Ready, Set, Bake! The Pillsbury Bake-Off Returns

Image: Pillsbury

August 18, 2017 — After three years of desperate lacking, America’s original baking spectacle is returning from hiatus. The Pillsbury Bake-Off Contest is back for its 48th edition.

Created in 1949, the competition—originally the “Grand National Recipe and Baking Contest”—was an opportunity for American home bakers to show off their best recipes in a live show-down at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City. It was also a marketing event for the company, who made it obligatory to use Pillsbury Best flour in the recipes. The originally annual competition became a biennial one after 1976, and in 1996 the grand prize was increased from $25,000 to $1 million. Since 2014, the future of the competition has been unsure, and it did not take place in 2016. But hearts and spirits were lifted this week, when the company announced the contest’s return, scheduled for 2018.

The information that has been released is still purposefully vague. The Bake-Off will be partnered with the Food Network, and will be presented in a “reimagined” form. According to TODAY Food, this year’s prize will feature a “once in a lifetime experience that ‘money can’t buy.’" A little patience will be necessary, however: contest rules and details will not be released until October 1st. In the meantime, start working on your recipe.

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