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Young Bread Baker of the Year 2024 winner Delmari Janse van Rensburg has been training hard and is on track to compete in the upcoming L.A Judge competition, described as a potentially life-changing experience for young bakers. Delmari has been spending her time working on theoretical and practical preparation with the help of experienced bakers.
Ralph Thorogood provided Delmari modules to assist with her theory work. Nathan Roberts and Jo Jarkiewicz spent a day helping Delmari with maths and its application in scaling up, product plans and throughput calculations. A visit to Quality Bakers gave Delmari insight into and familiarity with plant bread bakery machinery, and she is looking forward to visiting Champion Flour Mill in Christchurch as well as Breadcraft near Wellington with Ralph Thorogood.
Bruno Falco from Bakels and Dave Bradley from Ara have been working with Delmari to perfect her bread plaiting skills, with a focus on designing and executing an excellent finished product.
Foodstuffs have also been supportive in terms of sending Delmari on training trips with external companies. Delmari says her manager Janine Bell has been really helpful, supporting her to practice after work hours. Foodstuffs opened their training facility and Todd Johnson spent time with Delmari on practical training. Foodstuffs have also paid for the time Delmari spent at the Young Bread Baker of the Year Competition and will support her by accessing the training fund when she competes in Australia.
Delmari says she is extremely grateful for the effort and time people are putting into supporting her with the build up to the Competition. We wish her all the best as she represents New Zealand in the LA Judge Competition.