Ohio and Connecticut Bakers Crowned Champions of the 2025 National Festival of Breads

From adapting muffin recipes for food allergies to building on family baking traditions, the winners of the 2025 National Festival of Breads embody the community spirit at the heart of the long-running contest for America’s amateur bakers. Janet Gill was awarded the top entry in the Yeast Bread category with her entry of Cranberry Hard Apple Cider Bread and Sarah Meuser won the Quick Bread category with her entry of Vegan Bakery-Style Orange Chocolate Chip Muffins. 

“The National Festival of Breads celebrates the tradition of baking bread at home,” said Cindy Falk, Kansas Wheat nutrition educator and festival co-director. “This year’s winners shared not only the results of experimenting with new flavor combinations or ingredients, but also the joy of baking for family and friends. We hope you are inspired by the top recipes from this year’s competition to create something original in your own kitchen!” 

The Festival of Breads began in 1991, initially launched by the Kansas Wheat Commission, the Kansas Department of Agriculture and the Kansas Wheathearts – a women’s auxiliary group of wheat growers – to honor the art of baking, promote the use of Kansas products and recognize the vital Kansas wheat and milling industries. It expanded to a national competition in 2009, drawing champions from all corners of the United States.

The 2025 competition featured two categories: Quick Bread and Yeast Bread. Recipes were meticulously baked and evaluated in the test kitchen at the Kansas Wheat Innovation Center by Falk and a team of culinary experts, ensuring a rigorous and fair judging process.

Quick Bread Champion Creates Allergy-Friendly Family Favorite

Sarah Meuser of New Milford, Connecticut, has a young son who is allergic to eggs, dairy and peanuts. When he turned one, she began experimenting with how to adapt muffin recipes to be egg-free and dairy-free but keep the same taste and texture. Her winning entry into the 2025 National Festival of Breads Quick Bread category is the successful result of these adaptations — Vegan Bakery-Style Orange Chocolate Chip Muffins. 

“After several slight tweaks over the years, I created this recipe for delicious bakery-style muffins with a fresh, orange flavor and lots of mini chocolate chips throughout,” Meuser said “The subtle crispness of the golden-edged muffin tops, combined with the fluffy, tender, citrus-kissed and chocolate-laced interior, have made these easy muffins a favorite family recipe.” 

Honorable Mentions in the Quick Bread category included:

  • Artistic and Creative Biscuit Award: Foolproof FAUX-caccia Biscuits, Susan Simpson of Harrington, Delaware
  • Stafford County Flour Mills Award: Hot Honey, Date and Goat Cheese Beer Bread, Janet Gill of Canton, Ohio
  • Betty Kandt Family Award: Shirley Temple Scones, Michele Kusma of Columbus, Ohio
  • Holiday Bread Award: Texas Fruitcake Scones, Felice Bogus of Raleigh, North Carolina

Yeast Bread Champion Focuses on Flavors of Autumn Goodness 

Janet Gill of Canton, Ohio, has been baking since she was a teen, starting out with her mother’s cinnamon roll recipe and later using a bread machine as a young mother. Today, she loves to experiment with adding different ingredients for added flavors, which boosted her Cranberry Hard Apple Cider Bread to the winning entry in the Yeast Bread category. 

Gill’s recipe was inspired by freeze-dried apples that she had crushed up and added to a cake. After she really liked the added flavor, she decided to add them to a yeast bread and combine them with hard apple cider. Dried cranberries, pumpkin seeds and walnuts completed the autumn theme.

Beyond the flavorful additions, King Arthur flour and Red Star Platinum yeast were critical for bringing the recipe together. Gill recommends trying this bread as a breakfast toast or for a sweet and savory sandwich, especially for family meals. 

“I love the opportunity to be creative and to make a recipe my own,” Gill said. “Baking is a fun hobby for me, but more importantly, I love to share the foods I make. To me, sharing means love and appreciation to my family, friends, co-workers and neighbors.” 

Honorable Mentions in the Yeast Bread category included:

  • Ethnic Bread Award: Chocolate Praline Povitica, Michele Kusma of Columbus, Ohio
  • Ease of Preparation Award: Jalapeño Cheddar Roulade, Daniel Alcazar-Roman of Belmont, California
  • Betty Kandt Family Award: Lemon Meringue Spirals, Michele Kusma of Columbus, Ohio
  • Cheese Bread Award: Pimento Cheese Pull-Apart Bread with Hot Honey, Tiffany Aaron, Quitman, Arkansas
  • Best Pastry Award: Sticky Pear Claws, Lanie Smith, Topeka, Kansas
  • Creative and Artistic Award: Wicked-Good Bread, Stacey Ricker, Douglas, Wyoming

The 2025 National Festival of Breads was proudly sponsored by Kansas Wheat, King Arthur Baking Company, Kansas Department of Agriculture, Manhattan Hy-Vee, Stafford County Flour Mills, Visit Manhattan, Kansas Farm Bureau and the Betty Kandt Family. In-kind support was generously provided by the Home Baking Association, the Kansas Soybean Commission and the Wheat Foods Council.

Learn more about the winners and their recipes at nationalfestivalofbreads.com.