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Flavour-wise, both bakers said pie connoisseurs were becoming much more adventurous. While many travellers kept an eye out for any bakery boasting pies baked in a wood-fired oven, Matt said that unless you really cared for a smoky, ash-laden flavour, don’ t worry too much about the sort of oven your pie was baked in.“ As long as the preparation is done properly to prepare the heat for your pies, you can pretty much bake them in anything,” Matt said.

It ' s all in the pastry, reckons Matt Brown.

Both bakers insist that you shouldn’ t destroy their hard work by heating your favourite pie in a microwave. Matt put it simply:“ Don’ t kill our pies by putting them in the microwave.” Brad agreed. He said the only way was to heat the pie in a conventional oven at 180 ° C for 20 minutes. Fernvale Bakery owner, Bill Rose, said there were also health considerations when saving a pie for later consumption. His advice: never buy a hot pie and then allow it to cool, store it in the fridge and then re-heat it. Apparently that’ s a good recipe for food poisoning. To avoid growing bacteria, buy a cold pie that the baker has already cooled once, and finish baking the pie in one final heating of 20 minutes. Bill said a well-made pie would keep for two or three days before needing to be heated for the final time and consumed, but should only be cooked at the bakery, cooled and re-heated once.“ Pies are meant to be kept below 5 ° and then heated above 60 ° but should only go through that process once,” he said. Their final tip: when it comes to finding that perfect gourmet pie, Brad reckoned the first trick was to see if there were a lot of cars parked outside. He also recommended talking to the locals to get the lowdown on the quality of the pies.

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