He's baking at the World Cup in Taiwan
Created: 2022-12-13 09:52
This is what winners look like: In Samuel Hrasky's bakery in Neuried, Alexander Weinhold shows the certificate, medal and trophy of the German championship.
Now he is practicing for the World Championships for Young Bakers.
© dagmar rutt
Great honor for the journeyman baker Alexander Weinhold: In mid-February, the man from Brucker is on his way to Taiwan to represent Germany at the world championship for young bakers.
He's already practicing hard.
Fürstenfeldbruck/Neuried – Alexander Weinhold has made it: The 21-year-old recently won the German Championship for Young Bakers in Weinheim, Baden-Württemberg.
Now, in mid-February, he can fly to Taiwan for the Bakers' World Championship, the "UIBC International Competition of Young Bakers", together with the runner-up from North Rhine-Westphalia.
"I'm really looking forward to it," says Weinhold.
He started his apprenticeship at the on-site bakery in Neuried (Munich district) two years ago.
Three days long
It will definitely be exhausting.
Because after a long-haul flight, the German champion has to go straight to the bakery.
For three days it is then a case of asserting oneself against participants from nine other countries in disciplines such as Danish pastry, yeast, sweet dough, bread, yeast, small baked goods and showpieces.
The theme of the World Cup in Taiwan has already been decided: "Presentation of your own country." "But we won't find out more for a few days," says Weinhold.
Five weeks before the competition, he and his teammate are coached by members of the national bakery team.
(
By the way: everything from the region is now also available in our regular
FFB newsletter.)
For the young baker, it's not just an adventure, as he says.
"For me, it is a confirmation of my work." And that Alexander Weinhold is good in his field can also be confirmed by his boss, master baker and managing director of Vor Ort GmbH, Samuel Hrasky: "He is hardworking and has a very good feeling for the matter.” As a training company, he is happy to support such a unique opportunity, says Hrasky.
For the company, competitions of this type mean additional consumption of raw materials and energy.
After all, Weinhold has to practice before exams and championships, after his regular eight-hour day in the bakery.
“Preparing for a competition like this always involves extra work,” says Hrasky, who has been training one or two apprentices a year for a few years.
First confectioner
In the beginning, Alexander Weinhold did not have the desire to become a baker.
"Before my apprenticeship as a baker, I trained as a confectioner," says the Fürstenfeldbruck native.
Because “only” bread and rolls seemed too one-sided to him at the time.
But little by little he discovered his fascination with the bakery trade: "You can get so much out of the raw materials," he enthuses.
The production methods with yeast and sourdough, for example, are very diverse.
As luck would have it, Alexander Weinhold came to Neuried for an internship at the on-site bakery after completing his training as a confectioner.
"I learned how to make ice cream here and stayed for my apprenticeship as a baker." He completed this this year as the best in the guild and thus qualified for the competition at chamber level and later at state level, where he won every time.
"My goal was to get as far as possible."
And he did that with his ticket to the World Cup in Taiwan.
There, too, a good finish is important to him – but not the most important thing.
“EuroSkills 2023”, the European Bakers' Championships in Poland, are already on the agenda for next summer.
And even more important: Weinhold will become a father for the first time in January.
You can find more current news from the district of Fürstenfeldbruck at Merkur.de/Fürstenfeldbruck.
