Sourdough Naan

As I mentioned a little while ago, I've started cooking with sourdough, to good effect. Timing for a +/- 15 hour rise time has been difficult without a big fridge that has space for the dough, and the quality of bread has gone from amazing to edible. So I'm going back to basics: This week I started the sourdough bread with about 40% whole wheat at around 6am, then punched it down around 3:30pm, before baking it at the same time I was cooking dinner- about 6pm- so I could use the heat in the stove for two things. It turned out much, much better than the last couple of weeks. The heat of summer meant a shorter rise time (rather than controlling the rise in the fridge) worked perfectly.

I've also noticed the sourdough starter would benefit from being used and fed a day or two before we use it for the large sourdough loaf. Hence the sourdough naan. To make it, I combined two recipes, this one and this one.

The adjusted recipe looked like this:

1.5 cups sourdough starter
1 cup white bread flour
1 cup whole wheat Bread flour
1/4 cup Greek Yoghurt
1tbsp oil
finely chopped garlic
1tsp salt (optional)
a pinch of baking soda
more flour as needed to make the dough less sticky.

I stirred the sourdough starter (pancake batter consistency) in with everything except the salt and baking soda for a first rise- until doubled. I had started a little late to allow a full rise, but leaving the dough for three hours may be better than the one hour I left it- sourdough tends to rise much more slowly than commercially yeasted breads.

After the first rise, I added the salt and the baking soda and left for 20 minutes or so.

Then divided into small golf sized balls, squished as thin as you can, and cooked with a little butter on the pan. I'd likely try water or a mix of butter and oil next time, as the butter tends to get hot and start smoking.

I love that the sourdough starter means I don't have to have yeast on my list of things to buy, particularly because I've only found yeast in small single serving sachets here in Cape Town. In the baking week, adding sourdough naan the day before making a sourdough loaf means that just as the sourdough loaf is running out, we have a little bread boost before the new sourdough is ready. It adds a little rhythm to the week.

This week's Menu, and Navigating the Dual Economy

Much to our surprise, the South African (or at least the Cape Town area) cost of living is high. Housing is an exception, as compared to Boston, maybe not the most fair comparison.

As South Africans know, there is a very strong dual economy- one for the wealthy and one for the poor. Prices at malls and supermarkets are comparable to U.S. prices, and often more expensive. But if you look hard enough, there are cheaper options out there, particularly for things were quality is not as important (children's clothing, for example).

Food prices are similarly complex. Buying staples in bulk at Makro (Pasta, flour, rice) can save money and waste, provided you have places to store away from ants (we use our deep freeze). We noticed that eggs and fish can be purchased at less than 1/2 the supermarket price at a nearby store in Salt River. My take-home is that if something seems super expensive, wait and look for alternatives. I felt really stupid for buying frozen Hake at Pick 'N Pay and then seeing it fresh for less than half the price at an Observatory fish shop. The exception on the strategy of measured waiting is our Friday-fake-restaurant meal, where this week, I just went totally wild and bought BOTH tabasco sauce AND blue cheese dressing for chicken wings. Yes. Living on the wild side. Anyway, here's this week's menu:

Monday Fried Rice with Egg, mushroom and broccoli (we ended up having a meal with family on Sat)
Tuesday Pasta + South Africa (fake) parmesan + butter + basil
Wednesday Eritrean Lentils and pan fried potato
Thursday Cous cous with parmesan + tomato + basil + feta + green peppers
Friday Baked chicken wings and Potato chips
Saturday hake + vegetable on sale + mashed potato
Sunday soup + sourdough bread

Breakfast
Oatmeal

Lunches
Sourdough Bread/ naan
Yoghurt
Soup
Pies (forgot to buy)

Snacks
mangoes
Apples
strawberries
2 kiwis for Mr Noah

Shopping List
Pineapple or melon or mangoes
Apples X 6
2 kiwis
Strawberries
2 Peppers
cup-a-soup 4-pack
Cheap-ish nuts that would work in risotto (ended up being walnuts)
Milk X 3
1 bag potato chips
If small tabasco and ranch dressing equiv available, get chicken wings. If not, find something else good.
a little fish
(the below were postponed to next week, because I didn't make it to Makro)
Arborio rice (bulk, Makro)
Jasmine rice (bulk, Makro)
oats (bulk, Makro)
Cheese (cheese shop near Makro)

Two Sons

I wrote about having a daughter a little while ago, when I… uh… was having a daughter, or so I thought.About a week ago, we found out I was having another son. It was a strange feeling, as I am not sure whether I will have more children, or ever have a daughter. I thought a bit more about womanhood in light of your comments. What I came up with: Either gender, we are the first example to our children. Deep, huh?

But seriously, I'm wondering how we navigate gender- and the wounds we all have- with grace. I don't think I have more or deeper wounds than other South Africans, but I think both what I dreamt of doing with my life- and what I'm choosing to do now- are deeply intertwined with being a woman. Whether it's not asking for help around the house, or expecting that I need to be able to do certain things, or balance my life a certain way, or just getting upset when I don't measure up to those around me, or so I think (hospitality is one area where I feel really weak!).

A friend always dreamed of being a wife and mother, then found she hated being home with the kids (and couldn't stand sewing, another society standard in her circle). I always dreamed of being a neurosurgeon, but I find myself happy pottering around with plants (though probably not pottering with Noah all day) and have not yet had a knitting session that was too long. I feel like I'm doing a PhD on the side. We're all more than just one thing. Rather than being value judgements on the thing we're doing, I think there's always a tension between the dreams we have and reality, even when we get exactly our dreams. Like relationships, good dreams at the wrong moment aren't good. And coming back to parenting, in my experience our dreams are gendered- whether man or woman, whether I have reacted against society or with it, and whether my society is patriarchal or less so.

I phrased this in the last post in terms of "not having it all". By not having it all I don't mean giving up dreams or being content in really bad circumstances. Rather, I mean coming to peace with our broken histories and moving on, whether that means choosing to be ok staying home or choosing to be ok working, or some combination of the two. In the context of having children, where parenting is the fulfillment of a really deep longing, I mean that we should forego other deep longings in favor of really getting the benefit of one.

So I guess this is just a longwinded post about contentment, as one who is constantly pushing (any Wellesley readers in the house?). Contentment, particularly as parents, seems to a powerful step of maturity but sometimes gets a bad rap as "settling". I'm ok doing a little settling if it means I get to enjoy my healthy years.