12-06-2006, 07:47 AM
There's something about the smell of freshly baked bread that livens up the senses. Well mine in particular. I'm sure yours too.
The memories come flooding back as though it were yesterday, as a toddler sitting at the foot of my mother and hearing the clatter of pots, pans and everything else in the kitchen. The smell of the bread wafting through the air and delicately settling on my taste buds and enticing me to reach up and tear a piece off.
Hot, freshly baked bread with a good dollop of butter or schmaltz, a little salt and cracked pepper - there is nothing quite like it! A smidgen of konfyt or a delicate liver pate is simply heaven with home-baked bread
With my brother being a pastry chef and working his magic with bread, it comes as no great surprise on our many nights out after service in Cape Town's clubs we'd end up at the door to the all night bakery, begging (or should I say slurring!) for a scrap of croissant or Portuguese bread.
The smell would make you so hungry for more that inevitably you'd end up driving home on a partially sated stomach to create absolute mayhem in the home kitchen - anything to satisfy that pure, unadulterated hunger for more. The residue for the morning after would leave you wondering why your kitchen looked like a bomb had hit it, until the memories of chewing steaming croissants with friends come flooding back. Thanks boet for the memories!
Whilst more and more people are getting into the whole cooking scenario, there is one thing to guarantee a house full of hungry people on a Sunday morning - the smell of freshly baked bread.
Not only is it cathartic and sensual making your own bread, but also with a decent sense of adventure you can turn a somewhat mundane task into a work of heavenly bliss for your palate.
A great icebreaker at any dinner party is to have the freshly baked bread on the table and for your guests to break bread with you.
There's something incredibly intimate about this - as though you're connecting on a different level. It also allows you greater flexibility for getting your starters out, as everyone will be happily munching away on your bread. You can even batch make the bread and freeze it for later use in either lunch packs for the kids or romantic picnics with your loved ones.
At the restaurant we serve freshly baked bread to our guests - granted the whole batch doesn't make it for service as occasionally we get the munchies and gorge ourselves on these little pieces of heaven - whether you add a little chopped sun dried tomato or some sliced Kalamata olives to further enhance the flavours - it's completely up to you.
Getting hold of fresh yeast might be a problem initially but after a quiet word with your local bakery or supermarket I'm sure you would join the revolution for making great food at home.
As with all baking, you need time. The more passion, love and attention you put into your bread, the sweeter the smile after your first bite at the kitchen table.
copyright: Grant Hawthorne :chef: 2006
The memories come flooding back as though it were yesterday, as a toddler sitting at the foot of my mother and hearing the clatter of pots, pans and everything else in the kitchen. The smell of the bread wafting through the air and delicately settling on my taste buds and enticing me to reach up and tear a piece off.
Hot, freshly baked bread with a good dollop of butter or schmaltz, a little salt and cracked pepper - there is nothing quite like it! A smidgen of konfyt or a delicate liver pate is simply heaven with home-baked bread
With my brother being a pastry chef and working his magic with bread, it comes as no great surprise on our many nights out after service in Cape Town's clubs we'd end up at the door to the all night bakery, begging (or should I say slurring!) for a scrap of croissant or Portuguese bread.
The smell would make you so hungry for more that inevitably you'd end up driving home on a partially sated stomach to create absolute mayhem in the home kitchen - anything to satisfy that pure, unadulterated hunger for more. The residue for the morning after would leave you wondering why your kitchen looked like a bomb had hit it, until the memories of chewing steaming croissants with friends come flooding back. Thanks boet for the memories!
Whilst more and more people are getting into the whole cooking scenario, there is one thing to guarantee a house full of hungry people on a Sunday morning - the smell of freshly baked bread.
Not only is it cathartic and sensual making your own bread, but also with a decent sense of adventure you can turn a somewhat mundane task into a work of heavenly bliss for your palate.
A great icebreaker at any dinner party is to have the freshly baked bread on the table and for your guests to break bread with you.
There's something incredibly intimate about this - as though you're connecting on a different level. It also allows you greater flexibility for getting your starters out, as everyone will be happily munching away on your bread. You can even batch make the bread and freeze it for later use in either lunch packs for the kids or romantic picnics with your loved ones.
At the restaurant we serve freshly baked bread to our guests - granted the whole batch doesn't make it for service as occasionally we get the munchies and gorge ourselves on these little pieces of heaven - whether you add a little chopped sun dried tomato or some sliced Kalamata olives to further enhance the flavours - it's completely up to you.
Getting hold of fresh yeast might be a problem initially but after a quiet word with your local bakery or supermarket I'm sure you would join the revolution for making great food at home.
As with all baking, you need time. The more passion, love and attention you put into your bread, the sweeter the smile after your first bite at the kitchen table.
copyright: Grant Hawthorne :chef: 2006