Wheat crop to loaf world record unofficially broken by British team
Following England’s Ashes victory, the Australian held world record for turning harvested wheat in to bread in the fastest time could have broken by a British team.
Last Friday (7 August) the attempt to set a new field to loaf Guinness World Record was staged at seed breeder RAGT’s headquarters in Ickleton, Essex, and saw the current record unofficially beaten by more than a minute.
An Australian team in New South Wales has held the world record for over two years with a time of 16min 30sec.
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The latest British effort, lead by ProCam’s technical director Tudor Dawkins, has smashed the official record by harvesting wheat variety Skyfall and using it to bake 13 loaves of bread in just 15min 27sec.
Dr Dawkins, who last broke the world record in 1992, told Farmers Weekly the attempt was good fun but also aimed to promote British farm produce.
Tudor Dawkins (centre) celebrating with members of the RAGT team and ADAS research scientist Sarah Cook (second from left).
He said: “Farming and food are sometimes rather a long way apart in the public’s mind so we thought it would be great fun to see if we can have a go at this world record which is held by the Australians.”
The timed run commenced as the combine set off and once enough grain had been collected it was rushed from field to farm.
The grain was then rapidly milled before being combined with the other ingredients in a cement mixer. The dough was cut up into the traditional baker’s dozen and cooked in a gas-fired oven for just under 10 minutes.
Dr Dawkins said: “We did very well getting down to 15min 27sec, it is great. We’ll gather together the information and make a submission to Guinness World Records and see if we can officially get in the record books.
“I’m a veteran at this, 23 years ago I got the record in Lincolnshire of 20.59 so I’m really pleased to have beaten my own record if nothing else.”
It is hoped that the time will soon be confirmed as a new Guinness World Record.
