In Short

LASER targets guests

This year’s LASER Dinner and Dance will be held at Stoke Park, Buckinghamshire on 14 November. As a guest you would have complimentary use of the club’s new health and racquet pavilion. Tickets for the event are £75 and are available from: LASER, 142 Banstead Road, Caterham, CR3 5QF. The hotel is also offering rooms at a discounted rate. Please quote ’master bakers’ when booking. For details on the venue, visit stokeparkclub.com.

Lower salt product

Eminate claims to have discovered a way of modifying salt, to provide more taste from smaller quantities. Soda-Lo 20 could potentially help bakers achieve lower salt targets in their products without compromising on taste, it is claimed. "From a level of 2% salt in a loaf of bread, we have been able to take it down to 0.6%," said Eminate’s sales and marketing manager Andrew Stacey.

German course

German education provider the Akademie Deutsches Bäckerhandswerk has established the International Baking Academy in Weinheim in response to requests from outside Germany by people wishing to attain a qualification in German baking, which is taught in English. Derek O’Brien will retire from his position as head of the National Bakery School, Dublin Institute of Technology, Ireland at the end of the year and join the management team at the International Baking Academy in January 2010.

Chef link for Furniss

Chef Rick Stein has joined forces with Furniss of Cornwall to develop a range of savoury oat-based biscuits. Available in Cornish sea salt, Davidstow Cheddar and thyme varieties, the biscuits are now available in Waitrose and selected Tesco stores across the UK.