Britains Best Bakery S2

 Press Information *** Please note that the information within this document is embargoed until Saturday 28th December 2013 at 0001hrs *** Press Release Page 2 Mich Turner MBE interview Page 3 Peter Sidwell interview Page 4 List of bakeries Pages 5-­‐6 Programme information Pages 7-­‐8 For further information please contact: Publicist: Jo Blanket, [email protected] 020 7157 3011 Picture Publicist: Peter Gray, [email protected] 020 7157 3046 Britain’s Best Bakery Coming soon to ITV Daytime Following a successful first series, Britain’s Best Bakery returns to ITV Daytime for a second run. Expert judges Mich Turner MBE (TV chef, author and owner of Little Venice Cake Company) and Peter Sidwell (TV chef, cookery writer and restaurateur) will be sampling the delicacies of the country’s favourite independent, family run and community bakeries, tasting and critiquing their way through breads, cakes, pastries and pies.
The shortlisted bakeries compete in a series of baking challenges in various central judging locations that put their skills to the test, from Chelsea buns to lemon meringue pie and from sausage rolls to apple tarte tatins. More than a food competition this series is a celebration of local bakeries around the UK, the delicious goods they produce, their regional specialities and their centuries old baking heritage. Stripped across six weeks (30 x 60’), the daily episodes of Britain’s Best Bakery will also reveal the heart-­‐warming stories of the bakeries and the people who lovingly create and bake there.
Britain’s Best Bakery is a Shine Production for ITV. The Executive Producer for Shine TV is Sacha Baveystock and Series Producer is Karen Richardson.
For further information: Jo Blanket on 020 7157 3011
2 Mich Turner MBE Interview
How excited are you to be back with Britain's Best Bakery?
“It is wonderful to be back for a second series of Britain’s Best Bakery – with more bakeries, more bread and more cakes!”
Can you tell us if there is anything different about this series compared to the first?
“For our second series we have included a brand new challenge – The Wild Card Bake. This is where Peter and I give each bakery an ingredient and a baking method to test their creativity, skill and technical excellence. We were treated to some pretty innovative and exciting bakes.”
What are you looking for in the perfect bakery?
“Britain’s Best Bakery should have a wonderful, bountiful array of fresh baked goods that are technically competent and really delivery on quality and flavour. The winning bakery should have iconic products, specific to the bakery utilising local produce in season and be able to show a constant evolution of new products.”
Have you learnt any new tricks along the way?
“With over 400 products to taste on our journey to crown Britain’s Best Bakery I was inspired by a number of flavour combinations, ideas for decorations, creativity and presentation. We met so many non-­‐British bakers who presented a real fusion of their culture and style of baking with local ingredients to create some memorable bakes.”
What was the most inventive bake that you experienced this time?
“A triple curried triple pork pie made to look like the Bullring in Birmingham! For breakfast!”
What's been the highlight of the series for you?
“A wonderfully inventive ‘Beside the Sea’ afternoon tea from Hastings –presented with a twist! Another bakery made the BEST Danish Pastry I have ever experienced and an amazing interpretation of the Judge’s Choice cake from one of our bakeries.”
3 Peter Sidwell Interview
How excited are you to be back with Britain's Best Bakery?
“It’s great to be back for a second series, further opportunities to discover more mouth-­‐
watering bakes that are made by bakers with such passion for their craft.”
Can you tell us if there is anything different about this series compared to the first?
“We’ve got a new challenge for our bakeries this year – The Wild Card Bake, where we give our bakers a method or technique and an ingredient. Both Mich and myself are looking for creativity and innovation, something that will really leave a lasting impression, which we will always remember them for and customers will be queuing up for.”
What are you looking for in the perfect bakery?
“I am looking for a bakery that has amazing technical skill fused together with vision, creativity and the ability to set trends for others to follow. I’m looking for a bakery that leaves me guessing what’s next.” Have you learnt any new tricks along the way?
