Mr Roberts claimed first place honours with four breads and a pie at the Victorian Baking Competition.

Of the 10 breads and one pie entered, the Ararat Bakery claimed wins in the multigrain condensed, wholemeal condensed, white Vienna and Ciabatta bread classes and plain meat pie in the meat pie class.

After learning about his wins, an ecstatic Mr Roberts returned to work to tell staff about their success.

While the pie win was pleasing, Mr Roberts said to have success with his bread was particularly rewarding.

"Especially with the bread, we haven't won anything like this before,'' Mr Roberts said.

"We don't make a lot of bread, so it was really good to come away with a win.''

Given the success of the Ararat Bakery's pie at other competitions, Mr Roberts said he knew the pie would go well but was not expecting his breads to go as well as well as they did.

"The Ciabatta was the best I could have made it, so I expected a place at least, but I wasn't sure about the rest,'' Mr Roberts said.

Bakers receive the comments made by the judging panel, giving them a chance to rework recipes and improve their products.

Mr Roberts will continue working to perfect his recipe in time for Bakefest in October.

The competition, held in Sydney, will bring winners from the state baking competitions together to determine which breads are among the best in the country.

Prior to Bakefest, the Ararat Bakery will be kept busy preparing for the Great Australian Vanilla Slice Triumph and the Great Australian Meat Pie Competition, both in September, and the Victorian Baking Association's competition for bread and pasties in November.

Mr Roberts is particularly looking forward to seeing how his pasty rates in the competition, after altering the recipe based on judges' comments from last year's entry.

With the judges comprising of the best in the industry, Mr Roberts said competitions provide a good chance to benchmark products and see how they stack up compared to others in the industry.

"It's a good way to measure how the product is going, we get the results back to see ways we can improve,'' Mr Roberts said.

"It's only a bonus for your bakery if you come away with a win.''