Rebooting with Bread Art

What often does the trick when we're having problems with WiFi/ our PC/ our Cell Phone etc etc?

A simple reboot; and how often don't we forget about that!

We all need a reboot from time to time; whether it's a day at the beach, in the mountains, simply going for a walk around the neighbourhood, listening to music, meditating, digging in the garden; whatever takes your fancy!

Having an 89 year old in the home, we're still a tad hesitant about going out with Covid still around, so my reboot often happens in the kitchen, as baking and cooking really is the best kind of therapy!

I was inspired to try my hand at some bread art, so I paid Granny Google a visit for advice, but I will have to reboot like this again, as my effort was not as successful as I wanted it to be, but I will tell you where I think I went wrong.

A big thank you to the amazing foodie Anna Gabur who creates the most gorgeous works of bread art and was the inspiration behind this, my first attempt.

It really is so satisfying seeing raw ingredients turn from a real mess into something delicious and beautiful.

Basic Bran rich Bread:

4 cups Stoneground Wheat Flour
1/2 cup Bran flakes
1 tsp Salt
2 tsp Brown Sugar
10g Instant dry Yeast
2 Tbsp melted Vegan Butter
350 ml Lukewarm Water

Mix all dry ingredients except yeast in large mixing bowl.
Make a well in the centre and place yeast in hollow.
Mix butter & lukewarm water and pour onto yeast.
Knead till a smooth ball is formed & place into round oiled bowl.
Leave to rise in a warm place and turn out onto floured baking paper.

For proving the bread dough, I used my Wonderbag which is a proudly South African invention; a fabric bag that cooks soup, stews or beans to perfection with only using gas or electricity to kickstart it, and I quote:

The Wonderbag is a simple but revolutionary non-electric slow cooker developed for women cooking over open fires. After bringing a pot of food to the boil and placing it in a foam-insulated Wonderbag, the food will continue cooking for up to 12 hours without additional heat. Because the pot spends a fraction of time on the fire or stove, Wonderbag cooking reduces by 70% the amount of wood, charcoal, and other dirty-burning fuels used in the home. This saves hours of time and labor, and improves indoor air quality and overall health.

Mistake number one
My dough was too soft so my loaf spread and became too flat, but I was determined to still try my hand at this art.

Cover dough in flour ensuring you create a smooth canvas before scouring the round dough into segments with cotton thread; this helps with getting evenly sized and spaced wheat stalks.

Mistake number two
I did not work the flour in enough so my canvas looked quite messy!

Hubby's Stanley Knife was the perfect tool to scour the dough with.

Bake at 180°C, initially with steam by placing a bowl of boiling water into oven for 20 minutes, remove water and continue baking a further 30-40 minutes.