Konfyt - Appelkoos is altyd 'n wenner

Somertyd is ook Appelkoostyd ... daardie verruklike geel goedjies met die rooi wangetjies. As jy hom oopbreek, dis nou te sê jy het goeie appelkose in die hande gekry, dan is daar mos 'n geur wat jou laat glimlag en die sagte sappige vruggie trek mooi skoon weg van die pit af. En dan as jy hom in jou kies druk en die eerste kou gee ... 'n geur wat my laat terugverlang na my kinderdae op die Hoëveld ... ons het rondgespeel onder die groot appelkoos bome op my oupa se plaas en was omring deur die geur van appelkose.

Heerlike tuisgemaakte Appelkooskonfyt

Maar o genade ... dan was daar ook die nagmerries van teveel groen appelkose eet en die daaropvolgende appelkoosmaag, soos my ouma dit genoem het. Dis juis die appelkoosmaag ding wat my altyd versigtig maak as ek by appelkose uitkom, en goeie brieke aan my belusting vir die vruggies sit.

Noodgedwonge is appelkoostyd ook die tyd vir appelkooskonfyt en dis 'n ander storie ... wel dit was 'n langdradige en tydrowende proses met die gepaardgaande oorkook en aanbrand. Alles dinge wat die meeste mense kopsku maak vir appelkooskonfyt kook. Ek is 'n kranige konfytkoker en daar is min dinge wat ek nie al in my konfytpot gehad het nie ... sommiges was heerlik maar daar was ook maar 'n paar lelike blapse.

Hertzoggie in 'n pan

Desember maand is ook die tyd vir Hertzoggies en Jam Têrtjies. Albei goedjies wat baie staatmaak op goeie appelkooskonfyt. Ongelukkig is dit wat ons deesdae in blikke koop meer pampoen as appelkoos en dit is maar 'n flou verskoning vir die ware Jakob. Ja, ek weet daar is tientalle spesialis konfyte deesdae in die winkels maar dis duur, soms peperduur. As jy jou oë oop hou kan jy winskopies koop by die vrugterakke in jou Supermark ... sodra die appelkose begin afgaan dan merk hulle dit gou af en dis dan die tyd om te koop.

Laat November lees ek Annelien Pienaar se Appelkooskonfyt (Skakel) resep raak en dit laat my frons. Dis heeltemal anders as wat ek geleer het. Maar nouja, ek is nie iemand wat skrik vir 'n nuwe metode nie en ek besluit net daar en dan dat sodra ek die geleentheid kry gaan ek die metode van Annelien probeer.

Die grootste verskil van Annelien se metode is dat jy die appelkose bedek met die suiker in 'n bak en dan laat staan jy dit vir 'n tyd. Sy beveel oornag aan maar ek laat myne so 18 ure staan. Na sowat 8 ure is daar al heelwat vog in die suiker en dan roer ek die mengsel om met a groot lepel. Daarna roer ek so elke uur. Wat nou gebeur is dat die suiker die vog uit die appelkose trek en die suiker begin 'n stroop vorm. Afhangende van hoe ryp jou appelkose is, mag dit nodig wees om bietjie water by te gooi. Ek laat die hele strooptrekkery maar eers klaarmaak alvorens ek besluit oor die water. As jy baie ryp appelkose het dan is die water nie nodig nie. My tweede klomp appelkose was minder ryp en ek moes so koppie water bygooi. Sit so 5 pitte in die bak saam met die suiker. Maak seker jy tel mooi hoeveel jy insit want jy wil dit uitskep voor jy begin ernstig kook. Die pitte bring 'n lekker smaak in die konfyt.

So toets ek my konfyt

Nou met konfytkook is die grootste doelstelling, om soveel as moontlik water uit die vrugte te kry want dis die water wat kan veroorsaak dat jou konfyt sandsuiker maak. Met Annelien se metode trek die suiker die water uit voor die tyd en as jy begin kook dan is dit baie gou uit jou konfyt uit, andersins is dit ure en ure se kook.

Sodra van die appelkose in die stroop begin verkleur dan is tyd vir kook. Ek gebruik 'n lekker dikboom pot, dit voorkom dat die konfyt sommer aanbrand. Dis belangrik want anders as gewoonlik, kook jy die konfyt baie vinnig. Op die foto kan jy ook sien ek sit 'n houtlepel oor die pot neer. Dis om te keer dat die konfyt oorkook in die begin.

Om die konfyt te kook is daar drie fases waarvoor jy moet oplet;

Eerste fase in die begin:

Fase een

Moenie jou plaat te warm maak nie. Daar is baie onopgeloste suiker in die pot en jy kan die storie maklik laat aanbrand. Roer aanhoudend totdat al die suiker opgelos is. Dis die tyd wat jy kan besluit om ekstra water by te gooi as die sous te min lyk vir jou. Spoel maar die kante van jou kastrol af met 'n nat kwassie om die suiker af te was want dit kan kristalle in jou sous veroorsaak.


Tweede fase:

Fase twee

Die suiker is opgelos en nou moet jy die plaat warm maak. Hoe vinniger jy die konfyt afkook hoe ligter is jou konfyt in kleur. Nou kan jy nie die pot alleen los nie. Dis ook nou die tyd om 'n houtlepel byderhand te hou om oor die pot neer te sit want die konfyt gaan baie skuim maak sodra die stroop warm raak en die water af dryf.

Spoedig gaan die konfyt erg begin skuim en opkook in die pot. Dis goeie praktyk om nie te klein potjie te gebruik nie. Jou aanvanklike mengsel wat in die pot ingaan moenie by die halfpad merk verbygaan nie anders gaan jy moet bontstaan vir oorkook.

Roer die konfyt deurentyd met 'n houtlepel en maak seker jy bly die boom van die pot skoon skraap.
Afhangende van die toestand van jou appelkose sal jy nou opmerk dat daar skif begin vorm tussen die skuim ... moenie nou oor dit bekommerd raak nie ... jou grootste probleem is die feit dat jou pot kan oorkook terwyl daar nog so baie water in die konfyt is. Dis een van die redes hoekom ek van 'n gasstoof hou ... as die skuim te woes raak dan draai ek die vlam kleiner en die pot bedaar amper onmiddelik. Dan laat ek hom so bietjie kalmeer en jaag weer die vlam op dat dinge kan gebeur ... met 'n elektriese stoof moet jy maar die pot op en af van die plaat skuif.

