Jason at work making his world-famous bread (Photo: Kevin Quinn ’19).
April 1, 2019 — While Northwood’s Junior Hockey team is currently ranked third in the nation and the soccer team was ranked second last fall, Northwood is ranked number one in something else: bread. Students, faculty, Lake Placid locals, and people from around the world have come to associate Northwood with delicious homemade bread.
Northwood has one man to thank for its reputation as a bastion for baked goods: Mr. Jason Hicks-Moriarty, known at Northwood and around the worldwide bread community as simply “Jason.”
At the New York State Independent School Bread Making Championships held last month at the Culinary Institute of America in Poughkeepsie, Jason absolutely obliterated his competition. He earned a perfect score of 10 out of 10 on his signature sourdough loaf, and a 9.5 on his honey bread, for a composite score of 9.75.
Tim Panera from Albany Academy, the second place finisher with a composite score of 7.6 said, “Everyone knew from the start that Jason was going to win. The competition was really a battle for second place. Jason should be in a division of his own. His bread is otherworldly. The students at Northwood are incredibly lucky.”
On Northwood’s recent Revisit Day, every admitted student was given a loaf of Jason’s bread, and 28 out of the 30 students signed their contracts for the 2019-2020 school year immediately after tasting the homemade creation.
The next step for Jason is the Class A 2019 United States Bread Championship at Johnson and Wales Culinary School in Denver, Colorado. He will be going up against Food Network Star Rachael Ray among other world-class bakers. Ray was hesitant to comment for this story, but she told a friend, “I’m scared to go up against Jason. I’ve heard his bread has a certain power over people.”
Fifty bread bakers from around the United States qualified for the Class A Championships for an ultimate bake-off, but all but six of the bakers withdrew from the competition after learning that Jason would participate. “If he’s in, I’m out. Nobody can beat Jason,” tweeted defending champion Alyson Arnold of Austin, Texas, who is famous for her aromatic seeded rye.
If Jason can meet expectations and win in Denver, he will travel to the town of Laruscade in southwest France, considered by many as the “Bread Capital of the World,” for The Class A World Bread Making Championships. Winning this competition will earn Jason $100,000 in cash prizes and a deal with Pepperidge Farms, the global bread brand, who will put Jason’s bread in stores worldwide.