“For me everyday is a school day, I love having a nose around all the bakeries and seeing how they approach their baking. Off camera Mich and I are always chatting about what we’ve seen and what we might taste next.” What was the most inventive bake that you experienced this time?
“Without a doubt it was a take on one of my favourite flavour combinations chocolate and orange, I can’t say anymore than that!”
What's been the highlight of the series for you?
“Getting up close and personal with the bakers and really seeing how they bake right in front of my eyes as well. Getting to experience many wonderful local ingredients that the bakeries use, has also been a highlight, for me that’s how a bakery can make themselves unique.”
4 The Bakeries Scotland: • Murrays • Birdhouse Bakery • The Wee Boulangerie Cumbria: • Muffin Top Boutique Bakery • Crags Country Bakery • Appleby Bakery Lancashire: • Lilibets of Paris • Elizabeth May • Cissy Greens Cheshire & Greater Manchester: • Mad Hatters Tearoom and Bakery • Cowburn’s Artisan Bakery • Ye Olde Pastie Shoppe Newcastle & County Durham: • Clervaux Artisan Bakery • Sweethart Coffee & Cake • Original Bakehouse Yorkshire: • The Sunflower Bakery • The Angel’s Share • Jeanette’s Cakery Peak District & Derbyshire: • Lawton’s Pies Ltd • Spondon Bakery • The Pudding Room Scotland 2: • Garvald Bakery • Bakery Andante • Blair Atholl Watermill Hampshire & Wiltshire: • Burbidges Bakery • Caracoli • Dolcipani Italian Bakery Oxfordshire & Gloucestershire: • The Sandwich Box • Cornfield Bakery • Gatineau South Coast: • Champs Bakery • 1066 Bakery • Cloud 9 The Home Counties: • The Vintage Cake House • Cinnamon Square • Victoria Bakery London: • Outsider Tart • Yasar Halim • Boulangerie Jade East Anglia: • The Cake Shop Bakery • Denver Mills • Birdwood Bakery • Birmingham: • Vera’s Traditional Caribbean Bakery • Maison Mayci • Frost & Snow South & West Wales: • Cocorico Patisserie • Welsh Bakery • Absolute Treats 5 The Marches & West Midlands: • Mr Bun the Baker • Blue Fuschia • Baked in Tettenhall North & Mid Wales: • Becws Mefus • St Mary’s Bakery • The Bakers’ Table Devon: • East and West Bakery • The Cottage Kitchen • Seeds 2 Bakery Dorset & Somerset: • The Phoenix Bakery • Corrister and White • Cake Box 6 Britain’s Best Bakery – Programme Information
The search for the best independent bakery in the land returns with six weeks of tough competition, as 60 bakeries selected from all over Britain make their bid to take the ultimate accolade. Each day brings an array of mouth-­‐watering recipes, regional specialities and delicious treats as the bakeries showcase their true passion for what they do. From artisan bakers, to cupcake specialists, to pie makers; from family businesses to community enterprises; from youngsters just starting out in their baking careers, to bakers in their 80’s, every baker is putting themselves on the line to be scrutinised by judges Mich Turner and Peter Sidwell. Between them the judges have over 35 years of baking experience: renowned cake maker Mich Turner has received an MBE for services to the catering industry, while award winning chef and artisan baker Peter Sidwell is one of the country’s leading bread experts. Together they’re looking for bakeries with passion and creative flair, willing to push themselves and their breads, bakes and cakes to new and exciting heights. With the country divided into five different regions, the judges will set up a new regional judging HQ each week, to put bakeries through their paces in a series of tough culinary challenges. Each weekday, from Monday to Thursday, three bakeries from the region will go head to head. The bakeries must bring a selection of their wares for the judges to taste, before battling it out side by side in the HQ kitchen. After tasting, the judges will select the bakery that will be going through to Friday’s Regional Final. In the first challenge, the bakeries set up a Baker’s Table at the judging HQ, creating a display of the best their bakery has to offer. Each bakery must nominate their Speciality Bake – the item that they believe makes their bakery special -­‐ for the first tasting. As well as delicious food, the judges will be looking for the product that really tells the story of that bakery, and truly represents their region.
