Ricardo Slawers Makes Baking History as Africa’s First Bread Sommelier

A carpenter, a chocolate maker, a pastry chef and a pizza maker walk into the same career.

The result is Ricardo Slawers, Africa’s first bread sommelier.

The South African baker has earned the title through Germany’s National Bakers Academy in Weinheim, placing his name among a select group of professionals who have completed one of the baking world’s most specialised courses.

Ricardo’s course thesis focused on mosbolletjies, the traditional Cape bread associated with the winelands, giving a much-loved local speciality an international platform.

Ricardo grew up in Riversdal in the Southern Cape and matriculated in Wellington. His first career was carpentry. In 2010, he moved into hospitality at Sabrage restaurant at Val de Vie, where the kitchen opened the door to a completely different professional life.

From pizza making, he moved into pastry at Le Chocolatier before developing his skills in chocolate. His interest in bread grew during his time at ICA’s The Apprentice, where he found the craft that would eventually become his speciality.

La Motte entered the picture in 2014.

Ricardo spent time in the pastry kitchen and bakery before taking responsibility for bread production for the farm shop and restaurant. Eleven years later, he leads a team at La Motte Bakery in Franschhoek, where bread has become a central part of the estate’s food offering.

The bakery opened in 2023 and gave Ricardo room to explore bread in greater depth. Master baker Markus Färbinger, founder of Knysna’s renowned île de pain café, helped deepen his understanding of traditional breadmaking and the qualities that make a loaf worth remembering.

The result can be seen across La Motte’s daily selection. A wood-fired oven made by French company Four Grand-Mère produces sourdough, ciabatta, focaccia, fougasse, crustique and the Cederberger, a dark rye sourdough with malt and spices. The Motte loaf was created specifically for the estate, while mosbolletjies return as a seasonal favourite during harvest.

The bread is sold from the bakery and also forms part of the café’s menu.

The German National Bakers Academy has run its Bread Sommeliers course since 2015. Admission is reserved for experienced professionals such as bakery owners, head bakers and instructors. The programme explores 22,000 years of bread culture alongside sensory evaluation, international bread styles, ingredient science, food pairing, communication and media skills.

With over 300 graduates from 16 countries, the programme has earned considerable recognition in the international baking community. It calls for an understanding of bread that extends well beyond baking techniques, from identifying subtle flavours to explaining how ingredients influence the final loaf.

For Ricardo, the achievement represents a significant personal milestone and a moment of recognition for South African baking.

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