Reason to wake up in the morning
His baguettes have been much more popular than what he had anticipated.
A Hoedspruit travel guide took to baking bread to supplement his income during the coronavirus pandemic.
Jo Cooper, founder of Footsteps Through Africa, a non-profit tour company, had to endure the loss of clients who had booked trips. Cooper organises trips to the national game parks of Southern and East Africa. He said he had to postpone all his tours to next year which meant he was left without an income for eight months.
“So I started making plans. I have always loved being in the kitchen and my wife is French, so I had an idea of baking baguettes. Hoedspruit has not had the best bread in the world so visitors from
Europe really appreciate a ‘good baguette,” said Cooper.
A baguette costs R20 and he delivers it to customers’ doorsteps. It has meant a lot of really early mornings. He prepares the dough the night before. It rests for 12 hours and at 04:00 he starts rolling and shaping the dough. He then leaves it to rise for another hour.
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He can only bake four baguettes at a time in his small oven so it takes time to get it all done. He said the first couple of days were stressful but he has since put a system in place to meet the demand.
“Hoedspruit is a wonderful and supportive community. I now have a reason to get up in the mornings and be productive. It has been a lot of fun!”
