Foodie Friday

Cheese, Onion & Origanum Boertjie Brood

It must be said that I am a bit of a boere-meisie- not a thorough breed, no, my Dads family is from the UK. My mom's side of the family however, are the real deal! My Great Grand Parents raised my Gran in the Wilderness area (Western Cape) in a house made from cows dung (yes...cows dung),  with no electricity and water only from the river nearby. What a beautiful simple life they lived. My Great Grand Father, a Wood Cutter and my Great Grand Mother, a wife, mother, home maker and prayer warrior. The two most important things in their lives was serving God and ensuring there was food on the table. I'm very blessed to have known my Great Grand Mother and even more blessed to have been so close to my Gran, who passed away last year.  So... having said that, this recipe is a tribute to my heritage. My Afrikaans, cow-dung huisie, potbrood baking hertiage!

For those followers outside of South Africa- Pot-Brood is an Afrikaans Bread made in a traditional cast iron (potjie) pot. A special thank you must go to our friends Ruan and Lauren who let us use their potbrood pot and also gave us amazing tips for this recipe. If you don't have one of these cast iron breadpots- don't stress- you can use a normal loaf pan instead.

Tips: 

• If you don't have time to make the dough from scratch- go to your nearest bakery (Spar sells a pretty nice dough) and buy a packet of ready to bake dough.

• If you are having a braai/barbeque you can simply put the pot on a few of the braai coals (the coals cant be too hot), put 2 coals on the lid and bake for 45 min. Easy!

Ingredients:
560g cake flour
2tsp salt
300ml room temperature milk
30ml vegetable oil
1tsp baking powder
2 level tsp instant yeast
2 handfuls Grated cheddar cheese
125ml Cream
1 Onion Chopped and Fried in Olive Oil
Some chopped origanum
Freshly ground black pepper

1. 
   
2. 
   
3. 
   

1. Combine the milk, oil, half of the grated cheddar cheese, the onions, and origanum in a bowl. 

2. Sift flour, baking powder and salt together. Add dry yeast and mix. 

3. Next add the liquid mixture little by little to dry ingredients. mix to a soft dough. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead dough for about 10 minutes until smooth and elastic. Place dough in a bowl, cover, and allow to rest for 20 minutes.

Ps.  I'm lucky enough to have a mixer that is able to knead the dough for me (thank goodness for that because it really is an arm workout!) but if you don't have one of these knead the dough by hand until it has an elastic consistency.

3. Divide the dough into kiwi fruit sized balls (usually about 6 balls).


4. Lay them side-by-side in rows in a greased loaf pan/ potjie bread pot and pour the cream over the dough balls.

6. Bake at 180 degrees Celsius for 45- 50 Minutes until cooked (Skewer must come out clean). Take the bread out, top with the remaining cheese and the Bake for a further 5 minutes.

7. Serve WARM with Butter

8. Repeat Steps 1-7  as your guests will definitely want seconds :)


DIS NOU LEKKER NE!

Just Darling D.I.Y

DIY: Weathering & Distressing

I've heard people say it's is a crime to paint or re-style an antique piece. I couldn't disagree more, buying antiques doesn't mean that your house needs to look like your grandma's till kingdom come (unless that floats your boat of course). Antiques are classics, yes, and some of them look absolutely gorgeous just the way they are, but updating the piece to suite the style of your home is what REALLY makes them the timeless pieces they are. They can be changed, painted and updated yet still, the design and quality remain incomparable to any of the pieces you'll find in the shops today. I found this amazing little ball and claw coffee table at an antique shop in Kensington, picked it up for R500. So my question is, why spend a fortune on a cheap knock-off when you can restore a quality antique for less? So...I hope that at this point I've convinced you to revive that old piece that's been sitting in the garage for yonks. And with the help of my Darling hubby Gaz, I'm going to show you exactly how you are going to do it...

THE GOAL: Make sure you have a vision in mind before getting started. Get your thoughts together and decide on a colour and theme that will suit the rest of your furniture. For example, I have two awesome weathered egg-shell butlers trays in our lounge and so the goal would be to mirror the same look for the coffee table.

Egg-Shell Butlers Tray

The Coffee Table Before...

1) First things first, get the furniture back to its original raw state by sanding it down either by hand or with an electric sander.

2) Wipe down the piece with a damp cloth, allow it to dry and then prime the wood. We bought Dulux's Universal Undercoat. Properly preparing and priming the wood means that if you ever wanted to remove the paint and restore it to its original state-you could.



3) Note- Gaz and I chose to show the colour of the natural wood when we weathered the piece but if you wanted the under-color to be different i.e grey or green, then you would need to apply 2 coats of your first "under-colour" now.

4) Next, paint 2-3 coats of your main color. Gaz and I used Dulux's PearlGlo- Water Based Enamel in Almond White and we chose a matte finish. I would definitely recommend using a water based paint as opposed to an oil based one, it's just a lot softer on the eye and it's also easy to distress,weather and sand. Another tip- use a small sponge roller as opposed to a brush for a flawless, streak-less finish.

Before Weathering

4) Allow the paint to dry thoroughly - about 48 hours. Ps. Dulux actually recommends letting it dry for 7 days...but who has time for that?

5) Now here is the tricky part-the weathering! We used a 180 grit sand paper to lightly sand and weather the piece. Don't go overboard as I can guarantee you'll be tempted to just carry on and on! Sand a small section at a time and then step back to check your work. Remember the best look is when the piece really looks like its been naturally worn so only sand in places where you genuinely think that
would occur i.e raised edges, corners etc. 

6) If you are refurbishing a dining room table, coffee table or bedside stand (Anything that would have a lot of objects continually being laid on it) then I would recommend using a sealer over the wood to protect the paint from further scratching and chipping. Make sure you get a quality sealer as the cheaper ones tend to dry a yellowish colour. Also, get a matte sealer as I find the shiny finishes cheapen the look. Gaz and I are using this coffee table as a temporary TV stand- LOL- so we decided not to put a sealer on the wood.

Excuse my Toes ;) 

The Coffee Table After! :)

Contact us if you would like us to re-furbish your antique for you :) abigail@rightlink.co.za