Sonoma, CA – The Bread Bakers Guild of America’s Team USA will compete in the Coupe du Monde de la Boulangerie, or World Cup of Baking, in Paris, France, March 37. The Coupe du Monde de la Boulangerie is an international, invitational artisan baking competition held in Paris every three to four years. Team USA team members will represent the United States as part of threemember Bread Bakers Guild Team USA sponsored by the Bread Bakers Guild of America.
Team USA members include Mike Zakowski of the bejkr in Sonoma, California (Baguette & Specialty Breads); Jeremey Gadouas of Bennison’s Bakery in Chicago, Illinois (viennoiserie); and Harry Peemoeller of Johnson & Wales University in Charlotte, North Carolina (Artistic Design).
Begun in 1992 by Christian Vabret, president of the Ecole Française de Boulangerie d’Aurillac, to reverse what he considered to be a decline in bread quality, the Coupe du Monde is a competition that pits bakers who practice the craft of artisan baking against teams from other nations, using traditional techniques. The purpose of the competition is to gather artisan bakers from around the world to celebrate their profession, share knowledge of artisan baking techniques, and reinstate the value of the artisanbaking profession.
A native of South Bend, Ind., Zakowski has owned [the bejkr] in northern California for three years. When he owned Kraftsmen Baking in Houston, Texas, he was named Best Baker in Houston and won the Best Bread award for his pain biologique during the bakery’s first year of operation. Later, he was the operations manager at Artisan Bakers in Sonoma, Calif., for five years. Now at [the bejkr], Zakowski markets his creations at local farmers’ markets in Sonoma County.
“For an artisan baker, the Coupe du Monde is the biggest thing in the world that you can do,” Zakowski says. “It’s the Holy Grail. We‘ve got a really good team, and our last practice in the States, in Ann Arbor, was our best. We’re trying not to peak until we compete on March 5.” Zakowski will work at a school north of Paris prior to the competition to experiment and adjust his hydration with French flours, which he says “are good, but different.”
In his first experience as a member of Team USA in France, Zakowski will specialize in Baguettes & Specialty Breads, one of the major Coupe du Monde categories. Three of the seven breads Zakowski is responsible for are compulsory: a traditional baguette, a varied baguette and a decorative baguette. He and team members Harry Peemoeller (captain, Artistic Design category) and Jeremey Gadouas (Viennoiserie category) must also work together to produce a sandwich presentation for a fourth category, Savory Selection. Teams will be evaluated by international judging committees on the basis of individual excellence in artisan baking as well as on teamwork and time management. A U.S. film crew will accompany Team USA to Paris to document the competition.
For more information on the Bread Bakers Guild of America and its national bread conference, WheatStalk 2012, which will be held at Kendall College, in Chicago, Illinois, June 2830, visit www.bbga.org.
Source: The Bread Bakers Guild of America
