INDEPENDENT BAKERIES

1 THE PANTRY (Rosebank) What the judges said:

The pies looked good and appeared neat but it was agreed that although it was well flavoured, the pastry was rolled out too thick. The filling was good, but the judges felt it lacked taste, commenting that it was “easy to eat” but “underwhelming”. One judge thought it looked like it had been made by a friend who is not yet 100% confident in their baking prowess. R120 for six

2 GLENDA’S (Hyde Park) What the judges said:

Made as bite-sized edibles, the judges thought they looked homemade but liked the smaller size. One commented that it offered the perfect post-dinner mouthful if you didn’t want to eat a whole mince pie. Unfortunately, the puff pastry was overworked, which made for a tough chew. The filling, however, redeemed it. The panel liked the spice and zest as well as the consistency, and declared it the best filling of the day. R150 for 10

3 FRESH EARTH (Randburg)

What the judges said: We felt it only fair to tell the judges that this was a gluten-free pie. They thought it looked neat and smelled good but the pastry was crumbly and lacked structure. The flavour was fair but the taste was described as “standard”. One judge felt that it couldn’t compare with the other pies given it’s gluten-free recipe. That said, it didn’t rank last. R64 for four

4 PATISSERIE DE PARIS (Blairgowrie ) What the judges said:

Although unique-looking, this pie did not impress the judges, who said the lid was too thick and the filling had boiled over. Overall, it did not look professional. Despite the judges not likinge the Christmas tree pastry work, the base pastry was described as good, albeit bland. The filling was overly zesty, with an overpowering, bitter orange taste. R72 for six

5 BREAD ALONE (Randburg) What the judges said:

The consensus was that this looked like a pot pie and was not visually appealing. The judges picked up on what appeared to be two types of pastry for the base and the lid. They commented that the base pastry had a savoury taste while the lid was too thick. They also felt the filling lacked flavour and was overpowered by chunks of apple. They were disappointed and struggled to find positive characteristics. R51 for six