With the ANZBake Competition looming, the Team Australia members have been announced.

The four members who will take on Team New Zealand this year are Jonny Pisanelli (pastry) and Brendon Woodward (baker), who will be joined by 2024 Excellence in Baking winners William Nickl (apprentice pastry) and Connor Biesler (apprentice baker).

Baking Association of Australia executive officer Tony Smith said the 2025 competition was shaping up to be a big one.

“The criteria has been increased so it’s more intense,” he said, adding that the competitors would be required to make up to 60 products in some categories so that the audience could also have a taste.

“The Australian team are currently in in training and the Kiwis are going to come back fighting… so we had to make sure we had the right team.”

The 2025 ANZBAke competition will see each team be given four hours of preparation and weigh up time on the Wednesday prior to the competition. Then, on July 17, the bread team will get to work making:

• Traditional baguette
• Rye bread
• Sourdough loaf – innovative (competitor’s choice)
• Pretzels

Then the apprentices will go solo to make Mulitgrain tinned bread.

On the pastry front, the pastry team will make:

• Laminated yest goods
• Puff pastry
• Layered cake slice – petit fours

Then the pastry apprentices make sweet pastry – lemon meringue petit fours.

Tony said there were a number of really good candidates when the nominations for Team Australia opened up, but that Jonny and Brendon had stood out.

“We believe it’s one of the best Australian teams assembled,” he said.

Brendon is currently the head baker at Loulou and Sol Bread & Wine, while Jonny has recently moved in consulting and is part of Team Australia heading to compete in the Panettone World Championship.

The ANZBAke Competition will be held at the 2025 Baking Industry Trade Show in Sydney.