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THEY said it couldn't be done, but Parkes is now a world record holder. And by a huge margin. Producing 13 loaves of bread from a standing wheat in the paddock to the final product in less than 18 minutes 11 seconds was the record held by a UK baker. But at a paddock near the Parkes Radio Telescope yesterday in front of a huge crowd, local farmer Neil Unger and baker Morten Staer smashed the mark by almost two minutes. The new world record is 16 minutes 30.87 seconds, and three eminent judges - Leader of the Nationals Warren Truss, radio broadcaster Alan Jones and Parkes mayor Ken Keith - were there to make sure it was all official. The mark will now be submitted for inclusion in the Guinness Book of Records. But wait, there's more. There will be another attempt at a world record next year - possibly as an individual, rather than a team. The Paddock to Plate attempt attracted a huge crowd and went off without a hitch. The man behind the event, Neil Unger, banged a hammer on a plough disc to officially start the record attempt. Judges Truss, Jones and Keith started their stop watches and off a huge header went into the paddock, harvesting wheat. It stopped near a tabletop truck which had all of the milling and other equipment - and an oven. There was a quick dash from the header with a bucket of grain to the milling equipment, which quickly produced flour. Renowned bakery consultant with the Grain Growers Association, Morten Staer then went to work producing dough for the 13 loaves of bread. They were then placed into 13 trays and into a portable oven, constructed especially for the attempt. From the time it took to start the harvester and place the loaves into the oven, just 4.25 minutes had passed. This was well in front of the world record mark, and organisers were feeling good about their chances of the record. Then came the long, long wait of 11.5 minutes for the loaves to be baked. The crowd waited anxiously as Judge Alan Jones and MC Barry Green counted down the minutes, then the seconds, for the oven to be opened and the "hopeful" loaves of bread to be produced. The time arrived and the loaves were removed and placed on a large table - and the stop watches stopped. The three judges stopped their clocks within hundredths of a second of each other - with the official average time of 16 minutes, 30.87 seconds and the crowd went wild. But there was still the official nod of approval to be received. Baker Brad Faint - who had received only one hour's sleep from a night session of his own - had the task of determining whether the loaves actually were cooked, and just as importantly, edible. He was quick to give the thumbs-up - and the record was securely in Parkes' hands. The details, video, affidavits, reports have to be sent off for the record to be officially recognised but Neil Unger sees no problems with that at all. "We're the record holders, and we going to give it another go next year to see if we can go even better," he said. "Or we'll try the individual record, with Morten having to do everything himself, no assistance at all. "The present record actually starts from the header, but we might get Morten to drive the harvester as well. Then we will have a unique record as well." The world record attempt was held "so we could take it off the Poms," but also to raise funds for Currajong Disability Services (CDS) of which Neil is president. It is now expected the portable oven built for the record will be made available for hire as a pizza oven to continue to raise funds for CDS. Also assisting in the teamwork of the record attempt was Deb Collier (Neil's daughter). o Editor's note: the bread was quite tasty and certainly edible. Portions of the bread were handed around to the crowd and all gave it the thumbs-up. Judge Alan Jones even described it as "magnificent, you don't even need butter".

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