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From chimodho to sourdough
Rebecca Trenner introduces microbaker Emma Muhwava.
Emma Bread is a home-based microbakery run by Emma Muhwava in Cape Town, South Africa. She makes fresh, sourdough bread throughout the week for neighbours in Hout Bay.
Originally from Masvingo in Zimbabwe, Emma moved to Cape Town in 2009, due to the deteriorating political and economic environment in her home country. For many years she has been employed as a domestic worker and nanny in the Cape Town suburbs, joining our family in Hout Bay in August 2023.
Sourdough student
We eat a lot of bread but struggled to find great sourdough in Cape Town. The majority of commercial loaves in South Africa are highly processed, and often sweetened. Most supermarket products are made from highly-refined industrial flour, with added sugar, stabilisers, emulsifiers, colourings and artificial preservatives.
Every time my mum came over from the UK, we would ask her to bring enough starter to make sourdough bread for us to eat fresh and some to freeze for later. Emma had been baking for at least 15 years but was keen to understand the process of making naturally-leavened bread. “I am someone who loves the work of my hands. I love our homemade Zimbabwean bread, chimodho, but I was impressed and curious to learn how you make bread without yeast or baking agent,” Emma told me. Also known as mupotohayi, chimodho is made from cornmeal, with baking powder as the raising agent. With my mum making bread every other day during her visits, Emma started to learn the art of sourdough.
Persistence makes perfect
Around this time, a fellow baker from Zimbabwe hosted a sourdough masterclass, sharing her skills with people interested in the art and science of naturally-leavened bread. Emma came away with a small jar of starter and the basic principles of sourdough making, and launched herself into perfecting her loaves. She was doggedly persistent, constantly asking how the loaves could be improved so she could adjust her methods and quantities. “The journey required being patient and committed to learning. Not every time was the best loaf, but I got feedback and was determined to keep going until I made the perfect sourdough,” she says.
Nothing but Emma Bread
After a few months of learning and experimentation with different quantities and consistencies, Emma started making excellent sourdough. We would regularly polish off a loaf in one sitting. Her loaves are beautiful, with an amazing crust and perfect crumb inside. Our children refused to eat any sourdough other than what they called ‘Emma bread’.
We joked that people who truly appreciated great bread would pay good money for sourdough of this quality. We suggested to Emma that she could test the water by making a few extra loaves each time she was baking one for us. “Honestly, I was really nervous about anybody else trying my bread. I didn’t know what their feedback would be,” she smiles.
A neighbourhood sensation
We have a neighbourhood WhatsApp group and put a simple message out, asking if anyone would be interested in buying Emma’s sourdough bread. We were overwhelmed with requests, and decided to buy two more bannetons and some 12.5kg bags of the stoneground, locally-grown wheat flour that Emma uses.
The first time she baked extra loaves and we advertised them on the group, they were snapped up in minutes. Neighbours started sending private messages to ask when more of Emma’s sourdough would be available. The feedback was excellent and regular customers started paying extra to reserve loaves of Emma Bread for the following week. Emma says: “I am really very happy with the comments from people eating my sourdough. It gives me the courage to keep going and keep improving.”
African (bread) Rising
Emma’s microbakery is a small operation, but it’s providing extra income for Emma, which she sends home to her family in Zimbabwe and helps with her children’s school fees. It also brings joy to her/our neighbours here. We’re also helping to spread the word about the benefits of artisan Real Bread, and exposing the differences between supermarket sourfaux and Emma’s genuine sourdough.
As well as baking for our local community, in the coming months Emma would like to teach other people how to make their own sourdough bread. She has been overwhelmed with messages from friends, family and customers eager to learn the basic principles of sourdough, and begin baking their own healthy, naturally-leaved bread.
In the future, a bigger operation might well be on the table. “You never know what journey life will take you on, but maybe one day I can be running my own Emma Bread bakery,” she says, enthusiastically.
Originally published in True Loaf magazine issue 61, January 2025.
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