The tight competition for this year's State Fair top baker award
The best bakers of Minnesota submitted their breads, cakes, cookies and pies and this year there was a tie for Supreme Baker — or so they thought. Chad O'Leary and Kimberly Maize both were named the Supreme Bakers for this year. But then in a twist, competition organizers realized they made a mistake. Cathy Wurzer spoke with runner-up Chad O’Leary.
The following transcript has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Welcome to Minnesota Now, Chad.
Thanks, Cathy. Here's what happened. There was a miscounting of points and I ended up losing by one yellow ribbon.
Oh, you are kidding.
Yes. And so I am second best. I am the runner-up. I'm proud of the accomplishment.
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You should be. Tell me a little bit about yourself.
I currently live in Maplewood. I am a teacher in the White Bear Lake District. I teach AP Biology and 10th graders.
So what did you enter this year that got you to nearly the top of the mountain?
I entered roughly, I believe 14 or 15 things total. I leaned heavy into sweet rolls this year. I also was really fascinated by some classic recipes from Italy. And so I kind of leaned into that with with their play on citrus. And yeah, every year I just tried to explore some new avenues and keep it interesting.
What have you learned over these many years of entering?
I think that the key thing is to be teachable. There are many lessons that you can learn from others. And just through observation as you go along. As a science person, it's trial and error. It's going through it seeing what works and what doesn't. My garbage can gets just as much baked goods as people do. Just kind of trying things here and there.
Tell me about those that did not make it.
Well with baking, it's so precise. And that's part of the reason why I love it — unlike cooking, where it's just kind of a pinch of this or dash of that. That causes me immense anxiety. I like following a set script. But you do want to try new things. And so if you're trying new things, a lot of times it doesn't work, but you learn from it and what made it not work and you avoid that next time, and perhaps you come up with some new ideas of what you want to try the next time around.
What's the highest compliment you've ever been paid for something you've made?
I think that the highest compliment came when my grandmother was still alive. I made a carrot cake for Easter and it was before she started to go downhill mentally. And she had commented that this is the best cake she's ever had. To me, that means far more than any title at the State Fair.
So this year, it sounds like it was a pretty bare knuckles and sharp elbow competition. I mean, there was a lot going on.
Yeah, there were a lot more entries this year than in last year. I believe just kind of looking at the numbers, I could be wrong, but it looked like there were a greater number this year than the previous year. Which is fine because now I go in and there's more to compare my stuff to. I already have a list of two or three things where I missed the ball and I know what I am going to do next time.
Are you able to see the judges’ comments?
Yes, and no, it depends on the judge. So at the end of the fair, we will get little slips of paper back with a score on there. A number of score out of 100 and sometimes there'll be some comments there about specifically what they liked. But once you've done it enough you can kind of see through the cases how yours compares to others who, you know, got the ribbons.
I mean, granted, you can't taste them. I'd love to go in the first day and have the key to the cases and really sample the competition, but you can see some differences. Like my chiffon cakes didn't rise as high as some of the other. So I know that's something that I have to work on going forward.
Have you entered other edibles and other competitions?
Bee and Honey also has a baking division and I've done that. As a science person, I love that competition because you have to minimize or completely eliminate sugar. And so you're using honey as your sweetener and well, there's moisture involved there. You have to play with the matrix of your ingredients in order for it to come out and it takes some trial and error. But I really like tinkering around with that and submitting to that group of competitions as well.
What's your plan for next year?
My plan for next year is write everything down. So I journal how I did and I have a list of the order that I prepared things. And I already noticed that there was kind of a downhill slope on how I did over the course of of the evening. And so there are some things like temperature of butter that I need to be paying more attention to and getting more rise, like I said, on my chiffon cakes.
There are other things where I just didn't enjoy making it. And I won't do that again because there's other things that I can lean into. I have a year to think about it and I do think about it most of the year and try things out. It is a great thing to be doing during the winter, baking in your warm kitchen. And so yeah, that's going be the process.
Audio transcript
The best bakers of Minnesota submitted their breads, cakes, cookies, and pies. And this year, there was a tie for Supreme Baker, or so they thought. Chad O'Leary and Kimberly Mayes both were named the Supreme Bakers for this year. But then, in a sad twist, competition organizers realized they made a mistake. Here with more on that is Chad O'Leary. Welcome to Minnesota Now, Chad.
CHAD O'LEARY: Thanks Cathy. Here's what happened. There was a missed counting of points. And I ended up losing by one yellow ribbon.
CATHY WURZER: Oh, you are kidding?
CHAD O'LEARY: Yes. And so I am second best. I am the runner up.
CATHY WURZER: So what? You are the runner up. You are runner up to Supreme Baker of Minnesota. I still think that that's a good thing.
CHAD O'LEARY: Oh, it definitely is. I'm proud of the accomplishment.
CATHY WURZER: You should be. Tell me a little bit about yourself. Where are you from? What do you do for a living?
CHAD O'LEARY: Sure. So I currently live in Maplewood. I am a teacher in the White Bear Lake District. I teach AP biology to 10th graders.
CATHY WURZER: All right. Well, you clearly have entered before. I noticed you won for your pull-apart coffee cake in 2016 and a nut bread in 2021. So what did you enter this year that got you to nearly the top of the mountain?
CHAD O'LEARY: So I entered roughly, I believe, 14 or 15 things total. I leaned heavy into sweet rolls this year. I also was really fascinated by some classic recipes from Italy. And so I kind of leaned into that with their play on citrus. And yeah, every year, I just try to explore some new avenues and keep it interesting.
