New South Wales teacher Dean Tilden has been selected to compete for the prestigious title of World Master Baker in Paris Maitland’s Master de la Boulangerie next year.

The TAFE teacher is one of six bakers worldwide selected to compete in the Nutritional Bread Making category at the 2018 Masters de la Boulangerie (Bakery Masters) at the European Show from February 3–6, 2018.

Dean (pictured below) has been teaching his craft at TAFE NSW in Hamilton for more than 16 years, a job that has shaped him into the baker he is today.

He’s the second Australian to compete in the World Bakery Masters (the first was Brett Noy) and the only TAFE teacher in history.

“It is now about knuckling down so I will be training heavily for the next eight months. It is an amazing opportunity to compete on the world stage, but it doesn’t come without sacrifice.”

Dean’s selection for the World Baking Masters (Maitland’s Master de la Boulangerie) has been a three-year journey to date. He was selected by an international panel of judges for his outstanding performance at the Louis Lesaffre Cup in Jakarta, Indonesia in November 2015 as part of the Australian Baking Team.

He cites an artisan sourdough-making course with Leon Bailey around 14 years ago as a turning point in his career when he learned to make “real bread”.

“I’d never really heard of sourdough, but our head teacher at the time sent Dean Gibson and I down to learn what we could. I’ve had my sourdough baby culture ever since. It goes on holidays with me; it goes everywhere,” he said.