Last week, the NBIA was excited to support the 2022 King of Bakers Bread Show, as part of the Heritage Bank Toowoomba Royal Show. With more than 550 entries, competition was fierce, and the judges had a huge task ahead of them to determine who would receive the major, regional, and class awards at the presentation dinner.
The competition takes place in March each year and is open to bakers and pastry cooks of all levels throughout the region. Unfortunately, due to flooding in southeast Queensland, many exhibits couldn’t be delivered, resulting in a slightly lower number of competitors.
Event coordinator, Damon Phillips, who has been organising the show for more than 20 years said, “The quality of product being exhibited is getting better and better each year, and supply shortages due to COVID and local flooding this year, have not been a deterrent”.
This year’s competition had nine Sections including Bread, Cake, Apprentice Section, Commercial, Meat Pies, Sausage Rolls, Pasties, School Based Section, and Feature Products. For the first time in the history of the competition, a Donut class was added to the Feature Products Section, bringing the total number of classes to 47 and making the competition one of the largest of its kind.
Chief Steward, Mark Dennien, said, “The quality of the exhibits is rising each year, making it harder to judge. Our judges are focusing on the finer details to help with choosing a winner”.
For the first time in 20+ years, two bakeries (Born and Bread Bakery and Antony’s Bakery) received the same final score, which resulted in a tie for the King of Bakers Championship. As per the competition rules, the winner who receives more first places throughout the competition is awarded the championship title. Congratulations to Born and Bread Bakery as overall winner, and to all who competed, your entries were all high-quality and are a credit to your business. Click here to download the final complete results for the competition.
Left to right: Jae Thomas, Leif Madsen, Stewart Evans, Andrew Newbold, Bruce Pearson, Mark Dennien, and Chris Hurford.
On behalf of the show and all who competed we would like to say thank you to the following industry experts for giving their time and expertise in judging the competition: Jae Thomas (Allied Pinnacle), Leif Madsen (EOI Peerless Foods), Stewart Evans (Allied Pinnacle), Andrew Newbold (Vanrooy Machinery), Bruce Pearson (Goodman Fielder), Mark Dennien (NBIA & Kialla), Chris Hurford (BITA), and Janet Blythman (LB Exports).
Our thanks also go out to competition sponsors National Baking Industry Association, Allied Pinnacle, Australian Bakels, All About Bakery Equipment, Brumby’s, EOI Peerless Foods, Heritage Bank, Homestyle Bake, Kialla Pure Foods, Lesaffre Australia Pacific, Manildra Group, Mauri, Moffat Bakery Equipment, Pleasant Foods, TRS Catering Equipment, and Woolworths. Without you, the event would not be possible.
