Adventures with sourdough

This is my first post since the coup-not-coup in Zimbabwe and for the first time, I have a new president!  The past two weeks I experienced a lot of emotions in a way I never thought possible.

When it all started I was very scared – like everyone else I had no idea what was going on. On 18 November  I wished I had been home, I don’t know if I would have marched but it is a day I will forever remember. Even under such uncertainty, all the pictures and videos showed people who were happy and united. I cried a few times that day.

Then of course on Sunday came the speech and all I can remember from that speech is our former president saying, “Iwe neni tine basa. Good night. Asante Sana.” I was so confused.  Then on Tuesday, the news came the president had resigned and once again Zimbabweans celebrated wherever they are.  And now we have a  new president. I can not tell you how I feel about it all. I don’t know what all this means for my country but I have hope that people’s lives will get better. I can not imagine people’s lives getting any worse.

And now I can go back to writing about one of my favourite topics: BREAD!

Sourdough bread in particular. Up until a few weeks ago, I had never made sourdough bread.  Whenever I try something new I study it until I understand it. Bread making is all about science and a new method is always like an experiment for me.

To make bread you need flour, water, oil, yeast, and sometimes sugar or sweetener.   Before there was store bought yeast, people had to make their own using flour, water and time.  You mix water and flour and let it sit for a day and feed it every day with more flour and water for about seven days. Yeast is ever present in the air we breathe and gets to grow the flour and water mix.  Every day when you open to feed the sourdough, you will be able to smell the sourness and small bubbles of air will form.  I read about people who have had their sourdough starter for years and some that have been passed on to other generations.

After you have you have your starter now comes the bread making. I wanted to make a rustic loaf and found a recipe that takes about a day.  This was just for the experiment, I really don’t have the time or energy for this recipe. There are other recipes that you can add some store-bought yeast and speed up the process. Which for me, I would rather just make bread with yeast.

The whole process made me appreciate why sourdough bread is more expensive than what we usually buy. It also made think of how I make Maheu. The science is the same, my question is if I use the sourdough starter when making Maheu will it work? Or instead of using flour I can add a little yeast,  maheu anovira faster here?