UCB Best Vegan Loaf Competition

To celebrate the end of a very unusual year at UCB and all other colleges around the country, the Level 3 Bakery students at UCB have been innovating to create the best Vegan Loaf, where they competed in house to be crowned the winner. The judging was held on Friday 25th June 2021 at University College Birmingham and there were some very impressive prizes with 1st place winning an amazing £250.00!

Vegan Bread - Whats the difference?
Students had to think carefully about the ingredients that were used in the loaf, to ensure that it was suitable for vegans, which meant no animal products. There were a range of breads, in all shapes and colours, including a rainbow themed loaf which caught the attention of head judge and ex UCB Student Katie Garrett. 

Not all bread is suitable for vegans as it sometimes includes ingredients such as cheese, milk and other diary products. Even egg is something that couldn't be used to glaze bread with, so although it seemed simple at first, it was a bit more of a challenge than simply making a loaf of bread, seeing students having to really think about the ingredients they were adding to ensure the finished product was suitable for vegans.

The final loaf had to weigh 400g on judging day and students had spent the past two weeks developing their recipes and shapes to have the best chance of winning the competition on the day. 

Katie's Comments
Overall, Katie was very impressed by the innovative approach the students had taken to the competition and this was demonstrated in the final products. The shapes were really interesting and it was extremely hard to pick just three loaves from all of the entries, hence the reason for joint 3rd place.

The Winning Loaf
Although all of the bread produced was very innovative, there can only be one winner. The winning loaf was produced by Aisha Shaikh which was named "Shroom in the Hole" and was chosen because of the interesting concept and shape. The flavour was excellent, with fresh garlic, parsley and finely chopped mushrooms combined into an interesting shape as well.

1st Place £250.00 | Aisha Shaikh
2nd Place £125.00 | Ciara Murphy
3rd Place £75.00 | Amira Feyyaz
3rd Place £75.00 | Tionne Cohen Grant

1st Place | Aisha Shaikh

2nd Place | Ciara Murphy

Joint 3rd Place | Amira Feyyaz

Joint 3rd Place | Tionne Cohen Grant

Congratulations to everyone that took part and the winners of the competition. All of the entries looked amazing and we are sure everyone learnt some valuable skills in regard to product development along the way. Here are some other pictures from the day!

We would love to hear what you have been up to at college and university. If you have something to share with the rest of the ABST community! Drop us an email at [email protected] so we can share all of the great skills you have been learning.