Dis baie belangrik dat jy gedurende die fase nie vir 'n oomblik die pot alleen los nie want dan gaan jy verseker deurloop onder 'n oorkokery of aanbrandery. As die nood sou roep is dit die beste om maar die pot van die hitte af te skuif, of die vlam toe te maak, en jou dinge gaan doen en terugkom en weer aangaan.

En dan ... eweskielik ... net so vinnig as wat die pot konfyt oorhoeks geraak het en net wou oorkook, dan kalmeer hy. Nou is fase twee verby, dit duur omtrent so tien minute.

Derde Fase:

Fase drie

Nou is jy in die finale afronding fase. Hierdie fase is ook so tien tot vyftien minute. Hou die hitte so hoog as moontlik en roer aanhoudend. Nou is die tyd om maar die skif af te skep. Sodra jy begin agterkom dat die borrels begin ontplof en stroop spatsels skiet so dan en wan uit die pot uit is jy baie naby aan klaar. Draai nou die hitte af na middelmatig toe anders gaan jy brand en jou hele stoof en omgewing bemors met stroop spatsels.

Daar is baie metodes om te toets of jou konfyt reg is en die populêre een is om so skeppie konfyt op a koue bordjie uit te skep en jou vinger deur dit te stoot ... as dit begin opfrommel dan is dit blykbaar reg. Ek gebruik 'n meer eenvoudige en praktiese metode. Ek vou 'n stukkie handoekpapier dubbel en sit dit op 'n bord. Dan drup ek so lekker druppel konfyt op die papier en kyk wat gebeur. Aanvanklik sal jy sien die druppel word omtrent dadelik platgetrek soos die papier die water uitsuig. Toets maar elke twee minute of so ... sodra jou druppel vir so dertig sekondes bly sit sonder om 'n nat randjie te vorm is jy klaar. Die hele kookproses duur so tussen 30 en 40 minute.

Al wat nou oorbly is om dit warm in gesteriliseerde flesse in te skep en te seël.

Resep:
1.2 Kg Appelkose
800gr wit suiker (Om en by 75% van wat die vrugte se gewig is.)
10 gr sout (Opsioneel)
250ml water - opsioneel

Jy kan maar kaneel byvoeg as jy wil of ster anys ... net ietsie anders.

Skakel: Annelien se Appelkooskonfyt

Lees maar my storie mooi deur en jy sal dit maklik regkry.


Kook lekker tot ek weer 'n storie skryf.

Hier is my Facebook Bladsy ... Man Kos ... like hom as jy wil.

Sourdough - Bake your Bread

I am going to assume that you followed my guide in growing your own starter (STARTER) and you rigidly stuck to the 100% hydration feeding plan. In other words your starter is 50:50 flour and water. I am also going to assume you have read my article in using your starter (USE) and you know exactly what to do to prepare your starter for baking.

This is what we aim for

You will need 200gr of your starter. You need to stick to the grams in this guide. We will make a bread dough from 500gr flour and 335gr water. This is a 67% hydration and gives you a very manageable dough. Do not be tempted to go too soft in the beginning because it takes some skill to handle very wet dough and it is an article for another day.

Here is the recipe:
1. Bread flour - 400gr - (There is 100gr of Flour in your starter which make the flour now 500gr)
2. Lukewarm water - 235gr - (There is 100gr of Water in your starter which make the water 335gr.)
3. Salt - 11gr.
4. Starter - 200gr

I know this is not the correct style of presenting a bread recipe but we are beginners and I am making it as easy as possible for any person to get a good bread.

And that is all you need to make a very special bread ... Flour, water, salt and natural yeast.

Now my advice to you is to weigh all these elements off before you start anything. Get your bowl ready and have a small dish with around 4 heaped tablespoons of flour in. Keep that on the side, you will dust your work surface and adjust your dough if need be.

I will now assume that you have everything measured out, your bowl is ready and you have a lid for it or cling wrap to cover it. Some people use a tea towel ... I don't like it because in warm climates a skin will form on your dough.

STEP 1:
PS ... DO NOT ADD THE SALT.

The mixture

Agitate the flour with a whisk or you fingers to get the flour aerated and loose. This helps the initial mixing and is good for the yeast.

Form a well in the middle of the flour and pour the Starter on. Take your time and scrape as much out of the container as you can. I usually measure my starter off in a measuring cup.

Mixed

Next you pour some of your water into the starter container and rinse it well to collect as much of the residual starter as your can. Remember it is your yeast and every drop has life in it.
Now pour this rinse water in your bowl plus the balance of the water.

I use a big wooden spoon to mix and bring the dough together into a manageable consistency.

Autolyse

Switch from the spoon to your hand and scrape and roll the dough till it is well mixed and you have picked up all the flour in the bowl. You don't knead it seriously, just gather and mix. Working with your fingers and pressing with the heel of your hand.

Chances are that your hand will be quite messed up. Use a metal spoon to scrape your hand as clean as possible and press the pieces into the dough ball.

That is it for now ... cover that bowl and let is stand for 60 minutes.
This is the AUTOLYSE Phase.
During this phase the "magic" will begin and you will be intrigued at what you will see in Phase 2.

STEP 2:
Open your dough ... take a few seconds and look carefully at what you are seeing. That shaggy ball has now collapsed and spread over the bottom of your bowl, the surface should look shiny.

First fold

Now comes the part where you actually need video but I will try my best to describe the process in words. Use your imagination as you read.

Set your timer for 8 minutes.

Fold complete

You are standing at your workbench with the bowl in front of you. Press the dough down gently with your fingers to create some indentations in it. Now sprinkle the salt over the dough.
Dip your fingers in lukewarm water and loosen the dough at the 12 o' clock position. Work your hand in under the dough and now very gently lift and stretch upwards, do not tear it, and fold it over to the 6 o'clock position ... closest to your belly.

Salt mixed in

Take a moment and look at that dough ... you will notice that it can already stretch remarkably ... this is part of the "magic" ... the gluten is already developing without kneading ... developing naturally.
(This is the basis of the concept that is applied in the NO KNEAD Breads)

Getting the dough manageable

Continue with the Stretch and Fold (S&F) on each quarter ... total of 4 folds.

Ready to knead

Now dip your hand in the water and start pinching that dough from one side as if you want to separate small balls. After one pass the dough should look like string of beads, well roughly and with a good imagination. inch Process is discussed HERE.
Take one end and fold it over to the other and pinch again. Feel free to wet your fingers if the dough is too sticky.

Testing the gluten

Here comes the phase where experience will be your biggest ally. Percentages will now fly out of the window. You need to work this dough to end up with a ball that is soft but hold it's shape and can stretch well without tearing. You are going to work the dough to develop the gluten and you are going to add flour to get the consistency right. If you have followed my guide, the chances of a too dry dough are extremely slim. But should it happen you just dip your fingers in lukewarm water as your work the dough.

