South West Junior Wood Fired Oven Pizza Chef of the Year crowned at Dartmouth Food Festival

Rebecca Tinkler triumphed at Dartmouth Food Festival on Sunday 27 October, beating four other young hopefuls to claim the highly sought after title of the South West Junior Wood Fired Oven Pizza Chef of the Year.

Fourteen year old Rebecca from Harbourneford, Devon, wowed judges with her original sweet pizza, winning the exceptional prize of a Bushman Wood Fired Oven and accessories worth £3,000, as well as a cooking day for up to six family and friends at Manna from Devon Cooking School.

Crowds braved the wind and rain in Dartmouth’s Royal Avenue Gardens to cheer on the five budding young pizza chefs; all aged between ten and fourteen years old. During the final, the wannabe chefs demonstrated their culinary skills and imagination producing margherita pizzas and mouth-watering creative pizza toppings. Pizzas were judged against tough criteria including appearance, aroma, taste and creativity by a distinguished panel of pizza experts including David Jones, co-owner of Manna from Devon and Dartmouth Food Festival chairman, Jay Emery, the man behind the Bushman Wood Fired Oven brand and guest judge and acclaimed chef, Jane Baxter.

Commenting on this tough competition, The Bushman’s Jay Emery said: “Rebecca’s consistency throughout both rounds and her wonderful sweet pizza consisting of plum and home-grown damson puree, grated marzipan, flaked almonds and brandy and amaretto soaked raisins, simply blew us, the judges away.”

In August, the five hopeful finalists accompanied by their parents attended a fun ‘taster’ day at Manna from Devon, helping them prepare for the much awaited final. Valuable skills were learnt by all during hands on dough making classes, pizza ‘throwing’ and shaping sessions and gaining experience of how to cook with a Bushman Wood Fired Oven.

Established in 2005, Manna from Devon Cooking School is run by Holly and David Jones who teach cooking skills to small groups in the relaxed environment of their Victorian home overlooking the beautiful River Dart in Kingswear, South Devon. Wood fired oven cooking specialists David and Holly, have recently extended their decking at Manna from Devon to create space for an additional two new wood fired ovens.

Courses available at the cooking school now include a day learning all about wood fired ovens and how to cook with them; a baking class (bread and cakes); and children’s pizza parties where lots of fun can be had learning how to make dough and cook with it.

This enthusiastic pair have also compiled a ‘Wood-Fired Oven Cookbook’ (Aquamarine - an imprint of Anness Publishing, RRP £9.99) bursting with delicious recipes which is available on Amazon.

Founded by Dingley Dell Enterprises Ltd in 1999, The Bushman is one of the country’s leading wood-fired ovens and can be found throughout the UK from private gardens to top London restaurants. The Bushman is so popular it has now been exported all over the world to far away countries such as Japan, Russia, Norway, America and Malta. If you really want to make a statement, this stylish yet durable wood fired oven is sure to become the focus point of your outdoors space and the hottest topic of conversation amongst all. The ovens are however, more than just a style statement, as they come to temperature very quickly, create even cooking and a good residual heat. For more information about The Bushman take a look at their website www.bushmanwoodfiredovens.co.uk.

To hear the latest news from Manna from Devon follow them on Twitter (@mannafromdevon), link up with them on Facebook or visit them online at www.mannafromdevon.com.

Rebecca’s winning Sweet & Sour Surprise pizza recipe

Pizzas should be cooked in a very hot oven with a good fire licking over the top, 350°c to 400°c is a good temperature to aim for most pizza cooking.

Pizza dough ingredients
250g strong bread flour
250g type 00 flour
350g warm water
8g salt
5g fast action yeast

Note, the mix of flours will give a lighter, bubblier texture but just use strong bread flour if you don’t have 00 to hand.

Topping ingredients
Plum puree
Damson puree
Grated marzipan
Flaked almonds
Demerara sugar
Raisins soaked in brandy
Raisins soaked in amaretto
Drizzle of brandy
Drizzle of amaretto

Method:
1.    Mix all dough ingredients to form a sticky mass.  Knead by hand or mixer until the dough is very well developed, very strong and elastic.
2.    Cover and leave to prove for 1 – 2 hours.
3.    Weigh out the dough into 150g balls.  Shape into rounds and rest on the bench for at least 10 – 15 minutes.  Ideally make the dough balls in advance and leave to rest in the fridge for at least an hour.
4.    Once rested, shape the dough balls into pizza rounds. 
5.    Apply a small amount of plum puree to the centre of the pizza base.
6.    Surround that with a ring of damson puree and then repeat with a ring of plum puree and leave a sizeable crust on the pizza.
7.    Sprinkle a little demerara sugar over the puree and place some flaked almonds around the pizza.
8.    Put the grated marzipan over the other toppings making sure that there are no large clumps.
9.    Make a ring of raisins soaked in brandy around the outside of the pizza and make a smaller ring of raisins soaked in amaretto nearer the centre of the base.
10.  Finally, use a teaspoon to drizzle spirals of brandy and amaretto around the pizza.
11.  Once topped cook immediately.  At 350°c your pizza should cook in 1½ to 2 minutes.