A South African essential - bread on the braai. Serve hot with lots of butter.
Serves 4 Prep time - 90 mins Cooking time - 20 mins
roosterbrood noun Afrikaans word meaning toast - usually cooked over a low heat
Cooking roosterbrood takes me back to my high school years with a fondness that’s quite hard to describe in words. I think this stems from the adoration I have for a woman called Mamadek. She ran our household on the farm, Gerald’s Gift. Mamadek was born on that farm and had immeasurable talent in the kitchen. One of the best things she cooked was roosterbrood. This is a timeless bread recipe, slow cooked over braai coals. Whenever I eat roosterbrood I’m taken straight back to the front garden on that farm where I can hear the cicadas chirping in the river banks in front on the house and smell the roosterbrood cooking on the open fire next to the Summerhouse.
She always took care in making the fire just right. To cook roosterbrood as well as she did you need a good source of coals to create a low temperature to braai over. Low and slow was how she did it and I’m still trying to produce roosterbrood as good as hers. Mamadek learnt this art from her own mother, handed down to them by her grandmother. Roosterbrood has been cooked on that open fire alongside the Summerhouse for generations. I hope I eventually do Mamadek justice and that she’s smiling down on Surrey knowing how far her recipe has travelled.
Ingredients
300g plain flour
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp sunflower oil
2 tsp instant yeast
200ml warm water
1 tbsp sugar
The Braai things
A braai to cook on
4-5 small logs of firewood (hardwood is best)
Some kindling
4 firelighters
You can use charcoal instead of wood. I use wood to make it authentically Mama's recipe.
Method
Make the bread dough
Mix the sugar and the yeast together in a small cup with a little bit of the warm water. It should start to bubble after a couple of minutes.
In a separate bowl mix the flour and the salt together. Then add the oil and half the warm water and mix well. When the mixture comes together to form a dough, add the yeast and sugar and mix really well. Gradually add the rest of the water and mix well to form a bread dough.
Turn your dough mixture out on a lightly floured surface and knead for a few minutes. Place the kneaded dough in a lightly greased bowl and cover with a damp tea towel to prove for about an hour, or until it's doubled in size.
On a floured surface, divide the mixture into 8 equal pieces and shape into balls. Once in a ball shape slightly flatten each piece. Place these on a baking tray and cover with cling film for a further 20-30 minutes. You want to ensure you get a second rise to aerate the dough before cooking.
Light the braai
Arrange your firelighters in the centre of your braai, on the bottom grill or surface. Loosely pack the kindling on these and light. As the kindling takes pack your logs on the fire and make sure the are alight. Your fire should burn until you're just left with coals to cook over.
Cook the roosterbrood
Place your braai grid over the evenly distributed coals and allow the grid to heat up for a few minutes. Make sure that the temperature is not too hot before cooking. You want to cook slowly over a low heat so you should be able to hold your hand over the grid for a slow count to ten! Lightly grease the grid and place the rolls on it for about 20 minutes.
When half the time has elapsed, turn the roosterbrood over. You'll know when they are done when they are lightly browned and crispy on the outside and sound hollow when you give them a little tap. Remove from the braai, split open and serve hot with lashings of butter.
I think of Mamadek when I eat these - I hope you think of someone just as lovely.
Eat. Love. Braai
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