William Leaman has the recipe to one thing everyone wants: success. And now everyone knows it.
The head pastry chef at The Essential Baking Co. in Wallingford, along with two teammates, won first place at this year's Coupe du Monde de la Boulangerie (the World Cup of Baking) in Paris.
"It's one thing to operate under the radar," said Leaman, 31, standing in the classic, all-white baker's outfit amid the controlled chaos of his bustling bakery. "But once you're blinking, you're under a lot more scrutiny."
Be that as it may, he and his bakery appear to be more than up to the challenge, having ridden the wave generated by the recent revival of both organic food and artisan baking. In the last four years, Leaman has seen his pastry department grow from just three employees to a team of more than 30. Essential's business has paralleled that success and is now a familiar name to local organic-food consumers.
Preparing for competition
But it is his team's April victory at the World Cup, the prestigious global baking competition held every three years, that has made his journey as a baker truly memorable.
Led by Leaman and representing the Bread Bakers Guild of America, Team USA competed among 12 nations in conditions vaguely resembling those of TV's "Iron Chef" - an eight-hour time limit, a 12-by-12-foot kitchen and countless unpredictable variables - to produce more than 300 baguettes, specialty breads, pastries, sandwiches and a bread sculpture measuring a cubic meter in size
To prepare for the rigors of competition, Leaman and his two teammates - Jory Downer, of Bennison's Bakery in Evanston, Ill., and Jeffrey Yankellow, an instructor at the San Francisco Baking Institute - began practicing last August. For a week at a time and at least once a month, the three would come together and mimic conditions similar to the actual competition experience, often to grueling 16-hour days.
And while none of them had any previous World Cup experience (rules bar participants from taking part more than once), battle-hardened baking veterans were working with the team behind the stage: Manager Tim Foley was on the 2002 silver-medal-winning team, and coach Didier Rosada has helped train teams since 1996, including the 1999 world-champion Team USA.
"We had a really great support team," Leaman said, "but no one thing can prepare you. Your whole career prepares you for the competition."
This is a telling sentiment for the breadth of knowledge required for the competition. Though a pastry chef by trade, Leaman and his team have had extensive experience in a multitude of culinary crafts, which gave them increased security in case something faltered along the way. As Leaman puts it, "A career is like a pyramid: The wider the base, the higher you can go."
Team chemistry
Once in Paris, Team USA had a final week of practice and time to adjust to the variances in French ingredients and tools - a feat to which Leaman was already well-prepared for because of his daily work with organic baking and its inherent unpredictability.
The political climate was also a concern, what with the tenuous relations between the United States and France in recent years. Particularly in creating the bread sculpture to represent their country, Leaman struggled to make an artistic - and not political - message. After abandoning previous ideas, the team again started from scratch and eventually settled upon a montage of American icons, including the Golden Gate Bridge, the Statue of Liberty and an eagle.
Leaman also encountered a number of Iraqis in Paris whom, he said, profusely expressed their gratitude to the United States for their involvement in their country.
In the end, the competition was practice as usual - with the exception of the screaming throngs of fans and the ascension to the podium at the end.
"We had such great chemistry; there was no stopping us," said Leaman, who was picked as team captain partly because of his ability to speak French in case such a victory arose.
Winning was "an honor" and "unexpected" as the team was hoping for a top-three finish.
France and Japan, second and third place respectively, rounded out the podium, but weren't happy with their placements. Japan's team, in particular, trained full-time for an entire year in anticipation of the competition.
Back at home
Today, life has returned to normal for Leaman. He did take part in July's National Pastry Team Championship in Phoenix and helped (a different) Team USA take third.
But he insists that for now, he's done with competing and is looking forward to spending more time with his wife.
But who gets Team USA's coveted recipes for success? Those go to the team's sponsor, the Bread Bakers Guild of America, and its bakery guild members - of which there are more than 1,200. Look for those recipes at a bakery near you, or drop by The Essential Baking Co. in Wallingford for a taste.
[[In-content Ad]]
