Golds for Northern Irish bread in unique awards

Two Northern Ireland artisan bakeries have won a total of five medals in the World Bread Awards, a unique competition to celebrate the skill of bread-making.

The successful Northern Ireland bakeries were:

Ursa Minor Bakehouse, Ballycastle, county Antrim which gained two gold medals in the Sourdough category for its Country Loaf and Oat and Honey Sourdough. It also won silver for its Dalriada Rye.

Ann's Pantry, Larne, county Antrim which achieved two gold for its Spelt Potato Bread with Black Pudding and bronze for Spelt Meal Soda.

The awards also seek to encourage and foster the art of baking both now and for the future generation. The competition is open to all artisan bread makers, small high street bakers, and home bread-makers.

The event celebrates the position of bread as a huge industry in the UK - 12 million loaves are sold every day. The phenomenon of the artisan bakery has taken off in the last decade. Not only is commercially-made bread popular, but home-baking is massively on the rise too.

Both Northern Ireland winners are family businesses. Dara and Ciara O'Hartghaile started the Ursa Minor Bakehouse after returning to Northern Ireland. They had developed an interest in baking there and decided to set up a bakery and café in Ballycastle, in 2014. They focus on bread baked with organic ingredients.

Ann's Pantry was established in 1967 by Sean Agnew and is now owned by his son, John Agnew. It has also won a series of UK Great Taste Awards.

The World Bread Awards are sponsored by Wilkin and Sons Limited, fruit growers and makers of Tiptree preservers.