Jane's Delicious Garden Blog

This recipe was originally in Jane’s Delicious Kitchen but had to be left out due to space limitations – but so many people have asked me for it, so here it is.

I grew up eating fresh-from-the-oven crusty home-baked bread every day. I remember the smell of the yeast and helping Mom knead the dough until it magically turned from a sticky mass into a springy and elastic ball.

I also remember that the dough was temperamental and being careful not to bump the hot tray because the bread was rising. So I was somewhat sceptical when I read about a method of making yeast bread that involved no kneading, no mollycoddling and claimed to only take 5 minutes a day to prepare. I ordered the book and set about making my first loaf.

It was the best bread I have ever made. And the greatest part? I could make enough dough for at least 4 loaves and leave it in the fridge to use during the week.

So no more kneading, fussing over and punching dough around – here is the quickest and easiest bread recipe ever. My recipe is adapted from the book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë François Thomas (Dunne Books, 2007).

Ingredients

3 cups lukewarm water
1½ tablespoons yeast
1½ tablespoons salt
6½ cups cake flour*, plus more for dusting the dough
fresh rosemary, roughly chopped
cornflour
1 cup hot water for the oven

*This is not a mistake – even though this is a bread recipe, cake flour is used because the dough is very wet and bread flour would have too high a gluten content.

Pour the water into a 5 litre food grade plastic container (I use an ice cream container). Add the yeast and salt and mix it together.

Add the flour and mix it in using a wooden spoon and stir quickly until there are no dry patches. The dough should be quite wet and conform to the shape of the container.

If necessary add a little more water. Place the lid on top but don’t seal it.

Leave it to rise until it reaches the top of the container. (The time will vary; when I make this in Johannesburg, it takes a couple of hours but down at the coast it takes longer.)

Once it has risen, you can either bake a loaf immediately or cover it loosely and put it in the fridge to use later. The dough will keep for about a week.

Using a baking stone really helps the bread to develop a crisp crust. If you don’t have one, use a flat baking sheet. When ready to bake, sprinkle some corn flour on a thin wooden chopping board (or if you happen to have a pizza peel – use that) and set it aside.
Using a flour shaker, sprinkle a little cake flour over the surface of the dough. This will prevent it sticking to your hand.

Sink your hand into the dough and grab a big handful – about the size of a grapefruit. Pull this out and cut off the trailing dough with a serrated knife.

Keeping the floured surface in the palm of your hand, turn the dough 3 to 4 times and with each turn, pull and stretch the floured dough up around the sticky dough.




Once you have reached where you started, turn it over and give it a final stretch and shaping. The top should be smooth and the bottom a little lumpy.

Place the lumpy side onto the floured wooden board and leave it to rest for 40 minutes. Cover the rest of the dough loosely and put it back in the fridge.

Depending on the size of your pizza stone, you can bake three or four loaves at the same time. Repeat the process above for each one.

About 20 minutes before baking, place a small roasting pan deep enough to hold a cup of water, on the bottom shelf of the oven. Place a baking stone (or a flat baking tray) on the middle rack. Heat the oven to 240° C. (Yes – it really does need to be that hot.) When the oven is ready, pour one cup of hot water into the roasting pan on the bottom shelf. (This adds steam to the oven, creating a crispy crust.)

Sprinkle the shaped loaf with cake flour and use a serrated knife to make criss-cross slashes in the top.

Sprinkle rosemary into the slashes.

Very quickly open the oven and, using a spatula to help lift it, slide the dough onto the stone.

Bake the loaf until well browned, about 30 to 45 minutes. If you want an especially crusty loaf, use a spritzer bottle to spray water onto the top and sides of the oven a couple of times during the final 5 to 7 minutes of baking.

Remove from the oven and turn onto a rack to cool. Resist cutting it before it is completely cool, as this will just squash the bread.

After all this activity we needed some R & R. I hadn’t planned anything – other than wanting to go up the West Coast as I had never been there. Keith has but it was a while ago and he hadn’t really explored the area near Langebaan.

My Garden Angels must have been listening to my West Coast intention because they quickly organised things for me. I had brought some seeds down for Kevin French, who had emailed me a while back about battling to find amaranth. He attended the workshop and afterwards he happened to overhear me talking about going up to Church Haven. I had never heard of this place up the West Coast – until recently when a friend mentioned it as well worth visiting. Kevin then asked where we were staying in Church Haven and I replied I hadn’t had a chance to even go online and look but I was planning to. Well of course he just happened to have a house there which was available. What I didn’t realise until later, is that Church Haven only has very few houses – and even fewer available to non residents. My Garden Angels had been busy.

A few days later we were in one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited.

Situated in a national park, just south of Langebaan, this tiny fishing village overlooks the lagoon, with its ever changing tidal patterns, flamingoes and other birds.


The water is warm enough for swimming and wonderfully calm.

Yet just a short hop over a spit of land is the the ferocious and freezing Atlantic.

We knew we were in for a wonderful stay when the first thing we saw as we drove in was a karakul, hunting for dinner.

