our faith, our conscience, our life!

On October 11-13, 2022, the Forum of Rural Bakers was held in Moscow, at VDNKh. Within the framework of the forum, the All-Russian Cup of Rural Bakers and the Third All-Russian Festival “Gingerbread – a visiting card of Russia” took place.

Representatives of federal and regional authorities, industry associations, business structures and the scientific and educational community gathered at the All-Russian Forum of Rural Bakers to discuss the prospects for the development of bakery in the countryside. The plenary session, where the prospects for the development of bakery in rural areas were discussed, was attended by bakers, officials and entrepreneurs from St. Petersburg, Lipetsk, Novosibirsk, Voronezh, Samara, Belgorod, Novgorod, Tambov, Orenburg, Kaluga regions, the Chuvash Republic, Mordovia, Karelia , Buryatia, Dagestan, Altai Territory.

According to Yury Katsnelson, President of ROSPIK, the development of rural bakery meets the goals and objectives of the National Project “Small and Medium Enterprises and Support for Individual Entrepreneurial Initiatives” in terms of increasing the number of employees in the field of small and medium-sized businesses, including individual entrepreneurs, as well as the state program “Comprehensive Development rural areas”. “Work in this direction will help maintain the number of rural settlements and provide the local population with fresh and varied bakery products. We hope that our forum will be the start of the dynamic development of rural bakery in Russia. – Increasing entrepreneurial activity and the level of professional training of bakery subjects are important factors for solving the problems of increasing bakery businesses, expanding the range of bakery products, territorial and economic accessibility of bread, preserving and developing rural areas. The forum will contribute to the growth of professional competencies, the acquisition of entrepreneurial skills and the implementation of own initiatives of specialists involved in the field of baking, the creation of new bakeries in rural areas,” said Yuri Katsnelson, President of ROSPiK.

The organizers of the event are the Russian Guild of Bakers and Confectioners and ANO DPO “School of the Guild of Bakers and Confectioners” with the support of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation, the Federation Council of the Russian Federation, the State Duma, the Moscow Chamber of Commerce and Industry, RGAU-MSHA im. K.A. Timiryazev and the Russian Union of Rural Youth.

Representatives of Moscow, Krasnodar Territory, Chelyabinsk, Tambov, Orenburg Regions, Chuvash Republic, Tatarstan, Bashkortostan and Crimea took part in the All-Russian Cup of Rural Bakers. Masters from the Tula, Tver, Voronezh, Moscow, Ryazan, Sverdlovsk, Kursk regions, the Republics of Bashkortostan and the Crimea presented their works for the competition “Gingerbread – a visiting card of Russia”.

The forum participants were welcomed by Senator Sergei Mitin. According to him, now not all villagers have access to fresh and high-quality bread. The reason is simple: in many villages there are simply no bakeries, and it is unprofitable for bakery factories to transport their products there: “About 38 million people live in our countryside today, more than 10 million live in settlements where there are less than 500 people. And in total there are about 120 thousand settlements in rural areas. This poses a huge task for all of us – how to make sure that all this number of people have the opportunity to receive quality bread of various varieties and names every day,” the senator said. Mitin also suggested creating a management model for all bakery organizations in the vast territory of our country, so that everyone who wants to engage in bakery could receive state support measures.

The guests of the forum were able to see the bakery competitions, take part in master classes, exchange experiences and visit thematic exhibitions. For visitors, a rich program of acquaintance with bread-baking has been prepared – an ancient occupation that is fraught with many features, technologies and professional secrets.

On the initiative of the Rector, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Professor Vladimir Ivanovich Trukhachev, a business program, within which questions were raised about the problems and prospects for the development of rural bakery, was organized at the Timiryazev Academy. Since the founding of the university in 1865, TSHA has been one of the first in our country to train highly qualified personnel for the bakery industry. As V.I. Trukhachev, currently the university trains specialists for the bakery industry within the framework of undergraduate and graduate programs. In the last 7 years alone, about 170 specialists for the baking industry have been trained! In 2021, an educational and scientific bakery was opened on the basis of the catering plant of the university, where students undergo industrial practice. The bakery is equipped with the most modern equipment of domestic production. According to the rector V.I. Trukhachev, the main directions of scientific work of scientists of the Timiryazev Academy in the field of baking are the study of the suitability of new types and varieties of grain crops for baking, the enrichment of bakery and confectionery products with functional ingredients, the creation of confectionery products for specialized and dietary nutrition. On the sidelines of the All-Russian Forum of Rural Bakers, an Agreement on Cooperation between the Timiryazev Academy and the Russian Guild of Bakers and Confectioners was signed. The document was signed by the rector V.I. Trukhachev and the head of ROSPiK Yu.M. Katsnelson.

