Bellarine bakery rolls annual pie competition once again

A BELLARINE bakery has once again risen to the top at Australia’s Best Pie and Pastie competition, adding two more national titles to their already bulging trophy room.

Rolling Pin Pies and Cakes, which started in Ocean Grove, took their national title tally to 24 last week by taking home Australia’s Best Chunky Beef Pie and Australia’s Best Poultry Pie for their jumbo chunky beef and chicken, leek and tarragon pies respectively at the annual Baking Association of Australia industry awards in Sydney.

A total of 1,500 pies were examined during the event, with 348 bakeries from across the country baking it out to try and take home Australian bragging rights in ten categories.

Rolling Pin Pies and Cakes general manager Nathan Williams said that the feeling of winning certainly hasn’t worn off despite the business’ repeated success.

“We are super stoked… over the moon really, it’s always amazing to bring back some silverware from competition,” he said.

“The feeling of winning never gets old, however it is still just as stressful going into competition.

“Because of the achievements we have had over the years, we go in having very high expectations each time.

“Once upon a time we would have been proud with walking away with a silver medal… but now, if we don’t get a major category or award it can be disappointing.

“It was certainly a lot of relief when we heard our name get called out… we certainly enjoyed it and are absolutely thrilled.”

Mr Williams said that it was fantastic to see both one of their newer pie and one of their staple dishes win awards this year.

“We actually entered a version of the chicken, leek and tarragon in last year’s competition and it got some good scores.

“We made some tweaks this time round, which were obviously the right tweaks to get us across the line in that major poultry category.

“In comparison, our chunky beef pie is our most awarded pie ever and actually won the overall best pie in this competition in 2013.

“It’s won 15 gold medals over the years. It’s arguably our most popular pie too… everyone loves a chunky beef pie!”

Mr Williams said the team continue to be humbled by the community support for their pies and would endeavour to continue to make the best pies possible.

“We are always looking for improvement to make us even better.

“It’s getting harder to win these awards with the amount of quality bakeries coming up.

“We are just super thrilled.”

Locals can taste the winning pies at any of the five Rolling Pin’s locations in Ocean Grove, Leopold, Queenscliff and South Geelong.

For more, head to www.rollingpin.com.au