Best bread in the world – 1890
Bread was not always easy to find in the early hinterland. “However, South Africans soon learnt how to grind corn between stones, make their own yeast from veld plants and bake bread in pots, clay ovens or converted ant-heaps,” writes Leslie Faul in Bread. There is no doubt that this bread was good. In 1890,…
Read MoreDelicacies of the poor: Bread and porridge recipes
Armmansbrood (Poor man’s bread), gebraaidepap (braaied porridge) or waterbrood (water bread) were traditional breads of the early Karoo. To make them all that was needed was flour, water and a little salt, mixed together and kneaded into a stiff dough. This was then rolled out, (normally using a bottle), spread with fat or oil, rolled…
Read MoreYeast Making – An Art All On Ots Own
Making “suurdeeg” (sourdough or yeast) was an art, said Pat Marincowitz. “Early housewives started by peeling and grating a potato and then boiling this in about a liter of water for 10 to 20 minutes. Half a tablespoon of salt, 2 teaspoons of sugar, a few raisins, a little flour and a slice of bread…
Read MoreUnique Flavour of Karoo bread
Early bread had a unique flavour. Experts say this came from the yeasts, microscopic dust particles and trace elements emitted by the millstones. In Plains of the Camdeboo, Eve Palmer states: “Karoo bread always has a faint taste of mimosa, even when cool.” In 1890 Anne Martin, in Home Life on an Ostrich Farm, urged…
Read MoreKaroo Bread
Bread was not easy to find along the wagon route, said early writers. Hinterland housewives had to grind their own flour and make their own yeast from sour dough, potatoes or veld plants. Bread was often baked in a hollowed out ant heap, says Prince Albert historian Pat Marincowitz. Brick or clay ovens with chimneys…
Read More