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A tiny north-eastern suburbs bakery has taken out one of SA’s most iconic pastry titles, with Dernancourt Bakehouse crowned home of South Australia’s Best Kitchener Bun at the 2026 South Australian Baking Show.
The bakery has only been up and running for just over a year, making this win even more meaningful for the duo behind the pastries, Ben and Nicole Lock.
“It’s a little bit surreal, to be honest with you,” Ben said.
“You don’t really expect this sort of thing when you’re new, but it’s been great for a small business.
“This sort of thing really helps us grow, and it helps the local community know that we’re here.”
The team at Dernancourt Bakehouse had been planning to put around eight entries into the competition but when things got super busy at the bakery, they ended up entering around five pastries and hoped for the best.
The kitchener bun recipe has been one that Ben’s been using for the last two decades.
“So it’s just been about fine-tuning it in the last couple of weeks to make it a little bit better,” he said. “We actually changed a product, we changed the cream that we were using in it as well.”
That’s what made “a hell of a difference” to their award winning product, a great, high quality cream.
“It holds up really well, and it just tastes a lot better than the last ones we were making, so I’m really happy with how it turned out.”
The bakery is hidden off the main road, and offers a great spot for locals to grab decadent donuts, warm pastry pleasers and now the best kitchener buns in South Australia.
“When you see that they put a post up going, ‘Dernancourt Bakehouse has won SA’s best Kitchener bun,’ you just pinch yourself every time you see that,” Ben said.
Back when the bakery first opened it was dubbed a ‘hidden gem’ but Dernancourt Bakehouse has just put itself on the map as one of the must-try bakery locations in Adelaide.
Dernancourt Bakehouse
Where: 840 Lower North East Rd, Dernancourt
When: Open Tuesday to Sunday
For more info, click here.
