First-ever live bakery site planned to impress

A fully functional live bakery is a new feature at this year’s Auckland Food Show in July.

The Loaf & Weston Milling Baking Theatre will be continuously churning out a wide range of baked goods including ciabattas, Turkish pides, croissants and more.

Every day, every fascinating step of the baking process will be presented to audiences from the first custom-made live bakery site to appear at the show.

While Loaf Handcrafted Breads will be baking in their large stone oven throughout the show, Weston Milling will be demonstrating their range of versatile baking equipment with the chance to try their sponges and cake range.

Some of New Zealand’s best-known chefs will also present intimate cooking demonstrations of how they use breads in their own top restaurants, offering expert tips along the way. Details on who is presenting are to be announced shortly.

Visitors to this year’s Auckland Food Show can also get in on the action – and show the city’s foodies what they can bring to the table. Budding chefs are invited to ‘Use their Loaf’ in a special challenge that will see them use a product from the Loaf range to create an unusual and inspired dish.

Those who pre-qualify will compete in heats over the show’s duration, with three finalists going head-to-head on Sunday 31 July at 3:15pm re-creating their dish for audiences at the baking theatre.

To add some classic drama to the mix, the winning recipe must:

• Take no longer than 30 minutes to cook and a total of one hour including preparation, cooking and plating.

• Use no more than 10 ingredients of the entrant’s own choice (Loaf will supply the bread for the final demonstration).

The winner gets a year’s supply of Loaf breads and baked goods worth $1,000 with product delivered freshly every week and a $500 voucher from Farro Fresh Foods. Entries are now open to the public and competition entry forms can be found online at www.loaf.co.nz.