They have therefore invested in the launch of an exciting entrepreneurial baking initiative, the Supreme Flour Top Baker Competition.

“In-store bakers do not get a lot of recognition,” says Liezel van Bergen, senior brand manager at Foodcorp Milling. “And a lot of them are very creative, so we wanted to put something together to honour and acknowledge them. We hoped for 100 entries and received over 339, a tough task for the judges of this year’s competition held in Gauteng.”

The competition started on Monday, 9 June, and was open to all professional, in-store and artisanal bakers, as well as bakers from home industry baking businesses. The competition provided a platform for these aspiring professional bakers to showcase their skills and creativity for the grand prize of R50 000, second prize of R10 000 or third prize of R5000. There was also a Macadams Cake Mixer prize giveaway for the bakery that employed the winning baker.

Supreme Flour constituted an expert-baking panel for the 2014 Top Baker competition, which included Supreme Flour technical manager, Craig Binnion; Hudson Knight technical sales support manager, Graham Jehoma; and Macadams training manager, Portia Sangela. The grueling first round of judging took place at the Protea Hotel in Midrand on Friday, 8 August, where all the bakers presented their breads to the judges and the top eight finalists were chosen.

The eight diverse Top Baker finalists came from various walks of life and different stages in their baking careers. Ricky Ellis from the Sandton Sun Hotel in Johannesburg hoped to catapult his baking career to the next level. Motubatsi Mosai gave up his day job in pursuit of a career in baking the same day he entered the competition. Fouad Khettabi from the Queenswood Superspar in Pretoria entered the competition in order to add greater value to his long career in the baking industry. Gadijah Fakier Carlie from MacDees Bread was searching for new recipes when she stumbled upon the Top Baker competition online. Pearl Moos from the Prue Leith Chef’s Academy was encouraged to enter by her chef lecturer with a loaf of bread that she baked for the very first time for the competition. For Christopher Mtshweni, head baker at The Bread Gypsy, winning the top Baker competition would be fulfilling one of his many big dreams. William Lamola, also from The Bread Gypsy, hoped to win his very first baking competition by entering Top Baker. Fana Thusi, a respected baker from Millas Catering Services, aimed to showcase his artistry of baking through using his unique baking skills.

The finalists took part in a live bake-off in a craft/in-store bakery with specialised baking equipment, where they were given four hours to process, create and present their craft breads to the judges. Their final list of ingredients was required 48 hours before the bake-off, as they were not allowed to bring their own ingredients, to ensure that everyone stood a fair chance.

The Supreme Flour Top Baker 2014 Awards ceremony, held at the Bryanston Country club on Thursday, 14 August proved to be a well-organised and inspirational event, where the finalists and their loved-ones came together to witness their incredible journey through the competition, and the announcement of the winner. The finalists were moved to both laughter and tears as they watched video clips of their baking journey to the top eight. They shared encouraging looks with each other and their determination to win was felt by all who were present.

Third place and the R5000 prize was taken by an overwhelmed and teary Pearl Moos, who thanked the judges, Supreme Flour and the organisers of Top Baker 2014. Gadija Fakier Carlie won second place and R10 000. She extended her gratitude towards Supreme Flour, who made her feel comfortable through the nerve-wrecking process.

The highlight of the event was however the announcement of the winner of Supreme Flour Top Baker 2014, Motubatsi Mosai, who captured the announcement of his achievement on his mobile camera phone. The audience were captivated by his moving story of how he “bunked” work to go to Macadams for some baking equipment to start his baking business, as he knew he was not living his dream. He saw the Top Baker competition being advertised in Macadams and decided to enter on the spot. Mosai walked away with R50 000 and the Macadams Cake Mixer, which he will use to invest in his bakery.

The remaining five finalists did not walk away empty-handed, as they all received a cash prize of R2000, courtesy of Supreme Flour, for making it to the top eight with their excellent bread-baking skills.

Van Bergen concluded, “We have a close relationships with our partners in the milling and baking industry and we know bakers, buyers and store owners/managers battle with a low skill set in the bakeries, as well as motivation, which is why we have focused our efforts on creating a true ‘bake-surance’ experience for them via initiatives such as the Supreme Flour Top Baker awards.”

For more information, visit www.supremeflour.co.za.