Thank you thank you Kevin and Linde for creating such a beautiful house which reflects its surroundings so perfectly.

Built using local materials and traditional techniques, West of The Moon has warm wooden floors and ceilings, contrasting the cool white walls.

It is furnished with an eclectic mix of antiques and fabrics

and scattered throughout are enamel jugs, plates and wash bowls.



Even the taps are antique.

Solar power, large fireplaces and an ancient gas cooker complete the picture. This is a house created with love. Click here for their Facebook page and to contact Kevin about renting this piece of heaven.

Here are a few pics from the surrounding area:
An isolated house on the top of a mammoth rock above the lagoon.


Soaking up the sun . . . spring in the Cape is cold!

Eggs on legs . . . !!

You know you are in a game reserve when . . .

We then trundled further up the coast to Paternoster. We stayed at a beach house belonging to a friend of Kevin’s (My Garden Angels busy connecting the dots again . . . ). Here is a link to this spot

This comfy spot is a blink away from the beach where the daily catch is hauled in.

Loved the “4 x 4″!


Delicious food and picaresque coastline.
Gorgeous flowers to photograph . . .

In amongst HUGE rocks

Keith’s mysterious lighthouse . . .

And then Keith caught the sun . . .

A couple of weeks later I was in the Winelands. Earlier this year I met Sandy Webster in Cape Town. She suggested that we do a workshop in the Winelands. When I teased her that the bar had been raised really high by the Grahamstown Garden Club and their spread, including incredible cupcakes, Sandy put her hands on her hips and said “Cupcakes! We’ll serve wine!” And so the Winelands Workshop was born.

The workshop, held at Rustenberg Wine Estate, was attended by 108 people! It was held in the chandelier room:

It was a magnificent day with exceptional catering done by Sunelle, who provided a sublime feast.
The following four pics were taken by Alison Nathanson from Ashoot Photography.

The table of food was soon flattened – learning about growing veg is obviously hungry work!

True to Sandy’s word, guests were treated to delicious wine from the Rustenberg Estate

and also had a chance afterwards to walk around the beautiful gardens.

If you are in the area do yourself a favour and go and visit them. I particularly enjoyed walking the labyrinth after doing the workshop as it was very calming.

Huge big thanks to Sandy Webster for an exceptionally well organised event.

Thanks also to Rozanne and Simon Barlow from Rustenberg for not only providing such a magnificent venue but also for the night we spent in this wonderful old house

- we were warned to expect ghosts, but did not see/hear any! Keith discovered these on the window though, which were apparently scratched on by new brides with their engagement rings . . .

Thanks also to Jane and Alan Otton, who provided such comfy accommodation at Celtic Manor in Gordon’s Bay. This was the view from our bedroom!

We have decided that this will be the first of more Wineland events . . .

Here are some pics of the garden over the last few weeks:
The wisteria arch entrance



Peas glorious Peas!

And a few weeks later – the wisteria now a green mass over the archway.


A full veg garden!

Potatoes, chives, horseradish and a lemon tree.

Blackberry canes in a cage

A rosy entrance . .

Pansies and sorrel.

Before I left for Turkey, I sowed loads of tomato, eggplant, basil, chilli etc seeds in seed trays and left detailed watering instuctions with trusty Hlonipani. However, one small detail I forgot to mention, was to turn the trays regularly. I arrived home to horizontal seedlings that had headed for the light!

My plan for the tomatoes was to use the large boxes I had scavenged from The Garden Shop. I saw these being tossed earlier this year and asked if I could have them. When Greg asked me what I was going to use them for I said I had no idea – but they were such great boxes they couldn’t simply be thrown away!

Faced with this huge amount of tomato seedlings, I hit on the idea of building a tomato tower. We piled them up on the paving next to the pool – where it holds the heat until well after dark, something tomatoes love. Jacklin Organic delivered a bakkie load of Ecopost (click here for more). We mixed it with topsoil and then built a support frame from bamboo which we cut from a friend’s rampant garden.

A simple drip irrigation went in and finally the tomato seedlings.

They are looking fantastic!



I have planted a wide range and these are the earliest tomatoes I have ever had in my garden. They must ripen now!!

It feels like I haven’t stopped since we arrived home from Turkey. First up was a talk at Multiflora, two days after arriving home.

Then a few days later a workshop for 80 people at The Garden Shop in Parktown North.

The following weekend was the Good Food & Wine Show. Now that was a blast!

I was hosting the Get Fresh Theatre where both local and international chefs would cook alongside 12 participants on stage.
Giorgio Locatelli, Eric Lanlard, Willie Harcourt Cooze, James Martin, Jenny Morris etc were all on stage having a ball cooking for a couple of hours.
Here are some pics:
Signing books alongside Eric Lanlard

More signing. . .

With Giorgio and Eric.

And with wild haired Willie!

And Giorgio’s soux chef – Ivan Icra Salicru – a Spaniard, cooking with an Italian in London!

The organisers and organised . . .