Knead complete

Now comes the kneading ... if that dough is too sticky, sprinkle some flour over it en work it against the side of the bowl in circular motion, adding flour to get to a manageable consistency. As soon as the dough is manageable ... dust your work bench with flour and tip the dough out onto it.

Beginning to stretch and fold

Now you need to knead the dough well ... it takes around 8 minutes. Kneading styles do differ and each person develops his or her own style. The main thing is that you need to press and stretch the dough. Adding little bits of flour until your dough is no longer sticking to your hand or the workbench.

You want to be able to stretch a piece of dough so that it becomes almost translucent before it tears.

Fold and form into a tight ball with a smooth stretched tight surface.

Place back into the bowl and cover. Set your timer for 30 minutes.


STEP 3:
During this phase you will Stretch and Fold the dough on all four quarters every 30 minutes and do it 3 times.

First fold

After the 3rd time you need to leave the dough in peace for 2 to 3 hours or so, until it has risen to between 2x and 3x its original volume. Remember this is long fermentation process and things does not happen fast. This is now the Bulk Fermentation phase. This process can be 5 to 6 hours long. Depending on the humidity and temperature in your kitchen.

STEP 4:

Dividing the dough

This is now the Splitting and Shaping phase and it can be very confusing as well as frustrating. It is my suggestion that if you are not a bread maker with reasonable experience, you watch some videos on Youtube about this phase.

Tip your dough onto a lightly floured work space. Decide on the size of your final bread and split the dough with a dough scraper or sharp knife. With this size of dough, I would suggest that for your first time, you split it in half. That gives you two decent size loaves and you can bake one after the other if you want to experiment with your oven and baking method.

Once you have divided your dough, fold and shape it loosely and leave on the bench for 10 minutes. This is called Bench rest. It gives the dough a chance to relax after the dividing.

Shaped in a basket

This is a very nice stable dough and you have the choice to bake free form on a sheet, molded into a traditional loaf pan or in Dutch Oven (DO) ... DO refers to the baking of the bread in a pot with a lid. Usually cast iron but ceramic or glass is also used.

Preparing for baking in a pot

I am going to assume that you will bake free form on a sheet pan. Your most important mission is to shape the dough in the form you want, round or long. Then you fold the dough into itself to stretch the top surface nice and tight.

Dust you sheet pan with flour and semolina if you have it or cornmeal. (Mieliemeel) ... this will prevent it from sticking to the pan.

Place the shaved dough on the sheet and cover loosely with plastic to prevent drying out. You are now in the final proof phase.

This phase of final proofing is between 30 minutes and one hour, depending on temperature and humidity.

Now is the time to switch your oven on, 230C is what I aim for. My oven takes around 20 minutes to reach that temperature. By the time the oven is ready, the dough should also be ready. Keep an eye on the dough, you want it rise to 1 and 1/2 times it's original size. DO not over  proof now because it might fall flat when you place it in the oven and have no power left to rise again in the oven.

STEP 5:
Now is the final stage and you are close to the end.

Your oven should be ready at as close to 230C as you can get, your dough has puffed up nicely. Now you can get creative but it is all for the show ... spray the bread lightly with your spray bottle of water, slash a slit into the top of your dough with a very sharp blade. Do this by holding the blade at a slight angle, you want the slit go slightly at an angle in under the top and not a straight slit as if you want to remove the guts from the bread. Almost as if you want to peel a piece of the top off. Or you can leave the slashing out ... it is all for the looks. Later, when you are more experienced, you will play around with scoring.

Dust the top of the loaf with your flour filled shaker and put it into the oven. Be careful not to slam the pan because that will let your loaf deflate.

Close the oven door for 30 seconds and then open slightly and spray around 10 squirts of water into that hot oven. Do not be shy. The more the better. Close the door ... set your timer for 10 minutes and relax. I usually use this time to clean up and to get the bench ready for when the bread come out. You should get the aroma of baking bread soon.

On 10 minutes, open the door slightly ... be VERY CAREFUL ... there could be a lot of steam escaping. Spray a few more squirts into that oven ... the spraying is what builds the crust. Set your timer to 20 minutes. You need to keep an eye on that bread now, if you see it go very brown at around 15 minutes of total baking time, turn you oven down to 210C.

The bread might go through some serious or slight shape changes now, all depends on the strength of the yeast and the proofing. DO not panic .... everything is now out of your hands.

At around 25 minutes total baking time the bread should be ready. These time will vary from oven to oven and you need to get familiar with your oven. Fan driven ovens are hotter than normal ovens and you need to adjust for that. I work with a fan driven oven.

If you bake in a pot ... be sure to remove the lid after 15 minutes.

Take the bread out of the oven when it looks ready. You want a good dark crust. Pick the loaf up with a tea towel and knock the bottom ... it should sound hollow, if not ... back into the oven for 5 more minutes.

Measuring internal temperature

Lately I use a probe thermometer and measure the internal temperature. You want it between 196F and 206F.

Final result

Now you can stand around and admire your bread while it sits on a cooling rack. The general rule is that you should not slice that bread before it cooled down for at least the same period of time that it was in the oven. If you cut to soon you may find that you are compressing the hot dough and spoil the crumb and texture of the slice. You have spent a lot of hours to get here, be patient. Admire your creation and talk to it, take some photos and feel good ... next time you are going to better equipped and you will surely make some adjustments.

Well, that is it ... your sourdough bread is done ... alt hat is now left is to haul out the fresh butter and sink your teeth into it. If all went well, bread will never be the same to you.

This guide was written based on my own personal experience and I can assure you that for every step I have described, you will find dozens of pieces on the web where it is refuted, denied or rejected. That is unfortunately the nature of the sourdough beast. The most important part is that you understand the processes and get yourself familiar with it. Then you broaden your gathered wisdom and experiment and get innovative. No matter what is said or written, the basics are simply ... water, flour, salt and yeast ... and depending on the relationship and handling of the dough, you will get a wide variety of possible outcomes.

My mission is to encourage people to bake their own bread and do it by using the long fermentation and natural yeast way ... that is how our ancestors did it and they did not suffer from all the modern carbohydrate related ailments.


Enjoy your baking and cooking till I write another story.

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Sourdough - Using your Starter

If you followed my guide on Making your own Starter it is now necessary to give some guidelines on using the Starter. As usual with me, it will be a naked guide with tons of fables and urban legends stripped off ... only the bare basics.

