Man can live on bread

(OUT AND ABOUT)

Staple foods have huge significance in our lives — and without those filling foods that have nurtured us since coming off mother’s milk, there is still an empty ache in the belly. A meal is not a meal without potatoes in Ireland, rice in East Asia, chapattis in North India, pasta in Italy or sadza back home. In the Mediterranean, the staple is bread — the staff of life, and village bakeries and home ovens have been churning out bread for centuries, in all shapes and sizes.

Checking back through past columns I see it’s been almost three years since I wrote about my experiments with sour dough bread making. At the time I was trying to make ciabatta, that distinctive Italian slipper shaped loaf, full of air holes and preferably the slightly smoky tang that comes from a wood fired oven. Sadly there still seems to be no decent ciabatta in Harare, and hasn’t been since the demise of the Italian Bakery. Da Eros might serve ciabatta but in any case — you can’t buy a loaf.

My attempts then were fairly short -lived as my starter eventually turned into a rotting mess and had to be thrown away. Recent attempts to start again failed dismally, with the culture bubbling satisfyingly for a couple of days before collapsing totally into a dull, lifeless batter.

Sourdough bread does take more time to make than yeasted breads and retains an aura of mystery and superstition dating from its birth estimated several thousand years ago in ancient Egypt. These days, bakers develop near parental relationships with their cultures — that need regular feeding and nurturing and so far I haven’t succeeded in this relationship. Apparently the first sourdough hotel has opened in Sweden, where clients can lodge their starters  to be cared for and fed — at a cost of over US$40 a week — while they go away on holiday! That’s sure taking your bread seriously.
So it was a relief in Greece to encounter something simple and more manageable from a woman who has been baking sourdough bread for her family for decades. Kyria

Athina arrived at our place with her starter already bubbling after getting it primed the night before, taking it out of the fridge and refreshing it with warm water and flour. First task was to get the outdoor oven cleaned up and a fire going. She then emptied about 6 kg of flour into a plastic bath, added her bubbling starter and water and we all took turns to pummel and knead the dough. Sourdough is formed with a much wetter dough than yeasted bread and it’s good to get the right feel from someone with so much experience.

Bread does have its own personality and baking is about getting to know your own starter, dough and oven. The dough is shaped into rounds, floured and left to rise, wrapped snugly in clean tea towels inside earthenware bowls to keep its shape. After a couple of hours it’s ladled into the hot oven. I loved the fresh lemon leaves on the bottom which keep it from sticking and add another fragrance. The end result is beautiful, dense bread — lightened with air holes — with a substantial crust and earthy flavour.

I carried some of her starter home and the past two weekends have seen a successful replication of this lovely bread in my home oven. Finally I can look forward to a satisfying relationship with a starter — currently stable and sitting comfortably in my fridge —  and to a bread that feeds the soul as much as the stomach.
-g.jeke@yahoo.com