Kai Pai Bakery took home a bronze and silver award at the Bakels supreme pie awards this week.
They had entered about 10 pies across different categories which were all judged on the pie top, base, filling and other baking properties such as visual appeal.
The local bakery came second in the commercial category and third for their mince and cheese pie, but baker Jason Danielson said this was not their best year.
"Normally we get a gold or a lot higher than a lot of the other grades," he said.
He was particularly disappointed that their chicken pie, which had been a gold winner for two years in a row, did not place this year.
"I believe this year we made probably our best chicken pie we’ve ever made," he said.
With over 5000 pies being judged across all of the categories, Mr Danielson said the awards were getting more and more competitive.
He felt that the growing number of pie entries and innovation in the industry has driven bakers to think more creatively about what they bring to the awards.
"It’s just getting better and better," he said.
"They’re going outside the square. When you look at the potato top that won and it had a gratin in the middle, you wouldn’t even think of that."
Having taken part in the competition for about seven years, Mr Danielson was a fountain of knowledge on what makes a good pie.
Getting that flaky pastry just right was the first priority then came the seasoning in order to get the flavour just right.
The bakery’s award-winning mince and cheese pie was a good example of having simple seasoning that complemented the filling.
"We have a pie seasoning made up for us, and then we just have pepper, salt, and we have beef stock in it and onions ... simple but good." he said.
