Gold award for Counties Bakery pastry

A perfectly puffed Pukekohe pie has been served with a gold award in the 2016 Bakels Supreme Pie Awards.

Queen St’s Counties Bakery scooped the honour for its steak and gravy pie and owner of 15 years Michael Kuoy is thrilled.

It was the third time entering the awards and Kuoy said he was ‘‘speechless’’ to come away with a highly coveted gold.

‘‘It was third time lucky,’’ he said.

‘‘To win gold is quite hard because there are so many bakeries around the country.’’

Kuoy started making pies while he was still in high school and has perfected his technique along the way.

‘‘When you are making pastry it depends on the weather; if it’s too hot then the pastry is going to go soft.’’

‘‘And when you bake it, it has to get that golden brown.’’

Kuoy said a good pastry was what the judges looked at first.

‘‘It needs to have a good lift on it to make it through and after that it’s the tasting. Our pastry did it for us.’’

Unique flavours like cheeseburger and eggs Benedict now fill the cabinets at Counties Bakery - where Kuoy said he was always working on creating something different for his customers to try.

‘‘Next year we are going to be eyeing up that supreme award.’’

This year’s competition saw a panel of 21 judges spend 10 hours judging the pies.

The awards received over 5,000 entries from more than 500 entrants.

The pies were judged in the categories of mince and gravy; steak and gravy; chicken and vegetable; gourmet fruit; gourmet meat; vegetarian; bacon and egg; mince and cheese; steak and cheese; potato top; commercial wholesale mince and cheese; cafe boutique and supreme.

Kuoy also ranked in the top ten for his bacon and egg pie.

Other pie makers in the Franklin region won accolades as well.

The Fresh Bun Cafe in Tuakau won a silver award in the steak and gravy category, a highly commended for their chicken and vegetable and ranked in the top ten for mince and gravy.

The Target Bakehouse and Cafe also ranked in the top ten for its chicken and vegetable, vegetarian and bacon and egg pies.

The Supreme Pie Award went to Patrick Lam of Patrick’s Pie Group Gold Star Bakery, Tauranga for his bacon and egg pie.