The second challenge, the Wild Card Bake, is designed to test the bakeries’ creativity. All the bakeries have been tasked with creating an original bake incorporating an ingredient and a method chosen by the judges, and must now present the outcome. Whether it’s chilli and puff pastry, rosemary and bread dough, or lavender and shortbread, the judges are searching for inspiration and innovative flair – with some extraordinary results!
The final challenge sees the bakeries go head to head in the kitchen to make a bake of the judges’ choice – the Bakers’ Dozen. They have just two hours to a make precise 13 of the same bake, under the watchful eyes of judges Mich and Peter. All must follow the same recipe, but the bakeries have brought their own ingredients and can add their own creative flourishes. With the clock ticking the pressure mounts; there’s nowhere to hide as the bakeries must present all 13 of the final bakes for the judges to taste – and quality and consistency are key.
Friday’s Regional Final sees the week’s four winners facing two tough tasks, working side by side and against the clock in the HQ kitchen. All must make an afternoon tea, with at least five sweet and savoury items, to wow the judges. And the afternoon is rounded off with the Judge’s Choice Cake, where the four very different bakeries are handed the 7 same ingredients and tasked with making the same technically demanding cake. Only one of them is going to go through to the last week in the series, National Finals Week.
National Finals Week kicks off with two days of tense high stakes challenges, as the final five bakeries slug it out for a place in the Grand Final. From baking Chelsea Buns for the Chelsea Pensioners, to creating one hundred sweet and savoury items for Henley Festival goers, only three can hit a high enough bar to make it through.
The last three bakeries now face a nail-­‐biting marathon three day final, where every aspect of their skill as bakers is put to the test. From baking for profit at London’s Old Spitalfields Market, to creating an iconic bake to put their region on the map, to making a wedding cake for one special couple, every bakery is pushed to the very limit of their ingenuity and stamina – and only one can emerge victorious, to take the crown of Britain’s Best!
TX1: This week cake connoisseur Mich Turner and bread expert Peter Sidwell begin their search in the North East, pitting three Yorkshire bakeries against each other at judging HQ. A contemporary Yorkshire baker goes head to head with a 40’s vintage style cake maker and a Ukrainian bread specialist. All need to come up with an original bake using polenta, and produce rhubarb and custard muffins good enough to see them through to a place in Friday’s regional final.
TX2: Mich Turner and Peter Sidwell’s hunt for Britain’s Best hits Northumberland and Co Durham. A Consett based builder recently turned baker enters the fray, battling against artisan bakers from Darlington and a father and son team serving Geordie classics. The pressure mounts as all must roll up a technically challenging lemon roulade with homemade lemon curd.
TX3: It’s the turn of three bakeries from Derbyshire and Staffordshire to come under the scrutiny of judges Mich Turner and Peter Sidwell. A pair of traditional pudding makers come up against a self-­‐taught husband and wife pie making pair, and two self-­‐sufficient Greek inspired bakers. All are vying for a place in Friday’s regional final, by creating a perfect version of a British classic, the Bakewell Tart – but can they get them baked on time?
TX4: Three Scottish bakeries enter the baking arena: a community bread bakery with a lot of heart is pitted against artisan bread makers from Edinburgh and a Perthshire based Israeli baker who mills his own flour at a 400 year old watermill. The bakeries are tasked with creating an original bake combining chilli and puff pastry, and all must make brandy snaps with enough snap to please judges Mich Turner and Peter Sidwell.
TX5: This week’s winners go head to head in the Scotland and North East England regional final. Temperatures rise as the four bakeries do battle in the kitchen, with Mich Turner and Peter Sidwell scrutinising their every move. All must create an afternoon tea to wow the judges, and create a complicated layered hazelnut meringue gateau with hazelnut praline. But burnt praline and broken meringue mean that for three of them the competition ends here. 8