South Africa's first bread sommelier perfects centuries-old tradition

A centuries-old Cape Winelands tradition is now on the global culinary map. Mosbolletjies is a traditional brioche made with grape must. Almost. Now a recipe for the bread created by a South African baker has won him the title of Bread Sommelier. Richard Slewers was awarded the honor by the National Bakers Academy of Germany. Becoming the first bread sommelier in Africa kind of makes me feel happy because I put a lot of effort into becoming a bread sommelier. It was a year of hard work. I haven't been studying for when I was like 18 years old and I'm 42 now, so it's been a while. I had to open up my mind for new knowledge and for me it was kind of overwhelming, especially with a lot going on in the bakery. Okay. The kitchen here at Le Motte produces ciabatta, seed loaves and sourdough, but it's the mosbolletjies that draws the crowds. The bread traces its roots to the French Huguenots who settled in the Cape in the 1600s. It's made from flour, fermented grape juice and aniseed or fennel. That little bread has such a deep history and it just shows it's something that's made from almost a waste product. It becomes a new product and at the end of the day it almost has no waste because even as it dries it becomes a rusk towards the end. So yeah, it is fantastic and people, yeah. They stand in queue for that bread and there's only a few available every day. 400 years since its introduction to South Africa, one secret to a good mosbolletjie hasn't changed. Get the oven temperature right. Too hot and the bread is hard. Too cold and it's soggy.