It’s the World Cup of bread. The Olympics of baking. Competition was steep. But that didn’t stop JWU instructor Harry Peemoeller from leading his team to a victory over France, Italy and eight other countries — and placing second in the world at the Coupe du Monde de la Boulangerie in Paris.
Competing for eight hours, Peemoeller and his team created a Wild West theme with a cactus, cowboy hat and even a wanted poster for the competition’s theme "Bread: Symbol of Your Country."
In his native Germany, Chef Peemoeller grew up working in his family's bakery. At 14, he enrolled in a high school baking program and he has been baking ever since. A longtime member of the Bread Bakers Guild, he’d never considered competition until a colleague suggested he try out for the guild’s team.
"It was a now-or-never situation,” he told Charlotte Living. “If I had waited even a year, I would have been beyond the age limit to qualify. My interest was in the challenge to learn more."
And these days, he's a pretty seasoned competitor. Last year, he led the Bread Bakers Guild Team USA to a first-place finish at the Sigep Bread Cup in Rimini, Italy. So keep your eye out for his next award. Chef Peemoeller has been invited to compete at the next Coup de Monde in 2016.
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