President of the Russian Guild of Bakers and Confectioners (ROSPiK) Yuri Mendelevich Katsnelson presented the concept of the project for the development of rural bakery. Its goals are to create new jobs in the countryside, improve product quality, spread entrepreneurial skills and popularize the profession of a baker. At the same time, the main thing is the availability of high-quality bakery and confectionery products for the rural population. The potential of rural bakery is significant, and for its development Yu.M. Katznelson urged the authorities and the industry community to focus on increasing the number of bakery businesses to create a competitive market, developing networks for the sale of products by bread producers, including in the format of small-format and mobile trade, as well as developing a patent taxation system.

Based on the results of the work, the forum participants discussed the concept of the Rural Bakery project and adopted a resolution from the Forum of Rural Bakers of Russia.

The work of the practical part of the forum was held at the “School of Bakers” at VDNKh, where the teams of Chuvashpotrebsoyuz, Tatpotrebsoyuz, Kursk and Orenburg Regional Potresoyuzes participate in competitions for the All-Russian Cup of Rural Bakers.

Our correspondents watched the work of the bakers, and they note that it was very difficult – the aromas of fresh bread and pastries hovering in the air completely discouraged all desire to work, but caused salivation and a brutal appetite!

“That’s right,” one of the contestants smiles, “you should look at bread with hungry eyes, this is our life, health, strength, these are our roots, our faith. Bread is the main food of all peoples and every person. Let’s get acquainted – Alferova Natalia, a specialist from the city of Dankov, Lipetsk region. Natalia, a professional baker, first worked at a state-owned enterprise, then decided to open her own business, and for 11 years she has been heading her own bakery. “Now there are more than 20 people in the staff, our bread “from Alferova” is sold in several company stores. We use only natural products, we bake bread not with chemical yeast from a bag, but with natural sourdough. Our most popular bread is rye-wheat, a gray brick loved by everyone. We also bake other types of bread, sweet buns. The recipes are proven, old, but we modify them according to the requests of customers. Now we are forming bread with pumpkin pulp and pumpkin seeds – fragrant, beautiful and very healthy. We also bake gingerbread, and instead of sugar for sweetness and goodness, we use Jerusalem artichoke syrup, on which we cook berries for the filling. Gingerbread from Dankov is a tasty and healthy souvenir, a pleasant memory of our old beautiful city! At the competition, we met with a baker from a neighboring city – the old Zadonsk, immediately became friends, and created the “Lipetsk team”!

The second member of the unique “bread” team is Larisa Batishcheva from Zadonsk: “The city bakery provides schools, kindergartens, hospitals, enterprises and organizations of Zadonsk with bread and buns. Pupils of the deaf-mute school love our buns very much. The bakery began as a department of the Zadonsk Raipo, now it has grown into a large, independent, strong enterprise. Our products are absolutely natural, without any E and chemistry, we cannot feed people with bad bread! Bread is our conscience and faith. It was faith that 10 years ago led the director of the Zadonsk regional district Putilin S.E. to the idea of ​​baking gingerbread. Zadonsk is a religious, pilgrimage center of Russia, there are many holy places, here is the beautiful ancient Zadonsk Nativity of the Mother of God Monastery, where St. Tikhon the Wonderworker of Zadonsk, one of the greatest theologians of the Russian Church, is buried. The director found a woodcarver, they created a drawing – views of the city, the monastery. How pleasant it is for people to strengthen their spiritual strength by pilgrimage, and to strengthen their bodily strength with delicious and beautiful gingerbread! We took the classic gingerbread recipe as a basis, slightly reworked it to suit our conditions, and made up our own unique perfumes. By the way, perfume is not only a fragrant bottle, but also specially selected spices for gingerbread dough. We grind spices – balyan, cloves, ginger and others – only before kneading dough for gingerbread, in no case before, otherwise the unique aroma will disappear.

While a friendly team from the Lipetsk region creates their bread masterpieces, we go to the table of Tatarstan. Bakers from the village of Novoe Alimovo, Aktanyshsky district, are real rural, even village bakers. Wheat, rye-wheat bread from the AK-KALAC bakery is provided by all the villages and villages in the district. In addition to bread, hardworking craftswomen pamper the villagers with sweet buns, pies, cakes, and, of course, the famous chak-chak. In general, bread should be treated with soul, from the very moment of kneading. In our case, the result is immediately visible. If the baker did the work in a positive mood, then the pastry will delight with a golden toasty crust. To my question about shift work and weekends, the craftswomen are surprised and answer that bread is life, and life cannot be stopped on a day off. We love our work so much that the red day of the calendar in the bakery is a doubly holiday!

At the All-Russian Cup of Rural Bakers, the Tatpotrebsoyuz team was awarded a diploma of the third degree, they also excelled in the nomination “Decorative Baking” and were awarded a diploma of the second degree.

Bakers of Chuvashia won gold medals in the nominations “Bread” and “Delicate bakery products”, as well as third place in the nomination “Decorative pastries”. Representatives of the Chuvashpotrebsoyuz in the team event won an honorable second place and were awarded a diploma of the second degree.

And the best, according to the jury, were the bakers of Uman-Khleb LLC – Krasnodar Territory, Leningradsky District, Umansky settlement.

Mikhail Kovalyov.

Author’s photo