CATHY WURZER: OK, so what have you learned over these many years of entering? I mean, there must be some kind of a secret. I remember talking to Marjorie Johnson-- remember Marjorie, of course, that amazing--
CHAD O'LEARY: Yes.
CATHY WURZER: Yeah, who won everything for years and years and years. So what's the secret at least to getting into the top echelons here?
CHAD O'LEARY: I think that the key thing is to be teachable. There are many lessons that you can learn from others and just through observation as you go along. As a science person, it's trial and error. It's going through. It's seeing what works and what doesn't.
My garbage can gets just as much baked good as people do. It's just kind of trying things here and there. And you've just got to be teachable.
CATHY WURZER: Trial and error. OK, so tell me about those that did not make it.
CHAD O'LEARY: Well, with baking, it's so precise. And that's part of the reason why I love it is that, unlike cooking, where it's kind of a pinch of this or a dash of that, that causes me immense anxiety. I like following a set script. But you do want to try new things. And so if you're trying new things, a lot of times it doesn't work. But you learn from it.
It's like, OK, what was the outcome? What made it not work? And you avoid that next time. And perhaps you come up with some new ideas of what you want to try the next time around.
CATHY WURZER: OK, that makes some sense. I am not very precise. That's why baking is just not my deal, just not my deal. I've got a lot of disasters behind me. What's the highest compliment you've ever been paid for something you've made?
CHAD O'LEARY: Oh, I think that the highest compliment came when my grandmother was still alive I made a carrot cake for Easter. And it was before she started to go downhill mentally. And she had commented that this was the best cake she's ever had. And so that, to me, means far more than any title at the state fair, just becoming the best possible version of something I'm very passionate about.
CATHY WURZER: Oh, I love that. I love that.
So this year, it sounds like it was a pretty bare-knuckled and sharp-elbowed competition. I mean, it sounds like there was a lot going on.
CHAD O'LEARY: Yeah, there were a lot more entries this year than in last year, I believe. Just kind of looking at the numbers, if you go online, you can see how many entered for each different category. And I could be wrong, but it looked like there were a greater number of this year than the previous year, which is fun because now I go in, there's more to compare my stuff to.
I already have a list of two or three things that it was like, OK, yeah, I missed the ball on this one or on this thing. And next time around, this is what I'm going to do.
CATHY WURZER: Are you able to see the judges' comments so you know where you went wrong?
CHAD O'LEARY: Yes and no. It depends on the judge. So at the end of the fair, we will get little slips of paper back with a score on there, a number score out of 100. And sometimes there will be some comments there about specifically what they liked. But once you've done it enough, you can kind of see through the cases how yours compares to others who got the ribbons.
I mean, granted, you can't taste them. I'd love to go in the first day and have the key to that thing and really sample the competition. But you can see some differences, like my chiffon cakes didn't rise as high as some of the others. So I that's something that I have to work on going forward.
CATHY WURZER: OK. So have you ever entered other edibles in other competitions?
CHAD O'LEARY: The Bee and Honey also has a baking division. So I've done that. As a science person, I love that competition because you have to minimize or completely eliminate sugar. And so you're using honey as your sweetener. Well, there's moisture involved there. So kind of, you have to play with the matrix of your ingredients in order for it to come out. And it takes some trial and error there. But I really like tinkering around with that and submitting into that group of competitions as well.
CATHY WURZER: OK. So before you go, what's your plan for next year?
CHAD O'LEARY: My plan for next year is write everything down. So I journal how I did. I have a list of the order that I prepared things. And I already noticed that there was kind of a downhill slope on how I did over the course of the evening. And so there were some things like temperature of butter that I need to be paying more attention to, getting more rise, like I said, on my chiffon cakes.
There are other things where I just didn't enjoy making it. And I won't do that again because there's other things that I can lean into. And so I have a year to think about it. And I do think about it most of the year and try things out. It's a great thing to be doing during the winter, baking in your warm kitchen. And so yeah, that's going to be the process.
CATHY WURZER: OK, I'm going to be hoping then that next year, I'll get to talk to you as the Supreme Baker of the state fair. That's my hope for you.
CHAD O'LEARY: Pressure's on, but I'll take that challenge, Cathy.
CATHY WURZER: All right, I'll also wish you a happy school year too.
CHAD O'LEARY: Thank you, we'll need it.
CATHY WURZER: All right, say, by the way, as I think about this, what do your kids say about what you do? Do they know that you're a top baker?
CHAD O'LEARY: Yes, and I involve them in the process too.
CATHY WURZER: Oh, my goodness.
CHAD O'LEARY: During the pandemic, I gave them a basic challah bread. We were talking about cellular respiration and yeast and how they produce energy. And they had to come up with a variation of that. And they dropped them off at school. And over Google Meet, we did kind of like a judging type thing. And it was just a lot of fun.
CATHY WURZER: Oh, my goodness. It sounds great. Well, thank you. Congratulations on getting the runner up. That's a big deal. And then we'll see what happens next year.
CHAD O'LEARY: Wonderful, thank you.
CATHY WURZER: Chad O'Leary is a biology teacher and an award-winning baker from Maplewood, Minnesota. He's this year's runner up in the Minnesota State Fair Supreme Baker competition. Hey, runner up is good enough for me. I'd eat one of Chad's sweet rolls, for sure.
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