l Hot beverages

20 January, 1933: Bridget Jones wanted

Following a busy and stressful week, there are some jobs you think, you'd love to do - something untaxing that involves getting away from the rat race. Shooting to the top of that aspirational list is 'spokesperson for Starbucks'. When BB tried to check up on reports that the firm had posted its first loss for 15 years, Starbucks' press officer was not budging from her seat on the fence. "I can't be quoted as either confirming or denying it," she said. Nice work if you can get it.

We hark back to time immemorial, when Scotland was still a paragon of healthy eating, courtesy of our resident nutrition expert Dr Allinson (deceased).

Keeping an eye out for bakery coverage in the national press involves a depressing wade through half-baked (sorry!) bakery puns. We sometimes fail to resist the temptation to rise to the occasion ourselves (sorry again!). So the time has come to regularly monitor, name and shame the worst offenders here in Stop the Week.

"Consumers are showing signs of fatigue of celebrity marketing. The cult of celebrity has reached a crossroads - over-exposed celebrities have saturated the market and ageing populations mean that the growth audience is shrinking.

At Panary I am commited to teaching the "ferment" as the best way to make enriched doughs. The "one pint ferment" is a marvellous old-fashioned British craft standard. It enables the yeast to get a flying start before it gets bogged down in that heavy and rich group of ingredients - fat, sugar, egg yolk, spice - that separate it from its food. However, not everyone wants to take the trouble to set up a ferment, and the guidelines are that you can use any high-quality fruited bun dough of your choice.

It's a fairly tricky ask, reinventing the wheel - possibly as challenging as reinventing that bakery stalwart, the divider moulder. "There's a lot of old equipment out there that's just brought back with a facelift," is the assessment from Interbake's David Dunne, which would be a somewhat downbeat way to open an article on innovations in this area of the machinery market. Thankfully, he adds that the bits that have been developed in recent times are simple tweaks to make day-to-day operations easier. That can mean anything from safeguarding against manky dough festering around your kit to cutting out the need for multiple machines for different-sized dough pieces.

http://www.benier.co.uk (Milton Keynes, Bucks) | http://www.cater-bake.co.uk (Knowsley, Merseyside) | http://www.equipline.co.uk (Uxbridge, Middlesex) | http://www.jestic.co.uk (Tunbridge Wells, Kent) | Pizza Plus Foodservice chris@pizzaplus.fsnet.co.uk (Preston) | http://www.servequip.co.uk (Croydon, Surrey)

Originally, pizza dough was cooked outdoors on hot flat stones. Not entirely practical or indeed desirable in this HACCP age we live in, but you don't have to brave the British weather to produce excellent pizzas. There are options to suit you, from counter-top to conveyor models. Here are just a small selection:

You don't want to mess with Giuseppe Mascoli's oven. The Neapolitan pizza owner prides himself on his E9,000 (£7,085), handcrafted specimen. "I had it made by an artisan in Naples," he says. "Then put on an industrial trolley and shipped over on a container. It's a very particular oven."

Passionate People, Passionate About Food' is Rotherham-based Maple Leaf Bakery's slogan. This passion, along with a huge pride about what it does and what it has achieved, were the main instigators behind the company's decision to enter last year's Baking Industry Awards and the reasons behind its Bakery Manufacturer Of The Year accolade. Sitting in marketing and innovation director Guy Hall's office, drinking tea out of an 'I love New York bagels' mug, the passion is certainly evident.

In December 2006, Mike Thurlow, miller and tenant of Letheringsett Watermill in north Norfolk, won the UKTV Local Food Hero Award. One of the judges, celebrity chef Gary Rhodes, described him as "the nation's favourite" and thousands of internet voters clearly agreed.

So you've undertaken a green audit, embarked on an energy efficiency plan and explored eco-friendly packaging. How else can you make your business more ethical? Consider looking more closely at the core of your business - at the products you sell.

A combination of the credit crunch, high raw materials price inflation and low business and consumer confidence makes this a testing time for owners looking to finance an early or mature phase of expansion in the food sector.

Cupcake Magic

Damsons, a sub-species of plum, were first cultivated around the Syrian capital city of Damascus and, as such, are also known as the Damascus plum. They were brought to Britain by the Romans and then introduced to North America by English settlers. These small oval fruits, with a dark blue skin and a yellow/green flesh, are very tart and, when cooked, give off a dark purple juice. The Lyth valley in the north-west of England is well-known for growing damsons. Apart from being used in jams, chutneys and as an alternative to sloes in gin, they are also good used in pies, crumbles, cobblers and baked sponge puddings.

Over the past months, we have been working flat out at the Soho Sandwich company, making thousands and thousands of sandwiches for many of the very special events that have taken, and are taking, place up and down the country during the summer, writes Adam Gilbert.