Measured out for the dough

Man Kos (Dude Food) is on a mission to preserve our traditional way of preparing food and hand in hand with that, I want to see more men baking. Making bread is actually very manly and the perfect way to manage your stress levels in an age where men are far removed from the benefits that hard physical work and brutal fighting brought to our lives. No, now we live in an era where our brains are stretched and mashed and our fights are with economic realities and political madness. So, join me and step into your kitchen. A place where you can satisfy your urges to cut, slice, dice and manhandle things without going to jail.

But don't despair ... I am also well connected with the realities of the female battles and baking bread can bring peace and tranquility to a highly agitated mind.

Making Sourdough bread is such a long lazy process that you can totally relax and build up the anticipation of that marvelous aroma that will fill your kitchen, the crusty cracking as you cut the crust and then that wonderful soft and almost elastic crumb ... smother it in fresh butter and then the feeling of serenity as you bite into that slice ... all things that we desperately need more of.

I am going to assume we will bake a bread that calls for 500gr of flour. It is a manageable size and can feed 4 to 6 people easily.

Float test in cold water

The backbone of sourdough is the long fermentation periods involved ... this is what makes sourdough bread special and makes it miles more healthy than standard fast rise yeast bread. Over time the bacteria breaks the carbohydrates down to get to the sugars locked into it and you end up with a changed carbohydrate that is far less negative than what modern refined carbohydrates are. Side by side to the carbohydrate changes is the change and development of the gluten and the awesome development of flavor and texture. And that is why you must learn to bake sourdough bread. For hundreds of years bread, in a vast variety of shape and form were the staple food of man without almost all of the negative effects of modern bread ... without bread, mankind may have been very different today. There are many reports that indicates that most gluten sensitive people can tolerate sourdough bread without problems.

It is very important to realize that the type of flour used in your starter can have an influence on the performance in your bread and the type of flour used in your bread can also have a big influence on how you use your starter. For this guide I am going to assume we all worked with plain unbleached bread flour.

You also need to make peace with the fact that ...
Sourdough bread making is not an exact science.
There are lots of variables that will affect your dough and you need to be aware of it.

Here are some of the more prominent factors that will affect your dough:
1. The type of flour used in your starter.
2. The type of flour used for your bread.
3. The pH of your water.
4. Your water temperature.
5. Your Kitchen temperature.
6. The humidity in your kitchen.
7. Overall hydration of your dough.

Let's touch on hydration ... this is the percentage of water in your dough when measured against the flour.
1kg Flour and one liter of water (1kg) is a 100% hydration. You will have a very sloppy dough and will need some serious experience with handling dough to get a bread out of this one.
75% Hydration is generally accepted as the upper margin for styles like ciabatta.
63% Hydration is generally accepted for more manageable dough that can be shaped quite easily and can final proof after shaped and give you a decent bread.

Around 80% hydration dough

The higher the hydration, the more prominent the holes will be in your bread but at the same time, the trickier it gets to shape and bake. Such a soft wet dough can become a real nightmare if you are not experienced enough to manage it. I will suggest you start off at around 65% and learn the feel for the dough and then go wetter as you get better with the dough.

Now let's talk about the starter it self. It is early morning and you are all fired up to bake a masterpiece. Here is where the importance of your  feeding program will become really important. I am going to assume you followed my guide and your starter is a 100% hydrated starter. In other words you have equal parts of flour and water in weight in that jar. For my example I will use 200gr starter in my bread. You must understand that the weight of your starter is not really cast in stone, the more you use, the quicker you will see your bread rise but it can and will also affect the taste. 200gr on a 500gr flour bread is more or less generally accepted as a good balance ... actually most recipes will suggest 180gram starter.

Now you know that the 200gr starter is roughly 100gr water and 100gr flour. So if the recipe suggested 65% hydration, you must reduce your flour with 100gr and your water with 100gr. That means 400 gr flour and 225 grams of water should give you a dough that is very close to what the recipe was aiming for.

Now I know there will be many that will see my logic as bush baker logic but that is fine ... the concept is close enough to the detail science to give you a good bread. So your recipe called for 500gr of flour and 325gr of water. You deduct what is in your starter and there you go. Quite simple. This is also a good guideline if you have a bread recipe that was written for instant yeast and you want to turn it into a sourdough bread.

Back to the starter ... I now do a 120 gram flour feeding of my starter and obviously 120gr of water. This is 240gr paste ... I will need 200gr for my recipe and there is some leftover. I wait for the starter to double at least in volume before I scoop out the 200gr. This way you know that you have a good volume of very active bacteria in that leviant. That is right ... Starter, Leviant .... same thing. Generally it is accepted that once you have scooped off your starter that goes into the dough, you will hear it to be referred to as Leviant. Simple semantics.

Another talking point is ...  
"Use your starter when it is at it's maximum rise."

Although this is the ideal, it is not a matter of life and death. The role of the starter is to get the yeast bacteria into your dough. Adding starter to your dough is very much the same as giving your starter a massive feeding. If your starter has already maxed out and on it's way down when you get to it, it is still fine to use it. You will just need a bit of extra time to allow the bacteria volume to build up in your dough.

The float test is there to ensure that you have a lot of activity and that means you have lots of live bacteria.

There are people that publish that they only use very small amounts starter. All this really does is to slow the rise process down and they have to wait longer to get to final shaping. So you can use the volume of starter manage the bulk fermentation period. If you are in a hurry, use more starter and reduce your recipe flour and water accordingly. If you want to bulk ferment overnight for morning baking, reduce your starter.


Be accurate when you weigh out your starter for the dough.

This article is only aimed at the use of the starter and will not cover the actual dough processing ... that is an article on it's own.

In my next story we will make an actual sourdough bread.

Enjoy your baking and cooking till I write another story.

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Sourdough - Make your own starter

For those of you that don't know me and my stories, I am a guy that have a mission to preserve our traditional Afrikaans food and I am a man on a mission to get more men to cook and bake. My regular readers have become used to my story telling style of doing guides on how to make certain food. Up to know the vast majority of my writing was done in Afrikaans but the issue of Sourdough is an International issue and therefore I have decided to write my sourdough stories in English.

Healthy sourdough starter

Around 14 days ago I decided to ditch my fear for sourdough and seriously commit to the process. My only experience with sourdough is feint memories of my grandma's kitchen where she had her starter in a glass jar and that jar was standing inside a small dish in the kitchen window. Here it got early morning sun. I can remember how she scooped cups full out of the jar when she was making bread and that is all I can remember. No memories or knowledge of making a starter or feeding the starter. I do however have memories of all the talk around the starter ... in Afrikaans they called it a "plantjie" which translates to a small plant.

