Real Bread Maker Week 7-13 May 2012

It's time to seize sandwich supremacy!

Real Bread Maker Week is back, and in its third year it's not just about the machines.  From 7-13 May, the Real Bread Campaign is encouraging the people of Britain to give a little loaf love to local Real Bread makers, be they high street bakers, machines at the back of kitchen cupboards, or those at the ends of our sleeves.

There has never been a better time to join the Campaign, with special membership offers during the week including: the chance to win Real Bread baking classes at The Brook Bakery School in Minehead (worth £195) or Cinnamon Square in Rickmansworth (worth £120);  and 25% off all bread workshop and course bookings at Square Food Foundation, Bristol.

Chris Young of the Campaign said: 'Look at TV schedules or bookshop shelves and you'll see that Britain is in the middle of a loaf affair with baking. Real Bread Maker Week is about making sure that some of that love goes to our local luscious loaf makers.'

Open-to-all events and offers to help even more Britons kick the industrial loaf habit include: bakery.bits.co.uk putting the week's customers' names into a draw to win a La Cloche baking dome (worth £47.99); and gilchesters.com, marriagesmillers.co.uk and shipton-mill.com all offering discounts on flour.

The Campaign is still encouraging people to arrange open days, bread making workshops, discounts, bread machine exchanges and other activities to encourage the nation to buy or bake more local loaves of Real Bread.  People can find and add full details of events and offers at realbreadcampaign.org

Once again the week coincides with National Mills Weekend on 12 and 13 May, organised by the Mills Section of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings as a celebration of the UK's milling heritage. Many of Britain's remaining wind and water mills will open their doors on one or both days to share with people how to make fantastic Real Bread using local and wholesome sustainably-produced stoneground flour: nationalmillsweekend.co.uk

Part of Sustain: the alliance for better food and farming, and funded by the Big Lottery Fund's Local Food programme, the Real Bread Campaign is helping the rise of additive-free local loaves, and finds ways to make bread better for us, better for our communities and better for the planet.  

ENDS

For more information please contact Chris Young: chris@sustainweb.org or 0203 5596 777
www.realbreadcampaign.org       twitter.com/realbread     facebook.com/realbreadcampaign

Notes to editors

Special offers and events for Real Bread Campaign members include:

• WIN a professional Real Bread baking class (worth £195) at The Brook Bakery School, Somerset
• WIN a domestic Real Bread making class (worth £120) at Cinnamon Square, Rickmansworth
• 25% off all bread workshop and course bookings at Square Food Foundation, Bristol
• 25% off bread making classes at Ochil Villa, Fife
• 15% discount on bread making classes at River Cottage, Axminster
• 10% discount on bread making classes at Leicester Born and Bread, Leicester
• £20 off bread making classes at Lesley's Kitchen, Ayrshire
• 10% discount on bread classes on 5 and 6 May (wild yeast and sourdoughs), Baker & Loaf, London
• 10% discount on bread oven building and baking day with Owen Postgate, Lewes
• Lunch and Loaf Swap on 6 May with Emma's Bread and Tracebridge Sourdough at Clyston Mill, Exeter.

Open-to-all events and offers include:

• bakery.bits.co.uk putting the week's customers' names into a draw to win a La Cloche baking dome, worth £47.99
• gilchesters.com, marriagesmillers.co.uk and shipton-mill.com all offering flour discounts
• Wychelm Bread School and Community Bakery (Sutton Coldfield) running a Real Bread baking class on 5 May and offering free loaves of Real Bread to 100 customers during the week
• The Cookery School (London W1) hosting a Real Bread baking class on 11 May
• Bread Workshops (Suffolk and Norfolk) bread making class at Diss Rugby Club on 12 May
• The School of Artisan Food (Nottinghamshire) running an introduction to artisan baking on 12 May and a wild yeast and sourdough class on 13 May

More current initiatives from the Real Bread Campaign:

• The Real Bread Loaf Mark: Want to find Real Bread? Then Look for The Loaf Mark! - the at-a-glance assurance from a baker that a loaf is what the Campaign calls Real Bread.
• The Real Bread Finder:  the only online directory dedicated to helping people find where to buy Real Bread locally. Free for bakers to add, and people to search for, local places to buy Real Bread.
• Lessons in Loaf: A FREE download for teachers on planning hands-on Real Bread making sessions for any age, plus lesson plans to tie the topic of bread in with a range of curriculum subjects at Key Stage 2.
• Bake Your Lawn: Distributing seed wheat to schools and a guide on how to grow it, mill it, bake it, eat it to follow the Real Bread journey from seed to sandwich.
• Real Bread on The Menu: the Campaign's scheme encouraging more public sector institutions (including schools, care homes and hospitals) and food access projects (e.g. co-operative buying groups, community cafes, box schemes) around Britain to offer Real Bread.
• Knead to Know: the Real Bread starter: the guide to starting a Real Bread enterprise for your local community. Available as a PDF download. 

Local Food has been developed by a consortium of 15 national environmental organisations, and is managed on their behalf by the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts (RSWT). Supported by the Big Lottery Fund's Changing Spaces programme, Local Food has distributed grants to a variety of food related projects to make locally grown food more accessible. www.localfoodgrants.org

The Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts (RSWT) is a registered charity, incorporated by Royal Charter, to promote conservation and manage environmental programmes throughout the whole of the UK. It has established management systems for holding and distributing funds totalling more than £20 million annually to environmental projects across the UK.

The Big Lottery Fund's Changing Spaces programme was launched in November 2005 to help communities enjoy and improve their local environments. The programme funds a range of activities from local food schemes and farmers markets, to education projects teaching people about the local environment.

The Big Lottery Fund, the largest of the National Lottery good cause distributors, has been rolling out £2 million in Lottery good cause money every 24 hours to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the UK. www.biglotteryfund.org.uk.

The Sheepdrove Trust also provides generous annual funding to the Campaign.