Isham baker rises to the challenge at World Bread Awards

Graham Kinnear is a World Bread Award champion

An amateur baker who lives in Isham made history at a prestigious bread-making competition after his loaves took all three places on the podium.

Graham Kinnear came first, second and third in the home baker (open) category at this year’s Tiptree World Bread Awards held in London.

He was away in Paris with wife Louise last month when they saw online that his Lyonnaise brioche was a runner-up, before realising that his farmhouse loaf had won first prize.

Scores of judges gathered at Cathedral Hall, Westminster, to assess the hundreds of loaves submitted from around the UK for this year’s Tiptree World Bread Awards with Brook Food. Credit: Henry Kenyon

And he later found out that his focaccia had also taken bronze – making it the first time any baker or bakery had claimed all three top spots in a single category.

This wasn’t Graham’s first success in the competition, with the 2022 win making it four titles in the five years that he has entered. He triumphed in the same category in 2015 and 2019, as well as winning the home baker (sourdough) event in 2018.

The self-employed quantity surveyor said: "I don’t take it too seriously. I brag to my brother that I’m a four-time world champion but my tongue is firmly in my cheek.”

The 50-year-old’s entries were some of just under 500 loaves submitted to the awards, which have categories for amateurs and professionals, from individuals and bakeries around the United Kingdom.

He dropped them off at Cathedral Hall in Westminster so they could be tasted by judges who were wowed by his creations, earning him prizes of a KitchenAid mixer and a trip to the Tiptree jam factory.

His first-placed white tin loaf had a couple of added extras – some of his sourdough starter from his fridge, butter and tangzhong, a water roux used in Japanese milk bread which gave it a soft crumb. His sweet brioche, which came second, had a pink praline filling and also impressed the judges.

Graham has been making bread at home for about 11 years, with his love of baking stemming from a popular TV show.

He said: "I was sat down watching Bake Off and they were making a focaccia and I said I wouldn’t mind having a go at it.

"My wife bought a book for Christmas and it started from there – the first few recipes went really well and I’ve just carried on baking.”

He now makes a couple of loaves a week and says he feels he has to enter next year’s awards to try and retain his title.

Fellow Northants baker Vicky Robertson, from The Little Bakery of Happiness in Welford, also triumphed at the awards ceremony.

Her blood orange and chocolate chip brioche was declared the winner of the gluten free category.

Chair of the judges, Stephen Hallam, said: “Seeing the high quality of the loaves submitted into this year’s awards, it is hugely satisfying to know the skill and passion for baking good bread here in the UK is not only in good hands, but has to bode well for the successful future of our craft.”