grainchain.com is delighted to announce the return of the Schools Bake Off. Paul Hollywood will once again judge the event, which will be held at the Cake & Bake Show at Manchester Central in April 2013.

The event in London in September was brilliant; we had some fantastic entries, fantastic prizes and fantastic fun.

If you bake with your students head over to our competition page and sign up now. You will need to tell us about your best bake and why you love baking. You could be in with a chance to meet Paul and even bake for him.  

Use the time over the holidays to brush up your baking skills in time for the event. For some inspiration try some of our tried and tested children's recipes.

"Bread is more important than something you eat - it's part of our identity"

So, who are you today?

See http://bit.ly/NuKlnz for dozens of fabulous bread recipes

 

 

Pasta, in all its shapes and sizes, is loved the world over and can now call itself the world’s favourite food. In a global survey by Oxfam, pasta has overtaken other staples such as meat and rice to be the most widely eaten food as it soars in popularity in countries such as Brazil and South Africa.

Italy remains the number one producer and consumer of pasta.

Each region of Italy has its own variations and specialities. The most popular shapes are conchiglie (shells) and farfalle (bow ties).

By Italian law, all pasta made there must use durum wheat. This wheat is different to the wheat grown to make bread flour; having a higher gluten content and typically being more golden in colour hence the yellowy colour of pasta.

grainchain.com has a whole section on the science of baking. Aimed at 11-14 year olds this section aims to uncover the science behind the remarkable natural processes involved in making bread rise including the role that gluten plays.

You may also like to indulge in the world’s favourite foodstuff and get cooking. We have a quick, simple, tasty and nutritious recipe for tuna pasta bake that should feed a group of four.

An article in today’s Times (The best thing that’s ever happened to sliced bread, Thursday 12 May 2011) investigates a great British invention: the sandwich.  Rumoured to have been invented in 1762 when the 4th Earl of Sandwich, John Montagu, wanted a meal that he could eat during his card game and requested sliced beef in between pieces of toast.

I was brought up in a world full of pre-packaged sandwiches and it seems incredulous that it is just 30 years since the first one hit the shelves: at Marks and Spencers.  Salmon and tomato apparently. Swifly followed by the now-retro prawn mayonnaise in 1981.

grainchain.com offers lots of resources and recipes for bread and flour.  Take a look at our section on where bread comes from to find out how wheat from the fields gets transformed into something we can eat; or be inspired by some of our tasty lunchtime recipes.  Try pitta pockets, or either tuna or ham & cheese wraps.