Gold prize for pie

THE Elmore Bakery has brought back gold from this year’s Official Great Aussie Pie Competition.

The shop’s pulled beef, jalapeno and cheese pie wowed judges in Sydney last week amongst thousands of other entries from around the country.

Bakery co-owner Travis Wilson said the pie started as a weekend special, but its gold medal win has earned it a permanent spot on the menu.

“We really did want to get something recognised to say ‘yes, this is a great pie’ and this is definitely what’s helped us put it on the menu,” he said.

“We might have to take a pie off to put this one on but it’s definitely worthwhile.”

The filling was created by his business partner, Nathan Bowes, and Mr Wilson said hours of cooking went into creating the award-winning flavour.

“We give the pulled beef a really nice barbecue rub and then we slowly cook it for hours and hours until it’s really tender,” he said.

“Then we make the gravy with the stock which gives it even more punch and the jalapenos give it a bit of bite. It’s an absolutely beautiful pie.

“I’m so proud of the baking team as well. We’ve got eight bakers now and they work really hard all the time.”

Renovations are almost complete at the bakery’s Elmore location and Mr Wilson said the East Bendigo shop on Kennedy Street is set for a revamp next year.

With a new oven and kettle capable of cooking 100 kilograms of pie filling at a time, he said his team was bracing for a busy festive season.

“We’ve got a bigger baking area to cope with the demand and already we’re seeing a massive amount of traffic going into Elmore, and the Bendigo store is the same,” Mr Wilson said.

“Every month we’ve seen bigger sales. We just can’t keep up at the moment, so we’re really excited for Christmas.

“We’re thinking maybe we could do a Christmas pie. I’m thinking turkey, so we’ll have a play with that.”