The queue was out of the door at Clareville Bakery in Carterton last weekend as customers flocked to try its tasty fare, including a new award-winning offering.
The bakery, which celebrates its 10th birthday in September, scooped first place at this year’s Bakels NZ Supreme Pie Awards in the Apprentice Pie Maker category.
Second-year baking apprentice, Amie Irwin, beat over 30 other hopefuls with her slow cooked lamb, rosemary, caramelised onion and vintage cheese pie, to be named Apprentice Pie Maker of the Year.
Michael Kloeg, who with his wife, Roze, owns and runs Clareville Bakery, is extremely proud of Irwin’s persistence to land the perfect pie.
“Amie put a phenomenal amount of work into tweaking things, trying different methods for the pastry,” Kloeg said.
“The flavour combinations she revisited quite a number of times until she found something she was really, really happy with and I think the judges were really happy with as well.”
One of the trickier components of pie-making is the pastry, and it took a collaborative team effort to help Irwin consistently produce the perfect flake and rise to her puff pastry.
“Puff pastry is a very temperamental product,” Kloeg said.
“It requires the ‘right’ temperature. Too cold and the butter will crack and shatter. Too warm, and the butter melts into the dough and you lose your flake.
“It can be very frustrating when you think you’ve done exactly the same thing and it comes out slightly different than what you wanted.”
Irwin’s win at the pie awards is extremely satisfying for Kloeg and his team.
“It’s a confirmation that what [Irwin] has made has been appreciated and acknowledged at the highest level.”
It’s important feedback for a bakery that specialises in “yummy food”, and is a testament to the commitment and talent of his team, Kloeg said.
“We’ve got a fantastic team that is really passionate about making yummy food,” he said. “And when we say yummy, that is very, very yummy.
“As a team, we try to push one another and push ourselves to be able to provide the best products for our customers.”
Irwin’s accolade and Clareville’s other awards give everyone a boost, Kloeg said.
“From Irwin’s colleagues in the bakery to the front-of-house staff, they’re thrilled. The customers are thrilled.”
Irwin’s lamb pie is now a strong seller at the Clareville Bakery, which routinely shifts 1,200 pies, several hundred cronuts and over a thousand loaves of bread a week.
“It has certainly seen an increase in customers coming in to try the pie,” Kloeg said.
“When they walk away with a smile on their face, that’s amazing.”
