Baking Association donates towards wood-fired brick oven at Malaspina

A wood-fired brick oven will soon enhance the baking program at Malaspina University-College, thanks to benefactors like the Baking Association of Canada, B.C. Chapter, the Vancouver Island "Feast of Fields" and Robin Hood Flour Mills.

A $5,000 donation presented to Malaspina President Rich Johnston by Gary Humphreys, president of the B.C. Chapter, goes toward the $20,000 required for the oven. The donation was made during the annual general meeting of the association’s Vancouver Island Chapter at Malaspina.

The oven is expected to be completed by September 2007 and will be used by Malaspina Culinary and Professional Baking students and members of the baking association. The oven will also be used for continuing education projects on the island.

"It makes great bread. There’s a movement back to artisan baking, and bread was always baked in wood-fired brick ovens," said Rita Gower, a chef-instructor in the Culinary Arts Program at Malaspina University-College. The oven will measure approximately six feet high by six feet wide by eight feet long.

Construction of the oven is such a unique undertaking that Gower has been contacted by documentary filmmaker Nick Versteeg of DV Cuisine, who is interested in recording the project for the Food Channel.

Another highlight of the September 18 meeting was a baking competition for apprentice and trainee bakers. Judges were Ken Harper, an instructor at Malaspina, and Nancy Jensen and George Rudolph, both instructors at Vancouver Community College.

Students trained by Malaspina University-College won four of the nine awards. Jacquie Kelly took second place in both the breads and the French pastries competitions. Darlene Rougeau was second in the laminated dough category, which included croissants and Danish pastries, and Stefanie Graziani was third in French pastries.

Other winners were Sarah Walbank from Vancouver City College, who took first place in all three categories; Sharon Chang of Vancouver City College, who was third in laminated dough; and Jennifer Dixon of True Grain Bread in Cowichan Bay, who placed third in the bread category.