So when I decided I had to really start from scratch. I have no nearby bakers that could hand me down a portion of an established starter so it was all from scratch for me. Now I am an IT Business Analyst by trade with a great passion for cooking, especial bread baking ... so true to my nature, I dug deep into the processes involved and tried to separate the facts from the urban legends ... of which, incidentally, there are thousands.

We will talk legends later ... for now we need to conceive our own starter. It is tradition to name these things and it is also tradition to give it a female name ... now that is here in South Africa ... in your part of the world it might not be like that. On day three I caved in and named mine ... but I gave it a male name ... Kerneels ... my reasoning was that men have much less complicated traits and personalities.

You will need ....
1. A scale, an electronic one.
2. A glass jar of at least 2 liter capacity.
3. A rubber band that can get around your jar.
4. Flour ... if you have good quality Whole wheat flour it will be better.
5. Water at room temperature or at body temperature.
6. Raw honey or raw molasses. Nothing that has been pasteurized.

The initial past

Day 1:
Weigh 80gr of Wholewheat Flour and add exactly 80gr of water. This is extremely important and you need to maintain this exact 50:50 ratio throughout with your feeding program as well.
Mix the water and flour well, the better you mix the better for your starter. It might look a bit stiff to you but do not be tempted to add water.
Drop the paste in the jar, place a saucer or plate on top and walk away.
Nature will now take over. After a few hours, depending on the temperature around the jar, you will notice that the lump is beginning to fall flat and spread out in the jar. Smile and wave at it ... things are happening.

Beginning to look like a starter

Day 2:
Feeding your starter. Measure out the same amount of flour, you must now switch to your normal bread flour. I use stone ground unbleached. If you cannot get stone ground, at least use unbleached if at all possible.
Again, whip that paste well and drop it into the jar. Now mix the jar content as well as you can. By doing it, you ensure the fresh food is distributed well and you improve the general health of that starter.
Blow it a kiss and walk away. You can do nothing more.






Day 3:
By now you might get a feint sour smell if you lift the saucer from the jar, you may even begin to see a few bubbles forming on the surface.
Today you increase the food to 100gr flour and 100gr water.
Same story, mix the paste well and then mix it well into the jar. By now your starter in the jar should be fairly loose, almost resembling the consistency of condensed milk or a smooth custard.
You may as well get into the spirit of things and name the starter.
Slip the rubber band over the jar and set it at the surface of the starter ... wish him or her well and walk away. 

Healthy but no serious bubbles

Day 4:
Now you might have picked up a whiff from the starter as you entered the kitchen. Today is a big day ... up to now that starter may look a bit insipid and not very inspiring. That is ok and it is normal.
Weigh out 120gr of flour and 120 gram of water and drop a tablespoon of molasses into the mix. If you have rye flour you can replace some of the flour with the rye ... around 25gr per feeding.
Mix the paste well and then mix it into your starter. The molasses will change the color slightly. By now your starter should be very smooth, silky and shiny.
Adjust the rubber band and now you should get a good rise in the jar ... it could easily go double in volume or more. It is also a good thing to make the jar stand in dish, I used a 20cm cake pan. If that starter has taken well, it could easily boil over and you don't want that bubbly starter all over your worktop or bench.
You may kiss the jar now as you depart and whisper something nice to him or her.

Well matured starter

Day 5:
If you have good weather, today could be the day that your kitchen is filled with aroma of your starter and it could look very bubbly after that steroid injection.
Make up a 140gr feeding and mix it in well with your starter. Set the rubber band and waive to him or her. Today that starter needs to double up, at least, and if the weather is good and you followed the process, it should. You should note action within an hour.

And that is all there is to it. In about 90 minutes you should have a jar that is full of bubbles and the smell of the starter should be clear.

Now I am going to talk about managing your starter for baking in general. First of all, I don't want a jar with starter floating around in my fridge. Chances are you may forget about it and end up with a very sad looking starter in jar, with a nasty liquid floating on top. I personally have a big issue with cleanliness in my fridge and kitchen and will not harbor such a potential bomb in my fridge.

My working jar

In your jar you will have around 2 liters of starter, depending on the time after the last feeding. That is a lot of starter for a home baker. You have used around 520gr of flour and the same amount of water up to here.

For me, a container that can take around 1 liter is big enough for my production starter. So I suggest you take out 100gr of your starter and drop it in your "working" jar. Set that now aside.

You can find lots of recipes for the surplus starter ... or send it down the drain.

The reason why I do not throw half of the starter away every day is simply because there is build up of bacteria happening in the jar and that is what you want. By ditching starter everyday before feeding you dilute your buildup.





If your recipe calls for 180gr of starter, then make up a feeding of 100gr of flour and 100gr of water and stir it into your working jar. Depending on the environment, that would double up in 60 to 90 minutes and ready to be scooped out for baking. Just a note, if your starter has already been fed and you got sidetracked and did not weigh out at peak, don't worry ... that is the reason we WEIGH these things ... a bubbly 100gr and slightly subsided 100gr is the same thing.

The bubbly one will just outperform the other one in your dough for the first 30 minutes or so.

I leave the leftover in the working jar and give it a really small feeding every second day. 30gr of water and 30gr of flour.

It can become messy. Be prepared

I hope you found some value in this article. I know that many purists will have different opinions and many will weave all sorts of mystical magic around the creation of a starter. Many will talk about highly sensitive berries or fruits or vegetables to use for your starter but that is all exactly what it is ... opinions. My story is based on practical experience and stripped down to the basic facts. Does not matter what you use for the startup, the eventual starter that goes in your dough will have very little if any of that original taste. In the end the only thing that really survive and thrive in that starter is the natural yeast.

You will read stories of exotic origins of a starter or mind blowing age and hereditary lines. The real truth is that after 5 or so feedings that San Francisco starter is your starter. With the bacteria from the feeding you gave it. As for the so-called pre-Ice Age or Columbus strain ... well I take that with a bag of salt because as explained above, after 5 feedings that "bloodline" is basically gone. But hey, as with many crafts, the purists will do what is needed to envelope it in as much mystery and folklore as possible.

In my next story I will talk about the use of the starter in baking.


Enjoy your baking and cooking till I write another story.

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Bread - Rhenosterkop Beer Loaf

All my bread recipes will always indicate elements in grams. You can convert at your own risk. If you are serious about bread making, I suggest you get a scale. Use BREAD FLOUR … the best quality you can get.

