Ohio State Fair champion to compete on Netflix series, 'Blue Ribbon Baking Championship'

Jeff Bartolozzi works for a national law firm with offices in the Huntington Center. He has been involved in actions against tobacco companies and Chinese exporters, and his clients have included businesses on the Fortune 500 list. How did his appearance on the upcoming Netflix series, "Blue Ribbon Baking Championship" stack up against his day job?

"This baking show was way more stressful than some of the cases I've worked on," said the Columbus resident, a lawyer and amateur baker. "I didn't have a meltdown, I guess, but there were definitely moments when you're in the process..."

Bartolozzi is no stranger to baking competitions. He was the best-of-show baking winner at the 2019 Ohio State Fair , and he's entered again this year, too. On "Blue Ribbon Baking Championship," he's up against nine other state-fair champions from around the country, including a woman from Iowa who has won more than 600 competitions.

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The prize: $100,000.

All eight 45-minute episodes of the show will be released Aug. 9 on Netflix. It's hosted by "American Pie" star Jason Biggs and former Food Network host Sandra Lee. Lee is a judge as well, along with former White House pastry chef Bill Yosses and baker and cookbook author Bryan Ford.

Bartolozzi said the stress of the competition came from dealing with each challenge's ticking clock, which made routine baking steps, such as letting something chill in a refrigerator or cool off on a counter, impossible. The judges and fellow contestants, he said, "were the warmest, most encouraging people ever."

He compared "Blue Ribbon Baking Championship" to the genial nature of the popular "Great British Bake Off," which also airs on Netflix in the United States. Instead of the "Bake Off" tent, however, the competition arena for "Blue Ribbon" is a barn.

Bartolozzi, a native of the Cleveland suburb of Rocky River, has been entering the Ohio State Fair's baking competition since 2014. His specialty is macarons, the sandwich-cookie-like French confection with a meringue shell and filling of jam or ganache. He was introduced to macarons by a pastry chef he knew in northeastern Ohio and began making them on his own at a time they weren't as readily available as they are today.

"The first time, they were just good enough to continue trying," he said. "The second through fifth attempts were awful."

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After a second-place finish at the state fair in 2018, Bartolozzi won the blue ribbon the next year with a macaron he created with an espresso-flavored shell and Baileys Irish cream ganache filling. This year's fair entry is a pistachio-orange blossom macaron, he said.

Bartolozzi and his wife both like to bake, he said. They also share a love of fairs.

He proposed marriage on the Ferris wheel at the Delaware County Fair.

rvitale@dispatch.com

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State Fair champion to compete on Netflix series, 'Blue Ribbon Baking Championship'