Jimmy Griffin a, is a sixth-generation master baker from Galway Ireland. He has forty years of experience in the bakery industry, growing up in the family business. He is a specialist in Viennoiserie, sourdough, bread and cake production. He is a lecturer at the School of Culinary Arts and Food Technology at TU Dublin, Ireland. He holds a Masters Degree in Food Product Development and Culinary Innovation. He is also a regular visitor to The School of Artisan Food at Welbeck in the UK and the Deutsches Baker Akademie in Weinheim, Germany, where he teaches laminated and non-laminated Viennoiserie. Jimmy regularly teaches and judges globally and, in recent times, has demonstrated and given classes in Brazil, Japan, Taipei, Iceland, Spain, France, Germany, Belgium, Poland, Croatia, Italy, USA and Russia, to name but a few. He also works as an advisor and consultant to industry. Jimmy grew up being competitive and, as an apprentice, won many national bakery competitions. Later in his career, he represented Ireland and competed in the European Championships as the viennoiserie candidate three times, winning bronze at the Coupe D' Europe de la Boulangerie 1997. He went on to coach the very successful Irish bakery team from 2002 until 2005. Jimmy has also been an international bakery jury member since 2001 for most of the world championships and world master's competitions, the bakery Olympics of the industry. In 2016, Jimmy was appointed as President of the Jury at the Coupe du Monde de la Boulangerie in Paris. He regularly lectures and teaches overseas and has been involved with baking and competitions in most continents of the world. In 2015, he was also honoured by his Russian colleagues and awarded an Honorary Professorship from Stavropol University in Russia. In May 2019, he came out of competitive retirement to compete in the Coupe du Monde Chocolatine in Toulouse, France, winning the world silver medal for his creations in hand-laminated pastry at the event. He is very active on social media platforms and regularly updates his pages with exciting recipes, procedures, and products. Married to his wife Bogna, Jimmy has three children: Dillon (24), Janice (23) and Sophie (15) (2021). In addition to his test-baking passion, Jimmy is a licenced fixed-wing pilot, an aerobatic pilot, a seaplane pilot, a judo blackbelt instructor, a divemaster and a former marathon runner. He is currently studying to become a flight instructor. He enjoys writing, and his honours degree dissertation titled "An investigative study into the beneficial use of seaweed in bread and the broader food industry" has been viewed and downloaded over 6000 times. He has published 5 books on bakery recipes and methods in the last 15 months. He is the former President of the Alliance for Bakery Students and Trainees ABST and has been a jury member at the annual student competitions for over seven years. Jimmy is committed to the education of the youth as he sees the future of the industry in the hands of the youth and enjoys passing on and sharing his knowledge with them all. The Art of Lamination is not only a book, it is supported, complemented and updated with an array of social media platforms. Jimmy's YouTube channel http: //www.youtube.com/c/JimmyGriffinbaking has videos of many of the aspects of the book. Jimmy's website, http: //jimmyg.ie, has a wealth of information on baking and lamination, and his vibrant personal FaceBook page is updated daily. https: //www.facebook.com/jimmy.griffin.378. In addition, he has Instagram accounts @jimmyg51, @theartoflamination and a FaceBook page https: //www.facebook.com/theartoflamination/ dedicated to the books.
