Dream Team 2011 winners!

They came bearing Triple Ginger Bread. Pumpkin Cream Cheese Sweet Bread. Cranberry-almond coffee cake. Tall, fluffy biscuits and ten kinds of cornbread.

The line of bakers from across Tidewater came to our downtown Norfolk office on Sunday bearing these and a bounty of other breads in hopes of winning a spot on The Virginian-Pilot’s 2011 Dream Team.

In a windowless auditorium, they fidgeted, worried and watched as a panel of judges – including professional pastry chefs, bakery owners and cookbook authors – studied and scored each made-from-scratch entry. (That's Chef Don Averso and cookbook author Bobbie Williamson in the picture on the right evaluating cornbread. Below are the coffee cake entries.)

When they finished, 15 bakers emerged as members of this year’s Dream Team. In September, these first-, second- and third-place creations will be delivered to the State Fair of Virginia outside Richmond to compete with bakers statewide in the “quick bread” division.

The esteemed panel of judges predicted that my plan to return to Tidewater with a car full of ribbons is spot on.

Consider, for example, Heidi Robertson’s cilantro-topped batter bread. It almost knocked Dream Team judge Chef Jonathan Highfield off his feet.

“The melding of flavors, the intensity,” said Highfield, a certified executive pastry chef and one of the founding chefs of the Culinary Institute of Virginia in Norfolk. “It totally blew us away.”

Thank you to all who entered. I’ll post recipes AFTER the state fair. We’re not giving away any secrets until then!

And now, presenting The Virginian-Pilot’s 2011 Dream Team

Biscuits
1st – Anne Covington Urbi, Norfolk
2nd – Emily Foster
3rd – Devona McGill, Virginia Beach

Cornbread
1st – Jennifer England, Chesapeake
2nd- Kim Gilkerson, Virginia Beach
3rd – Danhof VanDyke, Eastville

Coffee cakes
1st- Glenda Prentiss, Virginia Beach
2nd – Joy Richardson, Windsor
3rd – Harriet West, Chesapeake

Batter Bread
1st-Heidi Robertson, Norfolk
2nd- Barbara McCandless, Norfolk
3rd- Chanelle Holloman, Hampton

Fruit or nut
1st – Linda Montgomery, Virginia Beach
2nd – Valerie Heard, Chesapeake
3rd – Louann Van Pelt, Norfolk

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