Brennan’s Bread Dough It Yourself: Winners Gaelscoil na Daróige (front row) Emily ní Ghabhann, Meidhbhín ni Dhonghaile, Caoilfhionn Carlin and Fionntán Ó Calside and Calvin Óg Mac Ailín. (Back row) Event MC Denise Watson, Chef Brian Timon, Ivan Hammond of Brennans Bread, and Gaelscoil na Daróige School Principal Fiachra Ó’Donghaile.
Tasked with turning leftover bread into delicious dishes and designing unique recipes to make the most of every slice, schools from across Northern Ireland submitted entries to the competition, which was organised by Brennans Bread, one of the province’s best known bread brands.
Four schools were selected from more than 100 that took part to compete against each other in a live ‘cook-off’ final, hosted by sports journalist and radio presenter Denise Watson at W5 in Belfast.
The four finalists, each of whom received £500 for their school and £100 for their teacher, were St Anthony’s Primary School in Larne (Apple Pie Toastie), Gaelscoil na Daróige in Derry (French Toast), Euston Street Primary School in Belfast (Banana Bread Cake Pops), and Bunscoil Cholmcille, also from Derry (Pizza Rolls).
Cheered on by their classmates and teachers, five pupils from each school had 60 minutes to create their recipes in the live final, before Gaelscoil na Daróige were crowned champions and presented with the winner’s trophy and a cheque for £1,000 by Ivan Hammond, Head of Marketing with Brennans Bakeries.
“What a day we’ve had at the final of our first ever Brennans Dough It Yourself – The Great Bread Challenge competition in Northern Ireland,” said Ivan Hammond.
“We started the day with four incredible teams, each bringing their own energy, passion and, of course, their love for baking and food sustainability. Their recipes to help reduce food waste and increase food sustainability were the cream of the crop across Northern Ireland and all four schools are winners in our eyes.
“However, there can only be one champion and I’d like to congratulate the team from Gaelscoil na Daróige who showed us just how much fun you can have with some leftover bread and a lot of imagination! ” he added.
“We’d like to thank all schools across NI that took part in this year’s Great Bread Challenge, and we hope this is just the beginning of their baking, cooking and food sustainability adventures!”
An important part of championing food sustainability is learning about food waste so, as well as supporting their classmates during the live final, all pupils enjoyed taking part in the Knead-To-Know Food Waste Quiz with spot prizes, while special guest Chef Brian Timon demonstrated his own sustainable cooking recipes using leftover bread.
Among the facts that attending children learned on the day were…
30% of the world’s food is spoiled or thrown away
the UK produces 10 million tonnes of food waste every year
20 million slices of bread are thrown away in UK homes every day
food waste costs the average UK family £700 per year
What the teachers said…
Fiachra Ó Donghaile, Principal of winning school Gaelscoil na Daróige in Co Derry, said: “We are absolutely delighted and genuinely surprised to win this inaugural competition which has inspired the children to combat food waste, and bread waste, and come up with some very creative recipes.
“The learning through the entire programme really struck a chord with the children and they were really immersed in the project, learning and engaging with it from the beginning.
“The resources provided by Brennans Bread were really on point and beneficial for the children who enjoyed learning all about food waste, sustainability and local produce in their own area. A fantastic initiative and I’m really proud of all our pupils today.”
Ciara McLaughlin, P4/5 teacher at St Anthony’s Primary School in Larne, said:
“It was an incredible event thanks to the generosity of the Brennans Bread team and I would encourage any teacher to get involved!
“The prizes were fantastic and the children had a great time watching the cooking demos and exploring W5. The entire project was engaging for the kids with great resources to use in class and lots of opportunities for practical cooking.
“It’s so important to promote sustainability in schools so that we are raising children who are coming up with ideas to reduce food waste I think Brennan’s Bread are creating a fun, exciting way for teachers to do that!”
Miss Darragh McCullough of Euston Street Primary School in Belfast said:
“The Dough It Yourself challenge was a great way to get our pupils to think creatively about ways to reduce waste and turn leftover bread into delicious recipes! Our ESPS cookery club couldn’t wait to take on the challenge and were able to work together to come up with the unique idea of ‘Banana Bread Pops’.
“It was a great opportunity for the children to lead their own learning to create a recipe and cook it live on stage.
“The pupils have had a great day at W5, and it was extra special that the rest of the cookery club were able to come to support their school.”
Róisín Mc Gilloway, Bunscoil Cholmcille in Derry, said:
“We had a fantastic time at the Brennan’s Bread competition! The children were given the opportunity to learn about sustainability whilst being creative and meeting other schools. We will definitely take part again next year!”
The Brennans Dough It Yourself – The Great Bread Challenge was created by Brennans Bread to educate children about food waste and to encourage creativity and sustainable food choices in a fun and engaging way.
To support participating schools, teachers were provided with curriculum-linked lesson plans and PowerPoint presentations, with lots of fun activities and homework ideas, all designed to raise awareness about food waste.
Brennans Bread is one of the best-known bread brands in Northern Ireland and is synonymous with freshness and quality.
It has a wide variety of delicious products within its portfolio including Family Pan, Be Good, Wholemeal, Batch and the bakery’s Bakehouse range.
For more information on Brennans Bread go to www.brennansbread.ie or check out the brand’s social media channels on Facebook www.facebook.com/BrennansBread, Instagram www.instagram.com/brennansbread/ and TikTok www.tiktok.com/@brennansbreadofficial.
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