Northern Irish Krazi Baker backs AHDB scheme for schools

Northern Ireland's Krazi Baker has teamed up with the Grain Chain, an initiative by the UK's Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board to show schoolchildren how bread is made.

Based in Dromore, county Down, Mark Douglas, otherwise known as Krazi Baker, Northern Ireland's award-winning artisan baker, is working with students at the College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise (CAFRE) to teach children at the recent Balmoral Show, Ireland's biggest agri-food showcase, where their food comes from, who makes it and the important role bread and cereal products have in a healthy, balanced diet.

Krazi baker, who also runs a successful Bakery School, is running demonstrations showing children how to bake bread and outlining the unique journey of wheat seeds from field to mill to plate. He provides energetic demonstrations on how to make his breads on a hot griddle plate.

Krazi Baker specialises in traditional Irish soda, potato and wheaten breads and has won UK Great Taste Awards for his products especially his unique potato apple bread.

He is also the Northern Ireland finalist in the Delicious magazine's UK Produce Awards for his guanciale potato bread and Irish whiskey soda.

Commenting on the Grain Chain, he says: "I am delighted to be involved in this hugely important AHDB drive to show children and young people the interdependence between farming and food. Many today don't know much about where their food, particularly bread, comes from.

"The Grain Chain demonstrates the vital contribution that cereals, such as wheat and oats, make to the daily intake of carbohydrate, protein, fibre, vitamin and minerals. My role is to show the children how flour is transformed into various type of breads especially traditional Northern Ireland breads. CAFRE students provide information about how the cereals are cultivated, ripened and harvested here".

Soda bread, a favourite of Krazi Baker, is a traditional Irish specialty. The first loaf, consisting of little more than flour, baking soda, salt, and sour milk, made its debut in the mid-1800s when baking soda found its way into Irish kitchens. Today, soda bread is enjoyed throughout the world.