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Bannetons, Brotforms and Dough Baskets. Exclusive importer Jörg Birnbaum.
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ABA are an Australian baking associaton.
Benefits for ABA Members

Quality French and Australian lames from The Sourdough Shop

Books about sourdough bread, artisan baking and woodfired ovens. International Delivery

ABA™ Accreditation
The First Standard in Artisan Baking ™

Artisan Baker™ have further defined ABA Accreditation for bakery products.

ABA recognise that the dialogue between baker and bread eater is what determines the standard for artisan bread.

ABA Product Accreditation

All ABA standards are based on publicly reviewable criteria. Each bakery completes a survey about their artisan practice, and makes that standard available for public review and comment.

The standard is not set by industry, the media or the next big award event for bakers. It is set by the baker’s love of their craft and a desire to meaningfully interact with the people they are baking for.

Part of ABA's role is to provide bread eaters and industry with a clearer way of identifying genuine artisan produce and practices. ABA Accreditation for bakeries has been available since early 2007.

Artisan Baker™ ABA Marks

An ABAXX mark is a bakery's declaration that their product meet minimum criteria identified by consumers and bakers as being important to them.

The marks are available to ABA Accredited Bakeries as an optional tool to help bakers describe their goods to customers.

ABA SERIES 1™ - ABA Holistic Artisan™

Minimum Standards

ABA SERIES 2™ - ABA Traditional Artisan™

Minimum Standards

ABA SERIES 3™ - ABA Commercial Artisan™

Minimum Standards

Notes

• These are the minimum product standards. Products that exceed a marks standard, but do not qualify for the next mark, can state their precise ingredients on the bread label. e.g: ABA20: Wholemeal (50%), etc.
• Water and salt quality: Discussions will continue about the quality of water and salt required for each ABA Series™.
• Series 1 Artisan products must have a minimum of 80% content from the Country of Origin (CO). Exemptions are available in drought and for resource dependent countries, such as Singapore.
• Series 3 ABA32 is expected to have a minimum purity requirement of 80% organic flour by mid 2009.
• Series 3 ABA32 can not be labeled as "sourdough" because it contains commercial baker's yeast.
• ABA product standards are subject to change in response to the continuing dialogue between baker and bread eater.

• ABA do not represent products that have:
  Less than 50% organic flour
  No leaven fermented by the baker
  Industrially formulated bread improvers
  Commercial yeast added without pre-fermentation

Artisan Baker™ ABA Adjunct Trading Marks

HA (Holistic Artisan)
TA (Traditional Artisan)
CA (Commercial Artisan)

WF (Wood Fired)
FM (Freshly Milled)
HM (Hand Mixed)

SC (Sustainable Community)
CO (Country of Origin)
GS (Grey Salt)

FW (Filtered Water)
SW (Spring Water)
RW (Rain Water)

FAQ

Who can use the Artisan Baker™ABA Product Standard?

ABA Accredited Bakeries. Artisan Baker™ Accredited bakeries are featured on the worlds most popular sourdough web site, Sourdough Companion.

I am an ABA Accredited bakery. Do I have to use ABA Product Accreditation?

ABA Product Accreditation is completely voluntary. The marks are a device made available to ABA Accredited Bakeries. It is the bakers decision whether or not to distinguish an artisan product using the mark.

Who is ABA?

Artisan Baker Association (ABA) began in early 2007 and operates as a private association. ABA is a trade mark of Artisan Baker P/L, an incorporated company in Australia. We act independently of the commercial baking industry and do not endorse any industry groups (including BMIAA).

All descriptive trading terms on this page are trade marks of Artisan Baker, including: Artisan Baker, Artisan Baker Association (ABA), Artisan Baker Accredited (ABA), ABA standards 01 - 99, Series 1, Series 2, Series 3, Specialty Standards, ABA Holistic Artisan, ABA Traditional Artisan, ABA Commercial Artisan, HA, TA, CA and "The First Standard in Artisan Baking"; TM & © 2007/2008.