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Ready? Set? Bake!

When the Connecticut fair season starts up each summer, amateur bakers from all across the state fire up their ovens and begin to prepare their entries for the Association of Connecticut Fairs statewide baking contests.

There are the regulars who submit entries each summer to one fair after another, seeking a first place showing in a local fair that offers them entry into the statewide baking contest in the fall.

“It can get kind of desperate at the end when they start running out of fairs,” says Laurie Skornia, the baking committee chairman for the Association of Connecticut Fairs.

Then there are the newcomers who, sometimes, with the right combination of skill and luck, blow the regulars away and get that blue ribbon their first time out.

Skornia, who is also a long-time volunteer with the Guilford Fair and helps with the baking contest there, says she tries to make sure that everyone who enters leaves with something of value.

“I want it to be a good experience,” she says. “The bakers are always so proud of what they enter. If they don’t get a blue ribbon, they get feedback on their entry. The biggest thing I say to people is that we want them to come back next year.”

Keeping them coming back next year is a goal for most of the thousands of volunteers who, like Skornia, work, often year round, to keep the fairs running. She’s already tested the contest recipes, attended many meetings where she had other volunteers taste the results of those tests, and otherwise put long hours into organizing the baking contests—and, Skornia, who also works full time in the insurance industry, still has to put a second coat of paint on the cabinets that will display the baked goods at the Guilford Fair this year.

She’s looking forward to it.

“I have to tell you, I’ve been working at the Guilford Fair since the late ’80s. I love that fair. Last year I remember we had an entry from someone who had lived in Guilford for most of her life,” Skornia says. “She won a blue ribbon, and a best in show. She said to me afterwards, ‘I’ve been looking for something to get involved in.’ I told her, ‘I can always use help.’ And she’s coming to help this year. And she’s bringing a friend.”

That’s part of what Skornia loves best about being a fair volunteer, creating a community and welcoming others into that community.

“Exactly,” she says.

The Chester Fair (Friday through Sunday, Aug. 25 to 27), North Haven Fair (Thursday through Sunday, Sept. 7 to 10), the Guilford Fair (Friday through Sunday, Sept. 15 to 17), and the Durham Fair (Thursday through Sunday, Sept. 21 to 24) are among those where amateur bakers can enter their entries in a bid to compete for the statewide contest.

This year, adult bakers will compete with a specific recipe for cinnamon swirl bread; juniors (ages 7 to 15 as of July 1) will compete with a specific recipe for iced oatmeal applesauce cookies; and there is a two-crusted apple pie baking contest as well. Entry forms, the recipes, and information on how to enter each contest are included in the fair books for each fair, or are posted on the websites of the respective fairs. In addition to agricultural items and animals, the fairs have numerous other contests and exhibitions as well—from mason jar terrariums to wine cork art—some of them specific to the particular fair, and others also sponsored by the Association of Connecticut Fairs, including a statewide photography contest, and a statewide quilt contest. Information about all of those contests is also available in the individual fair books.

Here are the recipes for the adult and junior baking contests, as tested and refined by the baking committee over the course of the past year:

Cinnamon Swirl BreadIngredientsDough

3 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

¼ cup potato flakes

¼ cup non-fat dry milk

1 ¼ teaspoons salt

½ teaspoon cinnamon

3 tablespoons sugar

2 ½ teaspoons instant yeast

4 tablespoons butter

1 cup lukewarm water

Filling

¼ cup sugar

1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon

¼ cup raisins, chopped

2 teaspoons King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

1 large egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water

Streusel Topping

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons sugar

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ cup King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

Directions

In a large mixing bowl, combine all of the dough ingredients, mixing until the dough begins to come away from the sides of the bowl. Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled work surface; knead for 3 minutes, allow it to rest for 15 minutes, then continue kneading ’til smooth, an additional 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl, cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and set aside to rise for 1 to 1 ½ hours; it’ll be puffy, if not doubled in bulk. Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled work surface, and shape it into a long thin rectangle, about 16” x8”. To make the filling, combine the sugar, cinnamon, raisins, and flour. Brush the dough with some of the egg/water, and pat the filling onto the dough. Beginning with a short edge, roll the dough into a log. Pinch the side seam and ends closed (to keep the filling from bubbling out), and place the log in a lightly greased 9” x 5” loaf pan. Cover the pan with lightly greased plastic wrap, and allow the bread to rise for about 1 hour at room temperature, or until it’s crowned about 1” over the rim of the pan. Toward the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl, combine the streusel ingredients, cutting in the butter until the mixture is crumbly. Brush the loaf with the remaining beaten egg, and add the streusel, using your fingers to gently apply it to the dough, being careful not to deflate the loaf. Bake the bread for about 45 minutes, tenting the loaf lightly with aluminum foil for the final 15 minutes or so if it appears to be browning too quickly. Remove the loaf from the oven, and after about 5 minutes, gently remove it from the pan. Some of the streusel will fall off. Submit on foil-covered cardboard no larger than one inch from loaf.

Judging Criteria Overall appearance 25 points; Following Directions 10 points; Texture 15 points; Aroma 10 points;. Flavor 40 points. TOTAL 100 points.

Junior Baking Contest 2017Iced Oatmeal Applesauce CookiesIngredientsCookies:

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 cup light-brown sugar

½ cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

½ cup unsweetened applesauce

1½ cup old-fashioned rolled oats

1¼ cup King Arthur Flour all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

1 cup raisins

Icing:

1¾ cup confectioners’ sugar

3 tablespoons pure maple syrup

3 tablespoons water

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put butter and sugars in a large mixing bowl. Mix until combined. Add egg and applesauce, mix until well blended, 2 to 3 minutes. Mix in oats, flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Mix in raisins. Using a 1 ½-inch ice cream scoop, drop dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper, spacing 2 inches apart. Bake cookies until golden and just set, 13 to 15 minutes. Let cool on sheets 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack set over parchment paper; let cool completely. Whisk confectioners’ sugar, syrup, and 3 tablespoons water until smooth. Drizzle over cookies, let set. Submit 6 cookies on a white paper plate.

Judging Criteria: Overall appearance 25 points; Following Directions 10 points; Texture 15 points; Aroma 10 points; Flavor 40 points. TOTAL 100 points.