I only realised after I had booked our tickets that we would be in Istanbul for Ramadan – or Ramazan, as it is called here. Since I was planning to feast on fantastic Turkish food, I was bit concerned the fast would hamper my foodie intentions. Not! There is food everywhere, all the time.

The day starts with a breakfast spread of olives, cheeses, fresh fruit, just picked tomatoes and crunchy cucumbers, fruit preserves and sesame bread rings (Simit -sold from peddlers’ carts from dawn to well after midnight) dipped in spice and herb flavoured olive oil, topped off with strong black Turkish coffee.

You would think this would last until dinner, but no, this is an intense city.
Bridging Asia and Europe and spanning millenia of history, including conquering heroes, exotic harems, inspired architects and religious fervour, Istanbul has a huge amount to see, draw, visit and explore.


After fairytale castles and covered bazaars, myriad mosques and exotic palaces, I am hungry again within a few hours. Time for a balik ekmek – crisply fried, whole fish on a piece of crusty bread with lettuce, tomatoes and onions.
This fish was swimming in the Bosphorus this morning. Another quick afternoon snack is a corn cob, sold from little carts and roasted over hot coals.

Sprinkled with salt wrapped in a piece of paper it is sweet and scrumptious.
Or you could try a “tost,” a toasted sandwich on light crunchy bread with stretchy melted cheese and a spicy tomato paste. And to wash it down, a freshly squeezed orange juice or a slice of the sweetest, crunchiest summer watermelon.

Fortified, we dive back into the maelstrom, underground into ancient water systems, up steep stone stairs to stare across to Asia, into quiet parks with windswept pines. Until I am hungry again.
Dinner choices are endless.
From quick doners wrapped in bread with vegetables to grilled patlican kebabs, (one large eggplant sliced into thick chunks and skewered with alternating balls of spiced lamb, slow grilled over hot coals).
Or the adana kebab, skewers of spicy lamb accompanied by rice and pine nut pilaf.

One of my favorites is the Iskender kebab; chunks of pide bread covered with hot slices of spiced doner lamb, covered with fresh tomato sauce and thick yoghurt.

The vegetable and salad combinations are endless; seaweed and tomato with lashings of lemon and garlic and beans in olive oil and lemon.

Even the simplest lettuce, cucumber and tomato salad is given a twist when tossed with pomegranate syrup and sprinkled with sumac, a tart local spice. Everything is freshly cooked, ripe and in season.

And then I need something sweet – a tiny taste of lokum (Turkish Delight) or baklava, from shops that have been specialising in making them for hundreds of years. Above shiny, blue and white tiled walls, sepia photographs hang, proud men with splendid moustaches staring out from the last century. Right next door is the patisserie, with thick rice puddings and nutty maceroons.
Piles of crystallised figs, mulberries and walnuts glisten in the window. I am tempted by what looks like a chocolate mousse but under its molten surface is a surprise – it is a deconstructed chocolate eclair, with puffy balls of choux pastry under layers of whipped cream and rich chocolate.

I am in foodie heaven.

Earlier this year when I was in Cape Town I met Sandy from Energize Events. We chatted about doing a workshop in Somerset West and when I mentioned the Grahamstown workshop and the impressive spread the Eastern Cape Gardeners had prepared, Sandy said “Cupcakes! Forget cupcakes, we’ll serve wine!” And so the Winelands Workshop was born . . .
Here is a link to Sandy’s blog http://www.energizeevents.co.za/blog/ where she will be posting details as soon as they are finalised.

Winelands – here we come!

Although it is cold and wintery, it is time to sow seeds in seed trays ready for your spring garden. I have about four trays already sitting in front of a sunny northern window. I’ve planted a selection of tomatoes, eggplant, basil, capers (first time I’m trying them!) Chinese cabbage, savoy cabbage and various summer squash. I still, after all these years of sowing seeds and watching them germinate, get such a thrill when those little green leaves spring up out of the soil.
Don’t forget to spray your seedlings with chamomile spray to prevent fungal diseases. I find the easiest way is to mix up a strong solution of chamomile and keep it in a bottle in the fridge. Each time I fill my mister spray bottle, I add a dollop of chamomile from the jar.

I am trying a new thing with my tomatoes this year. Earlier this year I scavenged eight large wooden boxes from a local nursery that was tossing them. I had no idea what I would use them for – they just looked useful. Sitting planning my spring planting, I thought about how much space my toms take up and decided to put the boxes to good use for them. I have positioned them on warm paving, which is in a full sun and retains that warmth much later into the night than my veggie garden. I have created a cascade of boxes and lined them with black plastic. I will fill them with a compost and topsoil mix from Jacklin Organic I am going to erect a selection of tripods, which will hopefully create a wonderful tomato tower! Will post pics as soon as I take them.

Last week I received a magical surprise – an advance copy of JDK arrived! It looks FANTASTIC!!! And my publisher Ceri (who seldom uses the F word!) agrees. It is a digital copy which is about 98% of what the actual printed copies will look like. The printers do this digital copy as a final check for colour, pics etc before it starts being printed. So it will still only be Oct before the copies are in book stores. But to whet appetites – here are a few sneak preview pics . . . .