The Coupe du Monde de la Boulangerie (the world cup or Olympics of baking) is an international baking competition that takes place every three years at Europain, the world bakery, patisserie and catering exhibition in Paris. The exhibition attracts more than 80,000 visitors. Inside the exhibition hall, four of the twelve teams compete daily in individual twelve-by twelve-foot bakeries. Each team consists of three members that represent the best artisan bakers from the 12 countries invited to compete. Teams are given eight hours to produce a specific number of baked goods for each of three categories: Baguette and Specialty Breads, Viennoiserie, and Artistic Design. The three team members must carefully choreograph and practice their routines in order to mix, shape and bake the 200 world class baked goods that they produce in the small bakery in only eight hours. The results are then judged by a committee made up of a judge from each country represented. Judges must abstain from the vote for their own country. A first, second and third place country is chosen based on the overall team effort.

The next Coupe du Monde de la Boulangerie will take place April 21 - 23, 2002 in Paris.

Baking Team USA was first invited to participate in 1994 and took an overall sixth place, insuring that the US would be invited back for the next competition in 1996. At the next competition , the US team, including Craig Ponsford (co-owner of Artisan Bakers ) won first place in the Baguette and Specialty Breads competition, upsetting the French, Craig went on to coach the 1999 team, which won the first place victory. This year he is the US judge and team manager. We'll try to keep you updated and post his photographs on the website as he travels around the country with the team practicing for the 2002 competition.

The Bread Bakers Guild of America organizes and sponsors the Baking Team USA Competition. The selection process began in September 2000 with approximately 30 applicants submitting ten-minute videotapes of themselves mixing, weighing, shaping and baking. The tapes were viewed by guild judges who chose 15 regional contestants who's tapes "clearly demonstrated the applicant's familiarity with baking equipment, processes, and finished product within category the for which the baker applied". Regionals for the Baguette and Specialty Breads category were then held in New York, Minneapolis and San Francisco. Each of the contestants took a short written exam on basic knowledge of baking fundamentals. The contestants then took a practical test based on "skills, cleanliness, orderliness and product organization". In other words, each finalist had eight hours to bake 100 pieces while judges watched their technique, looked over their formulas, analyzed their final products and made sure that they strictly followed the rules of competition. A list of the regional competitors is posted on The Guild website http://bbga.org/teamusa-2002/2002-regional_winners.html

National Finals were held at the Retail Bakery Association Marketplace in Indianapolis, Indiana March 24 - 26, 2001. The winners of this competition make up Baking Team USA 2002

Baguette and Specialty Bread - TIM FOLEY, a California Culinary Academy graduate from Michigan, owns Bit of Swiss Pastry Shoppe.

Viennoserie - TIM HEALEA from Portland, Oregon, works at Pearl bakery with former team member and US judge Greg Mistel

Artistic Design - CIRIL HITZ is a chef instructor at Johnson and Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island

Team practices will take place throughout the year as Baking Team USA gets ready for the Coupe du Monde. The first practice will take place September 11 - 15 at the IBA show in Las Vegas, Nevada. In the year before the competition each team member will practice on their own for hundreds of hours, as well as take part in six or more team practices and coaching sessions. The team and it's coaches will spend the week before the competition in a bakery in France adjusting their techniques and formulas to the French flours which are much more delicate than American flours.

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Baguette and Specialty Breads
The traditional French baguette must weigh exactly 250 grams. Contestants make 25 traditionally shaped baguettes as well as 25 non-traditionally shaped baguettes. The judges look for a crispy light brown crust, a variety in the size of the holes in the crumb, and a taste relevant to the pre-ferments used. The 3 specialty breads give the contestant an opportunity to express creativity as well as to show specialties from the country. Tim Foley will have one hour the night before the competition to mix his pre-ferments, and then during the eight-hour competition he will make approximately 50 baguettes and 36 specialty breads. Examples of past winning breads are: beer bread, corn bread, rye bread, ciabatta, naan, rustic spelt bread, and potato bread.


Viennoiserie (sweet breads / pastry)
Competitors are required to use a yeast-risen dough and a laminated yeast-risen dough to make 5 different examples of viennoiserie. The judges will be looking at laminating techniques, volume, fermentation, appearance, taste and adherence to rules. Contestants add their individual creativity to interpretations of traditional viennoiserie such as: kugeloph, croissants, danish, brioche and panettone.


Artistic Design
In this category, competitors are make an edible sculpture that must fit within one cubic meter. Often the theme of the sculpture relates to regional specialties, artistic styles or history of the country the team represents. The sculpture must be constructed out of doughs made entirely from edible ingredients - although you wouldn't want to eat it. Various types of flour are used as well as whole grains, coffee extract (to darken dough), and salt (to lighten dough). Many of the doughs are unleavened or contain very low hydration levels to make them more stable. In the past, contestants have used the coffee extract as an ink to apply traditional fine art and decorative techniques of wood graining and silk screening to their pieces. A sugar mixture glues the pieces together. The artistic theme in 1999 was "Bread in the 21st Century." Tom Gumpel’s work of art depicted the history of bread baking, utilizing mill stones to represent today's production line components.