Mothers' Day

[mochasidamo]

So whilst countless others no doubt braved their local carvery...with countless others...for Mothers' Day lunch...

...partner and smallest (8 and 13) lit the new Dakota fire hole in the "lawn" (which isn't) and made veggie sausages and baked beans, garlic mushrooms, and the African stick bread (we had cheated and prepped inside as it was a little chill for yeast al fresco). And it was so much better.

And 13yo learnt that his independent fire making (as in I'm cooking garlic mushrooms on my own fire) needs a little work still .

Trisha

 

[g4ghb]

Nice one! - i'm intrigued, how exactly do you prepare african stick bread - I assume it is cooked like a twist on the stick but am probably way off the mark!

 

[mochasidamo]

Basically beer bread...recipe shamelessly cribbed:

"Ingredients

* 1-1/4 cups beer
* 1/2 stick of butter
* 4-teaspoons brown sugar
* 1- egg beaten
* 2- cups white bread flour
* 2- cups whole wheat flour
* 1- envelope instant dried yeast
* 1-teaspoon salt
* long sticks

Directions

1. put the beer, butter and sugar into a saucepan, bring to a boil then remove from the heat and set aside to cool until lukewarm.......
2. add the beaten eggs
3. place the flours, yeast and salt in the bowl of the electric mixer and make a well in the center
4. pour in the beer and egg mixture and mix to form a soft dough
5. knead the dough until smooth and elastic
6. place the dough in a greased bowl, loosely cover with some greased plastic wrap or shower cap, and place in a warm , draft -free place until dough has doubled in size, about an hour............
7. knock back( punch down) the dough
8. this is the fun part;.....divide the dough into 8 pieces and roll each piece into the shape of a snake...............
9. wrap the dough along the length of the sticks, leaving ample space at the end for holding the sticks over the fire........
10. hold the dough over the slow burning coals and turn occasionally until the bread is cooked and browned about 7 to 12 minutes... depending on the heat of the coals.... the dough will slide off the stick easily when cooked.
11. makes 8"

Of course outside you might have to forego the electric mixer.... and the shower cap (!!!), and I had to research what the thump a stick of butter was. Of course wood is fine to cook on. Enjoy.