Every two years, purveyors of pastry, bakers of bread and curators of crust converge on Nantes, France, for the Mondial du Pain. The international competition uses breads and baguettes to gauge technical precision, artistic presentation and more.
The 10th competition this week included 20 teams. The United States was represented by Brian Evans, owner of On the Rise in Cleveland Heights, along with junior baker Val Kertesz. Team USA was chosen by the Rhode Island-based Bread Bakers Guild of America. Executive director Karen Bornrath said applicants had to have expertise in European baked goods, where the focus is on fermentation, flavor and healthfulness.
“There's nothing to hide behind,” she said. “There are no artificial flavors. There are no preservatives, there's no enzymes, there's no stabilizers or anything like that. It's really just relying on the real ingredients and your processes and your fermentation to make delicious products that are also visually appealing.”
Working in a tight time frame, teams were judged on factors including teamwork, communication and even how efficient they were with waste.
“In this competition, they dictate how much flour you can use,” she said. “If you mess up a mix, you're in big trouble because you don't get any more flour in that competition.”
Although the guild has been sending teams to various European baking competitions since 1994, they’ve only sent a team to Mondial du Pain once, in 2007, due to the amount of resources required to participate. Bornrath said she called this year’s team to congratulate them, and they seemed proud of their performance. Team USA didn't take any top prizes: Those went to China, France and the Netherlands.
On the Rise did not respond to a request for comment.
