This week I learned how to make bread.
With the price of everything, including bread, going up, s al ons almal maar nou moet leer brood bak by die huis.
I recently visited the Pick n Pay Shanaaz Parker Good Food studio in Kenilworth, where I didn’t just make my own broodjie, but also tasted some of the lekkerste breads in the world.
Shanaaz, an award-winning author, editor of Fusion Food and Home magazine, culinary consultant and event planner, has developed “thousands of recipes” over the years.
The 56-year-old former lecturer comes from a “long line of good cooks” and has authored several books with her lecturers and daughter over the years.
“My love for cooking came from my parents,” she says.
“My mom, dad and siblings are all good cooks. My children also started cooking from a very young age and have co-authored a book with me.
“My first book, Fusion, was dedicated to my mother and had a lot of her recipes, like Rabia’s milky bread.
“I love baking bread, I love that it’s alive, it’s like a baby that grows, it speaks to you,” she beams.
I was never a big fan of bak brood, but the bobaas baker assured me I would be converted after her class.
And she was right. I left the studio a changed woman.
With the help of lecturers Dilshaad Amtay and Wasiema Adams, the students, including yours truly, made more than 10 different types of bread.
I made a heavenly raisin and muesli health bread.
In my excitement I somehow forgot to add butter to my mixture but it made no difference, my brood was nog altyd kwaai.
Some of the other baked treats included a traditional white loaf, a spiral cinnamon tea bread and a delicious cranberry oat and honey walnut bread.
En wat is bak brood nou sonder ’n lekker koppie warme sop?
The class also made four kinds of soup to complement the breads.
The creamy chicken corn soup was my personal favourite.
After hours of hard labour and lus inhou, I was hungry and ready to dig in.
The breads were displayed and sliced and then the best part… sampling ALL the bread that was made.
I was in bread heaven!
How to make mouthwatering raisin & muesli health bread
Ingredients
250g muesli and 300g whole wheat flour
300g cake flour
10ml salt
25ml brown sugar
1 packet Instant Dry Yeast and 30ml butter
±750ml lukewarm water and 75ml seedless raisins and beaten egg for brushing
Method
Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease two bread pans.
Mix the muesli, wholewheat flour, cake flour, salt and brown sugar together. Add the Instant Dry Yeast and mix through well.
Rub the butter into the flour with the fingertips.
Add enough lukewarm water to form a soft, sticky batter and mix the batter well for 10 minutes. Add the raisins and mix.
Divide the mixture equally into two greased bread pans. Brush the top of bread with beaten egg.
Sprinkle the loaves with muesli.
Cover with greased plastic and allow to rise in a warm place until double in volume, about 25-30 minutes and bake in a preheated oven for 45-50min.
You can check out next week’s Cooksisters for some lekker soup recipes to go with your bread.
If you want to learn how to bake and cook, you can contact the Pick n Pay Shanaaz Parker Good Food Studio on 021 658 1000.