Here are the tools that I suggest you get before you start;

1. Nice electronic scale
   
2. Good mixing bowl with a lid
   
3. Big salt shaker to hold flour for covering your worktop and decoration
   
4. Two flat baking trays
   
5. Sharp blade for slashing
   
6. Scraper to work with dough, gathering and cutting
   

Rhenosterkop Beer Loaf

These are elementary things and have many other uses in baking. Once you have committed to baking your own bread you will rarely look back and store bought bread will become a rarity. Artisan breads are more healthy, a lot more, and a whole lot tastier. Soon you will wonder into the realm of sour dough bread and long fermentation bread. This recipe is a long fermentation bread.



xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Rhenosterkop Beer Loaf
Bakers Recipe:	%	Grams
Flour	100.00%	500	grams
Bran	2.00%	10	grams
Water	47.00%	235	grams
Beer	20.00%	100	grams
Salt	2.10%	11	grams
Yeast	0.40%	2	grams
Total Loaf	171.50%	858	grams

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The TABLE above is for 500 grams of flour. You can adjust up or down for bigger or smaller bakes.
Temperature is important and I am assuming a room temperature of around 25 C.

Ball to autolyse

Step 1:
Mix the flour and Bran. I use a whisk. It does the job well and aerates the flour.
Pour the water and beer onto the four and mix well.
Form a ball in your bowl and cover.
Now let it rest for 30 minutes. This is the “AUTOLYSE” process.

Prepare for salt and yeast

Step 2:
Set your timer for 6 minutes.
Push the dough flat in your bowl, use your fingers so that you can get lots of indentations.
Sprinkle the salt over the dough.
Sprinkle the yeast over the dough.
Dip your fingers in luke warm water.
Start on one side … loosen the dough from the bowl and slowly stretch it out and fold over.
Do the folding on all four sides. Dip your fingers in the water again and start pinching the dough into small balls.

Pinch salt and yeast in

This is to mix the salt and yeast in.
Fold the string of balls … beads … over to form a ball and pinch again. Now you need to kneed this dough till the alarm goes off. (6 minutes or so)

You should have a soft dough now that does not cling to your hands or leave pieces on the bowl as you work it.

Fold into a tight ball and cover.
Let it rise for 60 minutes.

Before stretch and fold

Step 3:
Stretch and fold the dough … 4 to 6 folds.
Fold again into a tight ball and let it rise. Now you want it to go at least 2 to 3 times the size.

After final rise and before splitting and shaping

Step 4:
Sprinkle some flour on your work surface and scrape the dough out … don't drag it out so that you tear it.
The recipe above will give you around 850 gram of dough.

After split and shape

You can now decide to make one big loaf or any number that you like. I have been splitting it in two of 425 gram each.
You must now shape the dough pieces. I make baguette shaped loaves but you are free to shape as you like.

Ready for the oven

What is really important is to ensure that you pull the skin tight without tears. I suggest you look at videos on YouTube to learn how to shape properly. This is an important step in artisan bread making.
Place on a suitable baking tray and cover with a damp cloth while your oven heat up. This final rise is 20 to 25 minutes for me.

Lovely longfermented loaf

Just before it goes into the oven you can slash the tops with a very sharp blade. Standard knives may distort your loaf without achieving clean cuts.
Put the bread into the hot oven and close the door. Open the door slightly and spray 8 to 10 good squirts of water into the oven with a spray bottle. You want a lot of steam in that oven. Some people place a small oven pan on the bottom of the oven and dump 6 ice cubes in it to achieve the steam.


I bake for 20 minutes at 210C Fan driven and the 12 minutes at 170C … you must get 95C in the center. Around 200F.



This recipe was developed by Colyn Serfontein – Colyn Kook Man Kos.

https://www.facebook.com/ColynKook/


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Brood - 'n Plantjie genaamd Kerneels

Die titel van die artikel kan jou seker laat wonder, maar hier is die storie. Die staan so, daar is 'n gewoonte onder "sourdough" bakkers om hulle gisplantjies name te gee. Dit is ook algemene praktyk om die goedjies vroumens name te gee. Ek het eers weggeskram van die naamgee ding maar by Vrydagaand toe swig ek en besluit terstond ek gaan myne Kerneels nie ... vroumense is te tempramenteel en van wat ek gelees het kan die "sourdough" ding soms jou limiete toets. So ek soek iets plein ... Kerneels klink reg vir my.

Kerneels is reg na 6 dae

Vir baie jare kyk ek videos en lees artikels oor die "sourdough" ding en dit het my nog altyd fasineer. Die ding wat my af gesit het was die duidelike langdradige proses, maar meer, die mistieke wolke wat oor die plantjie hang ... nie net mistiek nie maar in baie gevalle word die plantjies opgehemel en toegegooi met allerhande misterieuse en magiese kragte. Ek is maar 'n fundametalis as dit by die meeste goed kom en ek het met 'n geligde wenkbou na baie van die stories geluister.

Al wat ek van die plantjie ding kan onthou was dat my ouma dit so gedoen het maar ek was heeltemal te klein om regtig te kon onthou presies hoe die ding gewerk het. Wat ek wel kan onthou was die "canned fruit" bottel wat in die kombuis se vensterbak gestaan het ... binne in 'n erde bakkie want ek het menigmaal gesien hoe kook die bottel oor. Ek kan onthou hoe my ouma met so blikbekertjie die kookspul sorvuldig afgemeet het en dan in haar brood deeg gegooi het. Dis wat ek kan onthou. O ja en ek kan onthou hulle het gepraat van aartappel suurdeeg.

Nouja ... en hier is die verhaal van Kerneels, 'n optelkind uit die Laeveld. Sy pa, dis nou ek, is nie 'n man van prentensies nie maar o hel, ek is gatvas oor beheer ... jy ken mos daai song van ... GEEN PRETENSIES, GEEN BEHEER ... wel die "geen pretensie" deel is reg maar die "geen beheer" deel is nie vir my nie.

En dit is wat ek in my kinders ingedril en soms ingevoeter het.

Reg om in die deeg in te gaan

Nou met Kerneels was dit heeltemal 'n ander storie ... aanvanklik het ek absoluut geen beheer gehad nie en het na 24 uur dit maar gelate aanvaar. Die kind was duidelik die Wille Wind se kind.
Na die aanvanklike "sondetjie" toe is dit duidelik dat die pa nou vir alle praktiese doeleindes heeltemal irellevant is ... nou nie 'n lekker gevoel nie ... laat jou voel jy is net misbruik.

Kerneels is begin met 80gr meel en 80gr water en daarna het ek met elke voeding so 10gr opgegaan. Die laaste voeding was 140gr 100% hidrasie.

