Last week I saw a thing on Facebook about a local Bake Off hosted by the Mill Hill Baker's Collective - they offer a comercial kitchen in a recently renovated historic building that is available to rent to small bakers interested in starting their own business. My wife told me I should enter, and gave me a week night hall pass from helping with baby duties (and the little lady is currently having nuclear melt downs every night when she's ready for bed for some reason). So I took the opportunity and entered.
It was super fun! It wasn't terribly well organized, they just decided to put it on three weeks ago, but that did lead to a very low key low pressure fun atmosphere. The judges were three ladies - one is the owner of Macon Magazine, the other two are chefs, one of of which is a chef instructor at Helms College here in town, the other owns her own baking company. There were a few professional bakers in the contest, but most were home bakers like myself, and there was 11 of us total. Being such a last minute affair they didn't have different categories, it was basically run what ya brung. I was the only one there with bread, and got lots of positive feedback, which is always nice. People attending bought tickets for $1 each, and you traded your tickets for samples from the bakers. People could also vote on their favorite for a 'people's choice' winner.
Two people in particular made my day - one lady who is allergic to eggs and milk, my bread was the only thing there she could eat, and she was really excited about it and came back for 2nds and 3rds.
The other was this Russian lady who didn't seem to speak any English. Her 15yr old granddaughter was competing (and was selected as one of the top three bakers by the judges!), and she really liked my bread. A lot. She got three pieces. Then at the end of the event she came over and had 3 tickets left, I had four pieces left, and she wanted them all. She wrapped them up in napkins and took them home haha. She gave me a thumbs up and said "I vote you!" and her daughter told me she had indeed voted for me as her favorite...even tho her grand daughter was also competing hahaha. I also find it very suspicious that the only English she seemed to know involves voting....
Anyhow, it was super fun, everyone was friendly, and it was nice talking with all the other bakers. I happened to know some folks there, they worked with my wife. I set up next to Tina and her pit crew, and Jack, their office manager, was there with his step mother who made these cinnamon rolls that were so good they'd change your life. She won, and she deserved it.
I'll be back next year for sure!
OK. Pics. I made two loaves of cranberry walnut sourdough. Mixed up the dough just after lunch on Monday, put them in the fridge Monday night, and baked them at 3:30 on Weds, the competition was Weds night. They turned out pretty good.
My dough just before going into the oven
https://i.imgur.com/8Qri5eu.jpg
Done!
https://i.imgur.com/rpxwpd5.jpg
Me at my table. I didn't do much for 'presentation'.
https://i.imgur.com/ejRjNEF.jpg
The 15yr old's cake. It was really good.
https://i.imgur.com/qEdIoFi.jpg
The winning cinnamon rolls. These things were amazing!!
https://i.imgur.com/5RufFW4.jpg
My neighbor Tina - Christmas in April. Gingerbread cookies (her own recipe) with homemade buttercream. Really good, and I don't really even like gingerbread that much.
https://i.imgur.com/oGT4oP2.jpg
My other neighbor, she's a librarian, and her 'everything including the sink' oatmeal cookies were fantastic.
https://i.imgur.com/Z4qZRiz.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/b7pZ8QB.jpg
Grandma's pound cake
https://i.imgur.com/NoaOQQR.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/nA8RA1p.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/WY6A0dL.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/4FYNUSE.jpg
This husband and wife duo's raspberry tarts won the people's choice
https://i.imgur.com/C1RzS25.jpg
They did a great job renovating this building, it's beautiful. It's a good step in improving the neighborhood it's in.
https://i.imgur.com/4XLKs8a.jpg
