It may seem like something a good few years away from now, but we recently saw an article on LinkedIn discussing SpaceBakery and straight away it caught our attention and thought that we would share it with you!

According to spacebakery.be seven Belgian partners including Puratos have been researching how to make bread baking in space a possibility, through a closed loop system. 

"Seven Belgian organisations took up the challenge of developing the ‘Space Bakery’ and the next generation of bread products, high in nutritive value and low in resource demand, that could support such future space missions." Source https://spacebakery.be/consortium

There are a group of seven companies who are working together and sharing their expertise in different fields to possibly make sourdough bread baking a reality in space, and even on space expeditions too distant planets such as Mars. For the full report and explanation on how it might work, click here

We think this is really interesting and look forward to seeing how the project continues, as it could also provide useful findings in regard to sustainability here on planet Earth as well! What do you think though? Is sourdough destined to be made in space? If it does happen, we are sure the bread will be out of this world!

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

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.

Many of you will have just finished college or university and it wont be long until the summer arrives which means you have plenty of time on your hands. So to keep you entertained and also encourage you to develop your newly learnt bakery skills during the long break, we have pulled together our top 5 bakery inspired things to do. 

Some of them can be done quite easily in the comfort of your own home, where as others need a bit more thinking about. Let us know which ones you will doing and tag us in your progress! We would love to hear how you found them. ​

​If you bake a lot, you may find that over time you end up getting stuck on the same recipes, (which are doubt brilliant) but it can be the same thing over and over again. 

Why not have a go at baking something different, maybe even something that is more challenging. If you are more of a confectionery baker, maybe have a go at baking bread at home. 

If you find yourself baking bread a lot of the time, why not have a go at confectionery, chocolate, pastry or even decorating cakes or biscuits? 

Not only will it challenge you, but it will also increase your skills and experience working in different areas. There are lots of ideas on the internet, and you could try something completely different like pitta breads, doughnuts or cronuts. 

Let us know how you get on, and what you have made. We would love to see some pictures of your creations over summer as well. Use the #ABSTSomethingNew

Lesaffre have just announced their newsletter, which is free for you to sign up for, and gives you lots of information about the company and products that they produce, as well as some very tasty looking recipes to try out as well. There are also technical webinars that will be announced via the newsletter as well, which will no doubt be great for learning and knowledge that you might be able to use at College and University.

We think it looks brilliant, and Lesaffre have been a great supporter of the ABST for many years. To check it out and sign up visit the Lesaffre website on the link here ​https://lesaffre.uk