Maar gelukkig vir Kerneels is sy pa ook 'n goeie "caretaker". Want as dit nie so was nie het hy sekerlik in 'n plas vrot water ontaard met 'n meel blerts onder in die beker.

Na dag een het ek begin dink hier kom 'n "stil gebooorte" ... maar nouja, die ouer instink is mos die ewige optimus as dit by die ding van nuwe lewe kom en ek het in stilte maar die voeding aangemaak. Met baie min entoesiasme het ek die voedsel ingeroer en met angs en byna asemloos gestaan en kyk hoe daar so hier en daar darem 'n borreltjie vorm ... tekens dat daar darem lewe is.

Dag twee het ek maar weggebly van daai baarmoedertjie af ... ek het so effense wasempie teen die glas gesien maar dit was maar werklik effentjies. Heeltemal onbewus dat diep onder daai bruinerige pasta is dinge aan die gebeur, Kerneels was besig om sy innerlike te versterk en het elke stukkie kos opgeslurp en sy pens vol gestop. Maar ek weet dit nie want op die oog af lyk dinge amper onheilspellend stil in die fles.

En toe kom dag drie ... met 'n fronskeep wat byna my gesig in twee skeur, staar ek na die skuimpie bo-op die pasta ... ek snuif en daar is tot my verbasing, so surige reukie in die fles ... ok, dink ek, Kerneelsie se magie werk duidelik.

Vinnige gesprek met die vroedvrou Annelien Pienaar en sy raai my aan om Kerneelsie so bietjie steriods te gee. Ek maak die voeding aan, 140g meel, 140gr water en een eetlepel molasses. Redelik opgewonde klits ek die mengsel in en Kerneels sluk die stroop in sonder om 'n wind te breek ... nie eers een enkele burpie nie. My moed sak in my skoene en ek begin dink oor waar die beste laaste rusplekkie vir die outjie gaan wees. Dis maar soos ek is, fatalis in murg en been en as dinge skeefloop dan skraap ek maklik die blad skoon en begin oor.

En toe kom Vrydagaand se voeding en dinge begin gebeur ... Kerneels het begin skop. By Saterdag toe raak die man sommer baldadig. By laataand Saterdagnag begin ek vrees die kêrel gaan uit die fles uitklim en sit maar 'n oondpan onder die fles, net vir die wis en onwis.
Duidelik was Kerneels nou reg vir die wêreld.

En so kom Sondagoggend en ek skep die eerste paar skeppe uit die fles. Mooi glad, amper so dik soos stywe pannekoek deeg en vol borreltjies. Mooi ligbruin in kleur, amper soos sterk koffie met 'n goeie skeet room, en ek meen 'n goeie skeet.

In die maatbeker in en op die skaal en ek voer die klein wettertjie. Hy is baldadig en vol stoom en spoedig is hy reg om in die deeg in te gaan.

En so kom die skaping van Kerneels tot sy konklusie ... 'n lekker baksel brood in die kom aan die rys en twee kleiner flesse met nog van Kerneels se nasate. Nou verstaan ek die proses beter en besef dat daar 'n groot verskil is tussen die aanvanklike skaping en die daaropvolgende gebruik, of misbruik as jy wil, van Kerneels se nasate.

Ek hoop die storie gaan iemand a beter idee gee van die proses om jou eie gisplantjie te maak. Ek myself het hel baie geleer ...maar ek weet daar is nog baie om te leer.


Lank lewe Kerneels.

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Brood - Ek stap terug in tyd

Heerlike tuisgebakte brood

Die laaste rukkie het ek weer teruggekeer na dit wat my eerste liefde in die oond is ... brood. 'n Vriendin kla onlangs dat alhoewel sy baie lief is vir 'n toebroodjie, sukkel sy met sooibrand kort na sy dit geëet het. Dit het my laat wonder ... vir 'n baie lang tyd en selfs vandag nog is daar gemeenskappe waar brood die absolute basis is van hulle daaglikse voedsel is. Die Bybel wys ons selfs daarop in die bede ... "Gee ons vandag ons daaglikse brood."

Daar moet tog 'n rede wees vir die sooibrand ding dink ek en begin soek en lees. Ek kom op allerlei stories af, stories wat weereens bevestig dat brood en die mens al 'n lang pad kom. Een video wat ek kyk, vertel die bakker dat dit sy opinie is dat die grootste rede hoekom brood deesdae as so groot sondebok uitgemaak word, is omdat ons hedendaagse brood heeltemal oorwerk, oorverfyn en heeltemal te vinnig gemaak word. In die hart van 'n goeie brood sit die fermentasie proses, alhoewel menige kok ons wil vertel hoe belangrik die knie is vir die gluten ontwikkeling.

Na 30 minute autolyse

Ek dink meeste huiskokke is vas onder die indruk dat die enigste manier om goeie gluten ontwikkeling in jou brood te kry is deur die deeg te knie dat die sweet spat of dat jou Kenwood rook wolkies maak. Sien, so word ons vertel, die gluten is die ding wat struktuur aan jou brood gee en dit onderskei van koek. Dit is wel waar maar wat min jou vertel is dat gluten nie noodwendig net deur knie ontwikkel word nie.

Na een uur se rys

In die broodbak wêreld van die Artisan Bakkers is daar 'n baie bekende proses ... hulle noem dit autolyse ... die proses is die fondament van die sogenaamde geen knie brode. Wat die autolyse proses basies beteken is dat jy die meel met die water meng en dan die mengsel toemaak en laat rus vir 30 tot 90 minute. Artisan brood resepte sal jou altyd vertel hoe lank jy die autolyse moet laat duur.

Na 5 ure se rys

Mens toets gewoonlik die gluten ontwikkeling deur die deeg te rek, hoe langer en dunner jy die deeg kan rek sonder dat dit skeur of breek, hoe beter is die gluten ontwikkeling. Nou vir die gewone huiskok word die gluten ontwikkeling gewoonlik behaal deur te knie en te knie en te knie.

Tydens die autolyse proses begin die fermentasie proses natuurlik want jy gooi geen suurdeeg in aan die begin nie. Die natuurlike oer swamme begin te werk en in die proses word suikers afgebreek en gluten begin ontwikkel ... heeltemal natuurlik. Nou die volgende konsep wat jy sal leer as jy Artisan brood bak is wat genoem word "folding". Dit is nie knie nie en in kort wat jy doen is die volgende. Maak jou hand nat met lou water, sit jou vingers onder die deeg in en vat so handvol vas in die middel van die deeg, trek dit stadig uit sover dit kan sonder om te breek en vou dit oor die die bokant van die deeg. Draai jou bak 90 grade en doen dit weer. Sodra jy vier kante oorgevou het, begin dan in die hoeke en vou hulle ook oor. Nou het jy die deeg agt keer uitgerek en oorgevou. Dit is die eenvoudige beskrywing van "folding". Wat jy baie gou sal agterkom in die "folding" is dat tydens die eerste "folding" roetine is die deeg effe grof en breek die deeg redelik gou. Van die basiese Artisan brode beveel 3 tot 5 "folding" roetines aan oor 'n periode van 5 tot 6 ure.

