Frewville and Pasadena Foodland have been crowned Australian champions at the National Artisan and Baking Competition, with two of their bread products being named the best in the country.

Adelaide’s Finest bakery and patisserie teams were crowned the best in Australia, awarded Champion Product and Champion Sourdough Loaf for its sourdough and Champion Veinnoiserie for its croissant.

The supermarket and in-house bakery and patisseries were also awarded several other accolades, including first place Danish, first place baguette, first place ciabatta, first place flavoured sourdough, second place rye sourdough and second place white sourdough.

Head pastry chef Tharindu Ranatunga said the team started baking the winning croissant three days before getting on a plane to the Gold Coast for judging.

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“There is a whole team and a huge process involved that gives this one little pastry time enough to develop into something special,” Ranatunga said.

Head baker Peter Soteriou said the award pushed the standards of the entire baking industry.

“We are proud to demonstrate that our supermarkets possess the capability to produce artisan breads of exceptional quality with traditional techniques and clean ingredients,” Soteriou said.

Adelaide’s Finest managing director Spero Chapley said his father installed one of the first “from scratch” bakeries in a supermarket back in the 1980s.

As such, the awards were a “long time coming”.

“The jobs, the skills and the passion the bakery and patisserie departments bring into our business is why we do it, not the awards,” Spero said.

“When you think about those European streets and piazzas, the smell of fresh, warm, bread breaking wakes up the neighbourhood.

“We wanted that flavour to wake up our business, too.”