Mich Turner, founder of Little Venice Cake Company, Marylebone, London

Pudding Lane:

The Speciality & Fine Food Fair London, taking place at the Grand Hall at Olympia, London, will feature over 700 exhibitors, catering for everyone from delis and independent retailers to chefs and restaurateurs looking to source artisan food and drink.

La Pizza, a privately owned manufacturer of dough balls, tear-and-share garlic bread and Mediterranean speciality breads, supplying into the foodservice industry, has developed a range of healthier frozen part-baked pizza bases. All products contain less than 1% salt and are made using natural ingredients, containing no preservatives or GM products.

Food Partners has developed a new sandwich brand - Taste4life - focused on health and sophistication. The range will include more than 50 sandwiches and related products and has been launched in outlets including coffee shops and catering suppliers.

Marco Beverage Systems has added the Maxibrew Freshcup to its product range. The bulk filter coffee brewer is programmed to dispose of stale coffee after a pre-set period of time, to avoid customers accidentally being served old coffee.

Farmhouse Fare is to launch its first-ever range of twin packs. The Lancashire-based company is seeking to widen its appeal beyond family-sized desserts and has brought out a range of 120g x 2 individual portion puddings including: luxury sticky chocolate and orange pudding, sticky carrot cake pudding and luxury sticky banoffee toffee pudding, as well as organic varieties - luxury sticky toffee pudding and sticky chocolate pudding.

The Coffee Machine Company has added a new espresso machine to its range. The company is the sole importer of Rancilio espresso machines and has now launched the Classe 6 Compact Tall model. The new machine is fully automatic with full 2-group functionality, and has been designed with coffee shops and takeaway outlets in mind.

Meiko UK has added Disaperator food waste disposers to its range of warewashing appliances.

Ishida Europe has introduced a new range of 'Screw Feed' multi-head weighers, which enable the automatic handling of fresh 'sticky' products such as seafood and meat. The design incorporates rotating corkscrews with the familiar circular multi-head layout, replacing traditionally used radial feed troughs.

Ultraviolet (UV) treatment equipment manufacturer Kaiku Process Solutions (KPS) has launched its new Bioguard system to help combat the dangers of cross-contamination.

Bread has been with us since ancient times, but never before has the whole industry been under such scrutiny from consumers concerned with their weight and health. Ancient Britons would probably have given Sid the Slug short shrift, but nowadays, the baking industry cannot afford to turn its back on calls to lower levels of salt and saturated fat and to help people make healthier choices.

Terry Sharp Head, Baking & Cereals Processing Department CCFRA

Welsh baker Lewis Pies, based in Swansea, has struck a deal with supermarket chain Carrefour, one of Europe's leading supermarket chains.

Starbucks has reported a net loss of $6.7m (£3.4m) in the three months to the end of June, compared to a $158.3m (£79.9m) third-quarter profit last year, against a background of store closures and plans to cut 1,000 office jobs in the US.

The American Bakers' Asso- ciation has condemned the US Department of Agriculture's (USDA) refusal to release land from its Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) to allow farmers to meet food demands and help curb soaring cereal prices.

Union officials are meeting representatives of Northern Foods this week, after the company announced plans to shut one of its biscuit factories.

Administrators for Scottish coffee chain Beanscene have received more than 50 expressions of interest for the business.

Bookings are now being taken for the Bakers' Fair North, to be held at Sheffield's Don Valley Stadium on Sunday 19 October.

The market for cakes and cake bars has increased by 7% in value last year to reach £1.52bn. But while nearly two-thirds of consumers eat them, penetration levels and frequency of use are declining, according to research from Mintel.

Brits are eating less salt. Average daily consumption has fallen by 0.9g to 8.6g since 2000, reports the Food Standards Agency (FSA).

Greggs has published a strong set of results for the half-year to June.

Japanese-specialist bakery franchise Beard Papa is planning to link up with major developers to unveil 20 more stores in shopping centres in England by 2010, following success in Asia and the US.

Coffee shop chain Gloria Jean's plans to expand the current nine-shop franchise to 150.

Premier Foods is adding four loaves to Hovis' 400g range to tap into a "key growth sector".

A Labour MP has accused former Lyndale Group chief executive Michael Quinlan and chairman Sandy Birnie of plotting the reorganisation in the Group's affairs that led to Lyndale Foods Ltd going into administration.

It's been a hard-fought contest, but British Baker can now reveal the finalists in four more categories of our Baking Industry Awards 2008.

Greggs and Kerry Foods are to oppose plans to give Cornish pasties Protected Geographic Indication (PGI), preventing producers outside Cornwall from using the label.