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Bread rises, Hope falls


Despite a minor win, the 1999 and 2005 gold medal winning American team has lost its gold medal ranking to the French in the 2008 Baking World Cup competition.

Team France ended its 12-year losing streak when it rose to the top with its high scores in three out of four categories of bread baking. The French dominated with their authentic light and crusty baguettes, elegant Viennese pastry (yeasted sweet bread) and an elaborate bread masterpiece dedicated to the female form in an haute couture doughy outfit. The American team won the Pastry competition, but the sweetness of their high scores was not enough to overcome the bitterness of walking away without even a single medal. Bakers from Taiwan finished second and Italy won bronze. The two-time winning American team and 2002 Japanese champions finished without any medals.

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The Bakery World Cup


For many foodies, watching sports hardly ranks as a favorite weekend activity. Unless, of course, one counts the hours spent on the food network cheering competitive cooking shows like Iron Chef, Hells Kitchen and Top Chef.

After three long years of waiting, the Olympics are back. (No, not that Olympics.) The Bread Olympics, or the Coupe De Monde De Boulangerie, begins tomorrow in Paris. From March 29th until April 2nd, twelve international teams representing the worlds finest bakers will enter the heat of the battle at Europain to see who will bake the greatest breads in the world. In just eight hours, three team members from each of the 12 participating countries, must compete in four specific categories of baking:

Bread (baguette and specialty bread making), Viennese pastry (sweet, yeast risen pastries), Savory (sandwiches and savory rolls) and Artistic Presentation (artistic masterpieces based on country symbol). Organization, teamwork, degree of difficulty and team member competance will all be deciding factors in the judges’ voting.

The American Team, coached by bread maven and La Brea Bakery founder, Nancy Silverton, is this year’s gold medal defending champion. The American team, sponsored by the Bread Bakers Guild of America), consists of Chicagoan Peter Yuan, owner of La Patisserie P , Solveig Tofte, Baker/Chef of Turtle Bread Company in Chicago and Dara Reimers a baker and Pastry arts graduate of Notter School.

Go Team!