Fifteen London’s head baker Kenny Rankin will be sharing his knowledge of artisan bakery with the Real Bread Campaign (www.realbreadcampaign.org) in a bid to highlight the importance of bakery apprenticeships during National Apprenticeship Week (1-5 February).

Chris Young, project officer for the Big Lottery Fund’s Local Food programme-supported Real Bread Campaign, will be learning about the art of baking high quality bread, learning the same knowledge and developing the same skills as the Fifteen trainees.

As part of Fifteen’s 12 month chef apprenticeship scheme, each apprentice learns basic breadmaking as part of the NVQ 2 qualifications they take at Lewisham College. This knowledge is enhanced in the Fifteen kitchens when apprentices can opt to spend three weeks building their experience and knowledge with Kenny. The group of apprentices start working with Kenny on February 8th.

Kenny says: “Fifteen is great because everything is cooked with integrity – you can always trace where the ingredients are from and that’s important to me. Also there’s so much you can do with the apprentices. You can teach them the basics but there’s also the Swiss and French style bakery that’s invaluable learning. Baking is such a dying art and is one of the oldest and most important skills we can teach the apprentices.”

As well as the traditional Italian-style breads of ciabatta and focaccia that are freshly baked and served to Fifteen customers every day, the bakery also produces a range of unusual breads such as Zopf, a Swiss-style knotted bread. In the future Fifteen hopes to expand its bakery to offer even more varieties of bread products and pastries as well as broadening its training.

For more information please visit http://www.fifteen.net/.

ENDS

For interviews with Kenny please call Wendy Richmond on 07866 263242 or keep updated on our Facebook page.

For more information on The Real Bread Campaign, please contact Chris Young on: chris@sustainweb.org or 020 7837 1228

About the Real Bread Campaign

The Real Bread Campaign is a not-for-profit initiative, co-ordinated by the UK charity Sustain: the alliance for better food and farming. 

About Fifteen

Fifteen offers young people, often in need of a break in life, the chance to transform their lives, encouraging them to realise their own potential through the experience of learning to work in the restaurant business.

More than 141 apprentices have been recruited to date through the Fifteen chef apprenticeship scheme at the flagship restaurant in London, of which 82 (63%) have graduated. The course comprises 30% college attendance and 50% restaurant shifts, with the rest of the time given over to welfare support and other supplementary support, including trips to Fifteen’s producers. Worldwide Fifteen has recruited 329 trainees of which 49% (164) have graduated.

Apprenticeship Week

Apprenticeship Week will take place from Monday 1 February to Friday 5 February 2010. The Week, which is organised by the National Apprenticeship Service (NAS), will celebrate the talents and skills of apprentices. It will see apprentices, employers, providers and all those involved with Apprenticeship programmes come together to celebrate the value of Apprenticeships. National and regional activities will take place and each day will have a different focus. Following the success of Apprenticeship Week 2009, activities this year will include employer events, job swaps, breakfast briefings and apprentice challenges.