | Tregothnan Trading
Babette Kourelos | owner, baker and educator, Babette’s Bread
Gregory Lofts | deputy food editor, Martha Stewart Living
Michael Romano | executive pastry chef, Pierre Hotel
Claudia Sanchez | publisher and editor, Edible Queens magazine
Joseph Settepani | chef, Bruno Bakery
Jorge Zarate | IBIE 2022 committee vice-chair More technical varieties like ciabatta, baguette and challah have rigid prerequisites for how products fall into these specific categories. Yet there is more room for flexibility in other categories like pretzels, whole wheat/wholemeal and flatbread. Even burger buns must function as a carrier for a burger patty, but can be any type or flavor.
Bakers can also showcase their creativity through two specialty categories —sweet and savory — in addition to the Tiptree Showstopper category. There’s even a special designation for those new to the baking scene: the Home-Baker category lets amateur bakers make whatever they choose so long as no bread machines are involved.
The fifteenth category of the Tiptree World Bread Awards, People’s Choice, begins before attendees even step foot onto the show floor on Sept. 18. Beginning in August, the public can vote online for the bakery they believe deserves recognition.
Judging for the Tiptree World Bread Awards adheres to a strict scoring policy based on several criteria.
“If something is perfect, its [score is] 100,” Hallam said. “Then as we go, we deduct, according to the criteria, different amounts of marks depending upon what the faults are.”
Penalty points are deducted according to the parameters, categories and common issues listed out on the judges’ rubric. Gold certificates are issued to loaves with a score of 90 or higher, followed by silver at 85-89 points and Bronze at 80-84 points. If judges deduct more than 20 points from a loaf, it will receive no certificate at all.
While one should never judge a book by its cover, appearance is one of the first factors on which an entry is evaluated, ranked using a 20-point scale ranging from exceptional to very poor. Eyes eat first in this part of the judging process as experts look at the bread — unwrapped, unmarked and unsliced — for how “attractive” or “exciting” it is.
A bread’s exterior of a loaf is indicative not only of the quality of the product but also the baker. While ovens do the actual baking of the dough, Hallam said, it’s the skills of a baker that makes the loaf clean, well baked and well fermented.
“It’s the oven that runs a bakery, but it’s the master baker that’s in control of the oven,” he said.
Just as the outside reveals plenty about a baker’s skill, the next review looks at the bread’s inner qualities. Judges inspect softness; how the crumb compresses between teeth, fingers or tongue and palette; and resilience, which is the speed and springiness with which the bread returns to its original shape after four fingers press on the cut surface.
The look, listen and feel of the knife as it slices through the loaf also helps judges assess the quality of a bread. This element can illuminate whether it was baked correctly or was overbaked, uneven or underbaked.
“When you’ve cut the loaf, you’re going to look around the crust,” Hallam said. “If you’re baking it too hot or too quickly, it could penetrate the crust. You’re going to want to look at the texture of the crumb, and that is influenced by controlling fermentation and the moulding.”
Judges get a taste of the action in the final stages of the evaluation: crumb texture and taste/flavor. Since judges can’t eat a slice of every entry that comes through, they touch and smell the cut side of the loaf to assess the moisture, texture, aroma and more.
Because this is such a hands-on event, COVID-19 threw the Tiptree World Bread Awards for a loop. In the face of a pandemic, the sense-reliant awards had to shift gears.
“Rather than celebrating the loaf, let’s celebrate the people behind the loaves,” Hallam said.
In 2020, the program recalibrated to focus on bakers giving back to their communities across the US. Five heroes were recognized from the Northeast, Midwest, Southeast, West and Southwest regions, with an overall winner declared from the top five. Including honorable mentions, the bakers were recognized for the work done to support their communities despite the challenges brought to the industry over the past couple of years.
“We did it the first year because it seemed entirely the right thing to do,” Hallam said. “And then came the second year, and there were still a lot of doubts [about the state of the world].” This doubt led to another batch of honorees, praised for their continued commitment to their communities. Beyond the recognition of regional Bread Heroes, the program expanded its recognition with Special Awards, whose stories can be found on the awards’ website.
“I’d like to think a lot of people benefitted from [the Bread Hero Awards] and it’s also caused bakers’ customers to see them in a much humbler light because they didn’t have to do all the things they did — they chose to,” Hallam said.
As the Tiptree World Bread Awards returns to its traditional format, the opportunity to view these products in person at IBIE provides a unique view of industry trends. An item style, ingredients and more can drive innovation in the product development space, the adrenaline of which Hallam defines as “a shot in the arm.”
There’s room for commercial and artisan bakers to benefit from stopping by the awards at Booth #6346 at IBIE 2022 this September. For commercial bakers, the chance to learn from young upstarts; for artisan bakers, the opportunity to get their name and products in in front of the industry provides a big opportunity. For both kinds of bakers, Hallam shared that there is opportunity for each to learn the likes and dislikes of consumers.
Any way you slice it, the Tiptree World Bread Awards are a celebration of the past and future of the industry one loaf at a time. From a return to nostalgic flavors to a trailblazing leap of faith, these awards represent much of what the industry has to offer now and what it can begin to offer as the industry continues into the future. CB
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