This year offers the best in international baking. In January, the Bread Baker’s Guild of America (BBGA) sent a team to Rimini, Italy, for the Sigep Bread Cup. Because the United States team won the bread cup last year in Rimini, they became the demonstration team for the 2012 Sigep Bread Cup. Instead of competing they showcased American baking to the crowds of the trade show that hosts the competition. Israel won the 2012 Sigep Bread Cup.

Every four years the end all of international baking competitions, Coupe du Monde de la Boulangerie, takes place in Paris, France at the Europain Trade Show. The United States earned a spot to compete in France by winning the North American Louis Lesaffre cup which was held in Las Vegas in October of 2010. The Coupe du Monde is scheduled for March 3-7, 2012.

For more information visit the BBGA’s homepage. Updates will be posted as they become available.

http://www.bbga.org/events/coupe_du_monde_2012

We make two sizes – the mini with just cake(vanilla or chocolate) and buttercream icing, and a large one that is filled with a variety of fillings and topped with buttercream.

Almost a meal in themselves the grande gourmet cupcakes offer a variety of flavor combinations like the Lemon Cloud-lemon curd filling and lemon buttercream icing; Dulce de leche – vanilla cupcake filled our homemade caramel and topped with vanilla buttercream icing; Peanut Butter and Jam; Berry – chocolate cake filled with raspberry jam topped with raspberry buttercream; and more!

Try a mini and pickup a 4 pack for your next dinner party.

The next major Holiday is Easter on April 8th with St. Patrick’s Day Saturday, March 17th. Nothing says Easter to us at The Bread Shack like Hot Cross Buns. Many people believe the earliest known reference to such a bun, written English is from “Poor Robin’s Almanac” in 1733. These became “Hot” Cross Buns in the early 19th century.

At The Bread Shack, our Hot Cross buns recipe is another example of a traditional recipe deconstructed and reassembled using artisan baking techniques: pre-fermenting flour with starters, long slow fermentation and the addition of as many fruits and spices as we can get away with – dried cherries, golden raisins and citron, with cloves and allspice.

Like our Stollen at Christmas, we have a loyal following for these flavorful soft rolls. Two questions we are often asked is “Will you make Stollen after Christmas?” and “When do we start Hot Cross Buns”?

Look for the first batch on Hot Cross Buns March 1st along with Irish Soda Bread. For the Irish Soda Bread we use a recipe from the Irish Baking Team, very traditional with buttermilk, oats and bran, we offer them with and without currants.

The Mission of the Bread Bakers Guild of America:

The Bread Bakers Guild of America has dedicated itself to advancing the artisan baking profession. The Guild is well known in the baking community as the go-to educational resource for substantive, accurate information on the craft of making bread. If you want to know how to make incomparable bread – mix it, ferment it, shape it, bake it and sell it, you’ve come to the right place. The materials and activities generated by The Guild are available nowhere else! They represent the cutting edge in providing the tools needed to produce the highest quality bread products.

Periodically I will be writing about my activities with them, what it means to be a member and the relationship I have with them. To learn more visit the guild  www.bbga.org.

There are many choices of festive, flavorful holiday breads, from all cultures – Fyrstekake from Norway, Pannetone from italy – all of which we would love to bake. When I started baking I was not particularly interested in baking Stollen or Fruit Cake, breads from my cultural background as a German American, they had little flavor and questionable texture.

After learning how to properly bake Stollen, from a baker trained in Germany, using the finest ingredients available I fell in love with the bread. At this point I became committed to learning the origins of different breads and how to make them in a traditional manner with respect to the process, concentrating on techniques from the artisan baking tradition – long and slow fermentation.

Other items on the Holiday menu are designed with variety and intensity of flavor in mind. We make tarts at The Bread Shack instead of pies, although the numerous requests for pies may cause a change, the concentration of flavor of a tart allows for a smaller, less filling but satisfying slice. Smaller pieces with variety of flavors are fun for parties; the pastry brie wheel is great for noshing and other items provide a ready breakfast for a busy Christmas morning – butter croissants and quiche, for example.

At The Bread Shack we love to hear your thoughts, and value the opinions of our customers.  Feel free to visit us in person at 1056 Center Street in Auburn, Maine.

Holiday baking puts the baker’s skills to the test to bring a great quantity of items into form while maintaining the high quality we strive for everyday. When I hear that our products made a holiday meal very special, that everyone loved, it gives me the energy to do it all again..

Holidays are a special time when our culture focuses on joining together, when other concerns fall away, where food is often a centerpiece to partake and become enriched – physically and metaphorically.

From the entire Bread Shack family, to our customers, family and friends, we wish you happy holidays and may 2012 bring you great happiness.