Pie champion has another crack at national awards

Good old home cooking is the secret behind a pie-making title defence from award-winning Masterton baker Michael Kloeg and his team, he says.
Mr Kloeg and his team at Ten O'Clock Cookie Bakery Café for the fourth year running have entered their pies in the national Bakels Supreme Pie Awards.
Last year the Queen Street bakery took a gold award in the mince and gravy pie category of the competition and beat out about 350 other entries from across New Zealand.
"The winning pie last year was actually inspired by a recipe my wife uses at home. It's basically just home cooking and we're using that same basic formula this year as well.
"The ingredients that I believe distinguish our mince pies are the curry we use and just a bit of brown sugar. It gives the filling a sort of sweetness that hopefully will be hard to beat - again."
The Masterton bakery has also entered nine other categories in the contest including gourmet meat, gourmet fruit, bacon and egg, mince and cheese, seafood and steak and cheese, he said.
"I am cautiously optimistic we can hold on to the title this year, but the gold we took last year really is no mean feat when you consider the competition. Imagine 350 pies on a bench and your pie wins. That's not an easy thing to do," he said.
Awards spokeswoman Cath Saunders said there are a record number of entries in the contest this year with 388 bakeries represented from across New Zealand and about 4000 pies onsite at the Auckland judging rooms yesterday.
She said the contest this year is also distinguished with the numbers entered of Asian bakeries, which make up 60 percent of the contestants. She said two other Wairarapa bakeries have also thrown their hats in the ring this year including Barbees Café in Masterton and the Wild Oats Café in Carterton. "The latest Statistics NZ Economics Survey clearly states that the pie market is a buoyant one and is worth in excess of $120 million. The same survey found burgers are worth $89 million," she said.
The NZ Bakels Supreme Pie Award winner will receive $7500cash and the winners will be announced next week.