As the holiday season comes to an end, so does the entry period for the 2015 National Festival of Breads. The festival, sponsored by King Arthur Flour, Red Star Yeast and Kansas Wheat, is a national amateur bread baking competition that hundreds of bakers enter. The entry deadline for this year’s competition is January 16, 2015.
Tom Payne, marketing director for King Arthur Flour says, “King Arthur Flour is proud to sponsor the National Festival of Breads for the third time.” He says, “This is the only national, serious from-scratch bread-baking competition out there. It is a celebration of home baking skills and is helping to foster and preserve the venerable tradition of baking bread at home from scratch.”  
Adult amateur bakers, ages 18 and up, can submit original recipes for ethnic breads, rolls, time-saving and simple breads, and whole grain breads online at nationalfestivalofbreads.com, a newly-redesigned website dedicated to the contest. Youth bakers, ages 12-17, can also submit recipes for yeast breads and quick breads using the same form. Submissions will only be accepted through the online form.
Judges will evaluate all entries and select eight adult finalists, each of whom will receive airfare and accommodations to participate in the national competition on June 13, 2015, in Manhattan. In addition, each adult finalist will receive a $500 cash award, participate in a wheat harvest tour to a working Kansas wheat farm, flour mill and grain elevator, and take part in other activities. The Grand Prize Winner will receive $2,000 cash and a trip to attend a baking class of their choice at the King Arthur Flour Baking Education Center in Norwich, Vermont.
One youth grand prize winner will be selected and will receive a $300 scholarship. Two youth entries will receive a runner-up prize of a $100 scholarship.
Special awards are also available for the best recipe using white whole wheat flour, the best recipe using a soy ingredient, and best sweet bread or roll. More prize packages are detailed in the official contest rules at nationalfestivalofbreads.com.
Cindy Falk, chairperson of the event and nutrition educator for Kansas Wheat, says, “Inspiring youth to bake can foster future generations of home bakers,” She says, “These youth bakers can then pass on their baking skills as a service to local schools, communities and clubs.”
The Festival of Breads was established 24 years ago by the Kansas WheatHearts, an auxiliary group of the Kansas Association of Wheat Growers. In the original “Festival of Breads” baking competition, hundreds of amateur bakers from Kansas submitted their baked products during the biennial competition.
Falk says, “The National Festival of Breads builds upon a rich tradition of grassroots support and is the nation’s only amateur yeast bread baking competition. This contest is a way for amateur bakers to be recognized for their baking skills and creativity.”
The National Festival of Breads is sponsored by two of the most trusted brands in baking, King Arthur Flour and Red Star Yeast.
Additional information, past recipes and a summary of the 2009, 2011 and 2013 competitions are available at nationalfestivalofbreads.com .