Recipes - DUTCH OVEN BREAD
If you haven't been reading the Gearzette (where have you been all our lives?), you might be wondering; what the heck is a Potjie?
Outside of South Africa, a Potjie is known as a "Dutch Oven". It's a 3 legged cast iron pot with origins in the Netherlands. Back in the day, the Voortrekkers (Pioneers of Dutch descent from the Cape Colony) used this pot to make food along their journey while “trekking” from the Cape Colony toward what is now known as South Africa. Each day when these folk stopped to rest, they hunted for wild game. The catch was then added to the pot and left to simmer over an open fire, packed up after the meal and taken along with them in the pot.
Potjiekos (Poy-Key-Kos), literally meaning “small pot food”, is a traditional South African way of cooking that has evolved into a delicious and social way of making hearty stew around an open fire with friends and family.
Potjiekos traditionally includes meat (whatever is readily available), vegetables like cabbage, carrots, pumpkin or cauliflower and starches like rice or potatoes, all left to slow-cook in Dutch-Malay spices. These days though, anything goes, from Potjie Chips (Fries) to Biltong Potjie.
Here is another Potjie recipe just for you! If you have any favorites you'd like to share with us, we're all ears (and open mouths). Ok. On with the show. Here's how you make Dutch Oven Bread.
You'll need:
Beer Bread:
- 500g Self Raising Flour
- 1 330ml Tin of Beer
- 2 Pinches of Salt
- 1 tbsp Butter
Cheddar & Buttermilk Bread:
- 500g Self Raising Flour
- 300ml Cultured Buttermilk
- 200g Cheddar Cheese
- 1 Packet of Powdered Brown Onion Soup
- 2 tsp Dried Origanum
- 1 tbsp Butter
Method:
Cooking time: 30 minutes Preheat a flat based dutch oven over coals and line the base with a few large stones.
Beer Bread:
Grease a medium sized bread tin with the Butter. Add the Self Raising Flour into a large mixing bowl along with the Salt and create a well in the center. Crack open the beer and add it into the center of the well you created in the Self Raising Flour. Start incorporating the Self Raising Flour into the Beer by running your fingers in a circular motion along the edge of the well. Form the incorporated mixture into a soft dough and add to the Greased Bread Tin. Place into the dutch oven, using the stones to separate the tin from the pot’s base. Close the lid and let bake through.
Cheddar & Buttermilk Bread:
Grease a medium sized bread tin with the Butter. Add the Self Raising Flour into a large mixing bowl along with the Salt. Grate the Cheddar Cheese into the mixing bowl. Mix the Powdered Brown Onion Soup into the Buttermilk along with the Origanum. Create a well in the center of the Flour Mixture and pour the Buttermilk Mixture into the center of the well. Start incorporating the Self Raising Flour into the Buttermilk Mixture by running your fingers in a circular motion along the edge of the well. Form the incorporated mixture into a soft dough and add to the Greased Bread Tin. Place into the dutch oven, using the stones to separate the tin from the pot’s base. Close the lid and let bake through.
