Thankfully, British Baker has done the hard work for you, gathering thoughts from industry experts. In part one of three, we explore the top trends likely to play out on the bakery scene in 2021. Josh was awarded with a Hollywood Handshake in week 2 after creating an incredible burger and fries illusion out of biscuits.

Products will be subject to the restrictions if they are defined as ‘less healthy’ according to the 2004 to 2005 Nutrient Profiling Model (NPM) developed by the Food Standards Agency. Tasha was awarded Star Baker in week two after her biscuits wowed the judges. Not only did she do well on the custard cream technical, but she also impressed Paul and Prue with her katsu curry biscuit illusion. Sustainability will be an increasing focus. Both consumers and operators are consciously looking for ways to make more of what they have to get the very most out of a product,” says Stéphanie Brillouet, marketing director, Northern Europe and North America at Délifrance. As you might expect, the announcement of the advertising ban wasn’t entirely welcomed by the food industry. Kate Halliwell, the Food and Drink Federation’s chief scientific officer, expressed her disappointment at the government’s insistence on pressing ahead with “headline chasing policies”.She was also awarded Star Baker in week three after her medusa-themed bread showstopper wowed the judges. As such, there’s an increasing focus on what baked goods can offer consumers,be it in terms of health and wellness,environmental impact or simply a feelgood moment. Creating new products from surplus ones is another – one which consumers are increasingly interested in. A survey by Mintel in June 2019 found 43% of bread consumers would be interested in buying bread made using leftovers from the production process, while 38% are up for buying bread made from leftover ingredients from other food and drink manufacturing processes. With the disagreement played out via tabloid headlines and social media, Aldi made hay with the publicity and even staged a charity sky dive for Cuthbert in May. The planned legislation will apply a watershed at 9pm, so adverts for HFSS food and drink will only be shown on UK TV and on-demand programmes between 9pm and 5.30am. The online ban will affect all forms of paid-for advertising, with the scope encompassing social media, videos and influencer marketing. However, brand-only advertising will be allowed as long as an HFSS product is not identifiable, and the ban only applies to large businesses – those with 250 or more employees.

Nostalgic bakery goods deliver the same warm feeling and as we move into 2021 with Covid very much still on our doorsteps, is likely to be on consumers’ agendas in the coming months,” adds Michael Schofield, marketing manager at Bakels. When the UK was part of the EU, the so-called ‘mutual recognition principle’ meant flour from the UK could be placed on the market of other EU member states, and vice versa, regardless of national rules as long as it complied with EU law. However, Brexit obviously put paid to this.Aldi also appealed to its supermarket rivals – including M&S – to make equivalent fundraising commitments from sales of their own caterpillar cakes. M&S responded by pointing out its own charity drives and suggesting Aldi “use [its] own character”. Having baked thousands of retro recipes from all kinds of antique cookbooks, Dylan’s selected the best of the best for this bakebook, sharing the shining stars from each decade. And since not every recipe Dylan bakes on his wildly popular social media channels turn out delicious, we’ve thrown in a few of the most disastrously strange recipes for you to try if you want to prank your friends, or if you’re simply a glutton for punishment.

One key piece of legislation for the food industry that originally passed in September 2019 came into force on 1 October 2021: the UK Food Information Amendment 2019 – better known as Natasha’s Law. Baking Yesteryear contains 100 recipes expertly curated by B. Dylan Hollis that will take you on a delicious journey through the past. With a larger-than-life personality and comedic puns galore, baking with Dylan never gets old. We’ll leave that to the recipes. In April 2021, M&S announced it was taking legal action over similarities between its iconic Colin the Caterpillar cake and Aldi’s rival product Cuthbert the Caterpillar. M&S argued that that Cuthbert represented a trademark infringement and filed a claim with the High Court. Much like her attitude to life, Tasha’s baking is fearless. She uses it as a way to express herself creatively, often embarking upon near-impossible designs – with impressive results! When she’s not baking, Tasha loves going to the theatre to see a West End show and she has a passion for traveling the world. The reason for the move – which brings the UK into line with 80 other countries including Australia, New Zealand and Canada – is to combat neural tube defects leading to spinal conditions in babies.As pointed out by Ben Evans, legal director and chartered trademark attorney at Blake Morgan, no timeline has been set out for reaching a verdict in the case and “what that decision will be when the time comes is equally unclear”. These are the rules that specify the technical requirements for bread and flour produced in UK, covering various aspects such as the essential ingredients for flour, permitted ingredients for flour and bread and restrictions regarding the use of the term ‘wholemeal’, for example. Marks & Spencer has embraced this by using leftover baguettes and boules from its in-store bakeries to create garlic bread, which is then frozen and sold. Roberts Bakery tapped into this kind of thinking with its luxury hot cross buns made with upcycled bread ferment – misshapen white loaves that otherwise would have gone to waste. Although the full review of the Bread and Flour Regulations 1998 is expected to take some time, the government wrapped up one talking point promptly by announcing on 20 September that the fortification of non-wholemeal wheat flour with folic acid would become mandatory in the UK.

Wasted food is essentially wasted money, so as the UK enters a recession and belts tighten, businesses and consumers will be looking more closely at this issue.Unsurprisingly, this is largely a result of coronavirus as consumers pay increasing attention to their health at a time when a pandemic is ravaging the globe while also seeking small everyday comforts.