America's Best Raisin Bread

I entered my Currant 'Seed'uction Bread into a national competition hosted by the California Raisin Board.  First I mailed in an entry form with the formula, process and a photo.  Last month, I got a call telling me I was a finalist in the competition.

Last week I went to the American Institute of Baking in Manhattan, Kansas to bake my bread along with the other finalists.  We had 3 hours on the first day to set up and mix bigas, sourdoughs, etc.  The next day , we were given 6 hours to complete our breads.  After all the breads were baked, we stood in line to wait for judging.  The judges asked questions about our breads, our formulas, our inspiration behind the breads and about how we plan to sell/market the loaves.

The winners were announced at a banquet later that evening.  My little loaves won the Grand Prize!!!  Aside from bragging rights, I won an all expense paid trip to California to tour the wine/grape/raisin growing region.