Judging

New Zealand Bakery of the Year™ 2010

This year’s New Zealand Bakery of the Year Competition™ will be judged live for the first time at Fine Food New Zealand. As always, we have some of the baking industry’s best experts involved in the process of deciding who New Zealand’s Bakery of the Year will be. Find out who they are and get some valuable tips for making sure your entry stands the best possible chance of winning an award.

The Chief Judge

Paul Hansen of Yarrows (The Bakers) Ltd has more than 40 year’s experience in the baking industry, including some years as owner of his owner bakery and restaurant. He has nurtured and established a number of baking competitions aimed at raising skill levels in the industry, often acting as a judge for competitions locally and internationally. While with NZ Bakels he established the Pie of the Year awards and was recently appointed auditor of the Bakels Supreme Pie Awards as it is now known. Paul is the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from BIANZ, a rare breed.

He sums up his approach to judging like this: “People enter a competition putting forward their best effort and as a Judge you respect this foremost. When I look at a cluster of product on show I make very sure I understand the competition brief and Product Specifications asked for first, then mark them as individual items to these specs. The Specifications set the bench mark. Attention to detail and consistency are primary considerations for me when viewing batch baked items for example. There is a tremendous amount of effort and pride on show in any competition so you start by treating them as and respecting them as equals. It’s just such a great industry with very passionate people in it.”

The Auditor

Gary Cameron got into baking by accident, having served an apprenticeship in sheet metal and coppersmith, (five years of purgatory he says), then after managing Service Stations, selling used cars, and driving for TipTop Ice cream, went into a seven day Dairy with his wife Jean. After selling the dairy, he agreed to help out the late Jack Almao driving a delivery van for two weeks. He left Big Ben (later Goldenbake) as the Factory manager making pies and Golden Crumpets after seven years. He joined Jack Almao buying Collins Bakery in Lower Hutt. Over the next 30 years Gary served on local and New Zealand Apprenticeship committees, and was also a negotiator with the Unions on Wage awards, for the Society, in the National Awards Days. (That was Fun!!)

Gary was introduced to The Baking Society by Jack, who was a close friend of Ray Walker. He got involved with the competition early on working with John and Hannie Van Til, being the gofer, bread cutter etc, and took over when they retired. Gary says he has had a great time being involved over the years, with the baking, the competition, the people, the ups and downs etc, and still believes training our young people is the way to go. Gary and Jean have helped 26 young people into level 4 baking, something they are proud of. They are especially proud that one of their apprentices, Natilee Orbell, won the Weston Milling Apprentice of the year in 2003.

The Judges

Ralf Schmidt has been a full time Key Lecturer and the Programme Leader in Baking at the Manukau Institute of Technology since 2004. He has worked as a pastry chef in numerous situations around the world, been involved in Quality Control, Operations and Food Safety, carried out assessor training, and taken part in international food shows as a competitor and a judge. All this came after starting his career as a kitchen officer in the German Navy following his apprenticeship as a confectioner at a hotel in Frankfurt. He describes his approach to judging: “I like to see accurate and clean work, which reflects the personality or ideas of the baker. Baking is a very old trade and new aspects are hard to incorporate, so it's a challenge to make those products right for modern tastes and dietary requirements. It's also a pleasure to see how different cultures influence traditional products.”

Matt Armstrong has been involved in the baking industry approximately 15 years. He completed his apprenticeship in 1998, were I gain Trade Certificate qualification in Cake Baking, Pastry cooking and Bread Baking combined.

Matt is currently employed by Yarrows the Bakers Ltd and works in New Plymouth, with responsibility for technical & training support and sales & marketing. He also works closely with bakery research and development teams at Yarrows the Bakers Ltd and Gilles.

Matt says he been lucky enough to have travelled all over the world and experience firsthand our exciting trade and how passionate bakery industry people are. “I am very privileged and excited to have been asked to be one of the judges for this event.  My approach to the judging will focusing on all aspects of the baking trade, from baking techniques to execution and most of all visual appearance, taste and the wow factor. I wish all the entrants well for the upcoming competition.”

Parisian born Bruno Falco trained in his home city in a boulangerie patisserie. After working for some years in Paris he moved to London to work in different areas of his trade, including a bakery, restaurant, hotel and shop, as well as a large factory, La Maison Des Sorbet. Bruno then decided to go to Sydney in Australia and do more hotel work, but finally ended up in New Zealand, where he owned his own boulangerie-patisserie for four years. He is currently employed at the French Bakery in Christchurch.

About the competition, he says, “First of all I want to wish all the competition entrants the best of luck. What I will be looking for when I am judging the competition is beauty for the eyes, good flavors so I don’t have to guess what it is, consistency, and the right balance between ingredient and textures.”

Marcus Braun is currently lecturing Baking & Patisserie at CPIT. He trained initially as a Pastry Chef in a hotel environment. Marcus has also worked in some of New Zealand’s top bakeries and hotels, including owning his own bakery business for seven years. He was elected to represent members on the Executive of the BIANZ in 2003, a role which he relinquished after selling his business and starting his teaching career. Marcus has competed in baking competitions himself and been awarded gold medals nationally and internationally in numerous baking, cookery and patisserie competitions. He has and still participates as a manager and coach to chef and bakery student teams to compete on the competition stage, with great success, including winning the coveted Toque d’Or and ANZBAKE titles.

Renny Aprea is currently a Senior Lecturer on the Patisserie Programme at AUT University. Renny’s judging history has been varied and long. He has, for the past three years, acted as Chief Judge for the Fiji National Culinary Fare, assisted the Chief Judge at the Auckland Regional Culinary Fare and Judged as Senior/Head Judge at National Culinary Fare for over 14 yrs, in Hot Kitchen, Static and Patisserie. Renny holds a Level 4 Judges unit standard and is currently completing Level 5. As a Patisserie Lecturer and Judge for Culinary and Patisserie Competitions his focus is Professional Practice first and foremost. He says, “Attention to detail and presentation are paramount for me as a judge, or as a consumer, whether it is a meal in a restaurant, purchase in a patisserie, or assessing a brand new student learning to be a pastry chef or chef. Innovation, individuality, commitment as well as a strong sense of understanding, and respect for the process and ingredients required to perform those tasks necessary to present a good product, while following proper safe food practices are all important.