History

The Festival of Breads: A Rich History
From a humble beginning, the Kansas Festival of Breads has become the nation's premier home bread-baking contest.

Dr. Dallas Nelson,Wakefield, was a winner in the Pan Bread Category at the very first Festival of Breads in 2000.

Established in 1990, the Kansas Festival of Breads was sponsored by the Kansas Wheat Commission, Kansas Department of Agriculture and the Kansas Wheathearts, a women's auxiliary group of the wheat growers.

The Festival of Breads was designed to celebrate the art of baking, encourage the use of Kansas products, and recognize the Kansas wheat and milling industries. A biennial contest, the Festival of Breads encouraged Kansans to "get back to their roots and in their kitchens," and bake special recipes for the Kansas Festival of Breads contest.

Originally, five regional contests were held, with the top finalists baking their winning bread recipes at the state competition, held on the Kansas State University campus in Manhattan.

More than 250 home baked breads were entered in the first contest. By 2009, the number grew to more than 500 entries. Contestants have all levels of experience, from youth who learned how to bake bread from their grandmother or mother, to a retired district judge and veterinarian.

Judges Sharon Davis, Lisa Sandmeyer and Donna Keyser examine one entry of the 2004 Festival of Breads, held in Manhattan, Kan.

Categories have evolved over time to include bread machine recipes, rolls and holiday breads.

A variety of prizes have been awarded, ranging from cash awards to KitchenAid mixers, food processors, bakeware and “Kansas Trademark” gift baskets.

Later, entrants were categorized by age. Eventually, in place of regional judging, more than 30 collection sites were strategically located to provide access to any Kansan who wanted to enter. Breads were collected and transported to Manhattan, where they were judged the following day.

April 3, 2006, was the last Kansas Festival of Breads. In June, 2009, the first National Festival of Breads baking contest, sponsored by the Kansas Wheat Commission and King Arthur Flour, was held in Wichita. This was the first in what will be an every-other-year event that honors the best amateur bread bakers in America!

Why a Festival of Breads in Kansas?

Kansas produces more wheat than any other state, nearly one-fifth of

A combine cuts the golden wheat that becomes flour, bread, crackers and other tasty foods.

all wheat grown in the U.S., earning the title “Breadbasket of the World.”
Kansas ranks second nationally in the amount of wheat milled into flour.
Kansas produces three classes of wheat: Hard Red Winter, Hard White and Soft Red Winter. Russian Mennonite immigrants introduced Turkey Red Wheat to Kansas in 1874.