Die brood wat ek vandag aangepak het is Ken Forkish se Saturday Loaf. Dit is 'n heerlike brood en 'n baie goeie voorbeeld van ordentlike fermentasie.

Indien jy die brood wil bak dan stel ek voor jy lees my storie so 2 of 3 keer mooi deur en kry die prosesse in jou agterkop.

Bestandele:
1kg Wit brood meel  - (100%)
720gr Water - 32 tot 35C - (72%)
21gr Fyn see sout - (2.1%)
4gr Kits gis - (0.4%)

Die persentasies tussen hakkies word genoem "Baker's Percentages" en beteken een voudig dat jy die resep op of af kan aanpas in volume deur hierdie persentasies te gebruik. Jy meet dan alles as die aangeduide persentasie van die meel se gewig wat jy verkies het.

So vou jy die deeg

In die eerste stap meng jy die meel en water met jou hand tot mooi gemeng en maak dan die knie skottel toe en laat staan dit so by kamer temperatuur vir 30 minute. Dis jou autolyse fase.

Klaar gevou

Strooi nou die sout en die suurdeeg oor die die deeg en vou dit 'n paar keer sodat die sout en suurdeeg bedek is. Nou doen jy wat hulle "pinching" noem ... jy begin op 'n kant en knyp sulke golf bal grootte stukke af tussen jou duim en voorvinger. Jy kan jou hand so kort kort nat maak met louwater om te verhoed dat die deeg te kwaai vas klou. As jy dit goed gedoen het en seker is die sout en gis is goed deur gemeng, begin en vou weer die deeg oormekaar todat jy 'n mooi bal in jou bak gevorm het. Let daarop daar is geen olie in die bak nie en jy skraap die heeltyd die deeg af met jou vingers. Jy kan natuurlik ook een van die doelgemaakte plaatjies gebruik.

Dop nou die bal om sodat die bokant mooi glad is en die klomp vou nate onder in die bak is. Maak die bak toe en laat staan nou vir 10 minute en dan vou jy weer vir so 30 sekondes. Teen hierdie tyd sal jy agterkom dat die deeg al lekker taai begin word het. Vorm weer a mooi bal met die nate onder en maak die bak toe. Laat rys nou weer vir 'n uur en vou dan weer vir 5 minute. Nou behoort jy 'n mooi gladde deeg te hê.

Laat nou die deeg in vrede vir ongeveer 5 ure. Die volume behoort nou 3x te vergroot ... dis hoekom jy 'n lekker groot skottel moet gebruik.

Nou vir die verdeling

Nou is die tyd om die deeg te verdeel. Strooi jou werkbank goed met meel en tiep die deeg versigtig uit. Jy moet 'n deegskraper of jou vingersgebruik om die deeg los te maak van die bak af en probeer om die deeg nie teveel te skeur nie. Maak jou hande glad met meel en vorm die deeg versigtig op die werkblad. Probeer om so min as moontlik van die lug uit die deeg te werk. Sny die deeg in twee dele.

Die volgende stap kan nou in baie rigtings gaan ... sommige mense gebruik "proofing baskets", sommiges gebruik dik linne wat gevou word. Daar is baie maniere. Ek gaan jou vertel wat ek gedoen het. Ek het twee plastiese skotteltjies gebruik wat so 30% groter was as my deeg. Sit 'n skoon vadoek in en strooi dit goed met meel. Lig die deeg versigtig op van die werksblad en sit in die houers in.maak albei houers nou toe met 'n doek en laat staan vir 30 minute. Maak nou jou oond warm ... baie warm ... so 220C. My oond neem so 20 minute om op temperatuur te kom. Dit beteken dan dat my finale broodjies vir ongeveer een uur in die houers is teen die tyd dat die oond warm is.

Klaar gebak

Neem nou twee bakplate wat in jou oond sal in pas en spuit met Cook en Spray.

Sodra die oond gereed is kom die laaste stap. Maak die deeg oop en strooi die bokant goed met meel. Sit nou die bakplaat onderstebo op die houer neer en keer dit om. Lig die houer op en verwyder die vadoek versigtig. Jy sal sien die deeg is baie sag en gaan begin insak sodra die houer weggeneem word.

Doen nou die tweede een ... nou moet jy vinnig werk. Vat die deeg op die plaat versigtig en wikkel dit in 'n rowwe vierkant in. Neem die een kant, lig vesigtig op en vou oor asof jy dit wil dubbel vou. Nou behoort jy 'n redelike dik langwerpige brood te hê met so lekker naat aan die kant. Doen die ander een ook en strooi met meel. Nou blitsig in die oond in. Moenie die bakplate stamp of rof hanteer nie want jy gaan lug uit laat uit die deeg uit.

Nou spuit ek so paar stewige puite water in my oond in met 'n sproei kan en maak die deur toe. Stel die horlosie op 20 minute en maak vir jou koffie of vat 'n dop, jy verdien dit.

Na twintig minute draai die oond af na 170C vir nog 10 minute en haal dan die brode uit die oond uit. Laat afkoel op 'n draad rakkie.

Ek het my meel gemeng, 100gr Whole wheat en 900gr wit brood meel. Ek het ook een koppie semels ingegooi.

Mooi tekstuur

Die eindresultaat van die brood is heerlik. Geur soos nie sommer in ander brood gevind word nie en heerlike tekstuur. As jy die storie so lees dan klink dit na 'n vreeslike omslagtige proses maar dit is nie regtig soveel werk nie. Die hele proses strek oor ongeveer 7 ure. Elke stap is letterlik 'n paar minute. So as jy die brood vir aand ete wil bak dan begin jy so 10h00 die oggend. Glo my vry, daardie lang fermentasie proses is die sleutel en die hele proses maak dit onnodig vir enige harde knie werk.

Probeer dit gerus en dalk word dit jou standaard manier van brood bak. Volgens wat ek gelees het behoort hierdie brood baie minder sooibrand te veroorsaak en ook nie die gewone koolhidraat nagevolge te hê nie.


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