A Sunbury baker won first place in the baguette category of a national artisan baking competition, and placed second and third in a sourdough category for her signature recipes.
Ottimo Bakery of Sunbury, owned by baker Rebecca Bremner, placed first in the Baking Industry Trade Show 2024 National Artisan Baking Competition’s baguette class.
In the open sourdough class, Ms Bremner placed second for her spiced red lentil and turmeric sourdough and third for her olive and rosemary sourdough.
Ms Bremmer said that she was excited to win the competition with her signature recipes.
“I was excited and … a little bit overwhelmed, because it’s one thing to get your friends and customers to say it’s really good, but it’s another thing to be reviewed by peers and complete strangers and be told yours is up there with the best,” Ms Bremner said.
She said that the idea for her silver-winning spiced red lentil sourdough came from a desire to use ingredients that grow well in Australia and remind her of winter.
“When I sold it at the shop a couple of weeks ago, I had a pot of tasters there and people tasted it and bought it straight away, so that told me it’s good,” she said.
“I’ve had people make French toast out of the olive and rosemary loaf and they were just beaming with excitement about how it brought them back to something their mum made or their grandmother made – that sort of nostalgia … it is an honour to be able to give that experience to someone.”
Ms Bremner said that she enjoys living and working in Sunbury, where she often runs into customers outside of work.
“I even just met somebody in the supermarket before who stopped me and said ‘that biscuit that you sold me on the weekend, my daughter and I loved it. The flavours were so good.’ So, people see me now and want to talk about baking,” she said.
The first Annual Baking Trade Show was held in Melbourne in 2017, with this year’s show held from June 18–20 at Moonee Valley Racecourse.
Ottimo Bakery trades on Saturdays at the Just Planet Fairtrade Roastery & Espresso Bar at 37 O’Shanassy Street, Sunbury.
Oscar Parry
