Writer's Block: Barbecue bread

By jo elwin

Bread and potatoes are two things I don’t need in my life. There’s no room for boring, starchy carbs when there are vegetables, proteins, dairy, nuts and fruits to feast on. Keep your roast potato, I’ll have a piece of roast pumpkin thanks, or an extra spoonful of those buttery sautéed greens and yes, I do have room for an extra slice of certified organic lamb. I don’t dislike potatoes – just last week I ate one of the best in my life at Dan Hunter’s Brae restaurant, fried in a light batter and served with book trout roe and cultured cream, but it was the accoutrement that made it for me.

I don’t dislike bread; the problem is there is too much bad bread. You know bad bread; it comes sliced in plastic bags, is great for school lunches and to fill the Old Man up when you’re serving a brussels sprout and kale chiffonade salad for dinner. Oh okay, I have been known to eat a slice when it comes with a whitebait fritter from the Black Rabbit food truck at the Cromwell Market. (Although, if it made economic and ecological sense, I’d ditch the bread for a whitebait fritter sandwich. Al Brown taught me the art of sandwiching a piece of fried fish between two whitebait fritters.)

You’ll be starting to think I’m a food snob. You’d be correct. I make no apologies and can harp on a bit … a lot lately about bread because I do need bread in my life. I like to serve it with my partner’s Bannockburn thyme and pork rillette. The same partner who has toast EVERY morning. There are the can’t-be-bothered-cooking sardines on toast dinners. It’s avocado season so there’s smashed avo on toast to be savoured and summer is coming, the tomatoes will be looking for a good piece of bread to frolic on with their mates basil, balsamic and EVOO. My problem is that in my newish rural life good bread - preferably organic and free of additives and preservatives - is unavailable and now that it’s not just a dash down the road I have realised just how much bread this two-person household eats.

I find myself planning my weeks around being in Wanaka at three o’clock on a Thursday, rushing The People’s Bread stand at the market, gathering ciabatta and sourdough baguettes into my arms like a junkie. But life has a way of putting me everywhere but Wanaka most Thursdays and I need bread on the day I need bread, so I have had to deploy my most overused phrase – ‘don’t worry I’ll do it myself’.

But how? I have very bad bread-making memories. The yeast, the kneading, the mess, the time … the failed attempts … I swore off making it years ago and now there is also the fact that, because I am temporarily living in the smoko room of an old woolshed (a tale for another time), I have no oven. But this writer loves a challenge (loves achievement) and part of the plan to live rurally was to be more self-sufficient so I found a way and it was staring at me the whole time - the hooded barbecue. I have mastered the Sunday roast on the thing and the baking of biscuits and cakes so why not bread? My thoughts turned to Mark Bittman, one of my favourite American food writers, and his book How to Grill Everything in which he refers to the covered barbecue, gas or charcoal, as “a big box of heat (aka an oven),” and also within, a quick and easy recipe for rosemary and olive oil bread cooked on the barbecue. I was off.

My first attempt failed. I used the wrong yeast (see more on that below) and tried to save gas by cooking the bread at the same time I was grilling chicken for dinner – each time I opened the lid to tend the chicken I knew I was killing my bread. Second time round, having done my yeast research and giving my full attention to the making of bread, was a success and I have had nothing but success since, using recipes for all sorts of breads usually baked in an oven. They may not be oven-perfect but I have fresh bread when I need it and it’s …err… proving to be an incredibly satisfying distraction for this writer - there’s dough under the nails of the fingers on the keyboard as we speak.

Yeast: There are two very similar-sounding yeasts - instant yeast and active dry yeast. Active dry yeast worked best for the thyme and olive oil recipe, below, because its finer texture means it can be added with the dry ingredients without dissolving in water first.

Central Otago thyme and olive oil bread cooked on the barbecue

Adapted from Mark Bittman’s recipe in his book How to Grill Everything. I have replaced rosemary with wild thyme from the backyard. It’s also good without herbs and replacing one cup white flour with 1 cup wholemeal flour.  I find my barbecue has hot spots so I turn the frying pan halfway through cooking.

3 cups organic stoneground flour, plus more as needed
1 packet instant dry yeast
2 tsp sea salt flakes
1 Tbsp picked thyme leaves
1/3 cup plus 1 tsp good-quality olive oil 
Water, as needed

1 Combine the flour, yeast, salt and thyme together in a large bowl. Add the 1/3 cup oil and ¾ cup water and mix with a heavy spoon. Add more water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the mixture forms a ball and is slightly sticky.

2. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knead for about 5 minutes until the dough feels smooth. Put the remaining 1 teaspoon oil in the cleaned bowl, then add the dough, turning it over until it is coated with oil. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until the dough doubles in size, about 2 hours. Or you can let the dough rise more slowly in the fridge, for up to 8 hours.

3 Lightly dust your hands with flour and shape the dough into a ball. Holding the dough with both hands, work around the outside of the ball, stretching and tucking the edges toward the center at the bottom. Pinch together the seam created underneath the loaf. (This will stretch the top slightly and improve the way the bread rises and forms a crust.) Line a colander or large seive with a well-floured kitchen towel, set the dough in it, and cover with the ends of the towel (this keeps the dough from spreading too much). Let the dough rise for at least an hour and preferably up to 2 hours, until doubled.

4 When the dough is almost ready, start the coals or heat a gas grill for medium-high indirect cooking. That means if you’re using a charcoal grill, push the coals to one side; for gas, turn on the burners only on one half of the grill. Either way, the surface of the grill that doesn’t have any heat underneath it should be large enough to fit the frying pan, and the temperature inside the grill (when the lid is closed) should be anywhere between 400 degrees and 550 degrees. Put a 22cm cast-iron frying pan directly over the heat, close the lid, and let heat for 15 minutes.

5 When you’re ready to bake, use a sharp knife or razor blade to make a cross in the top of the loaf. Move the frying pan to the indirect side of the grill. Pick up the loaf with your hand and carefully put it in the middle of the skillet. Close the lid and bake 30 to 40 minutes until the crust is golden brown, the bottom sounds hollow when tapped, and the internal temperature registers 88C on an instant-read thermometer. Transfer to a rack to cool to barely warm or room temperature before slicing.

Five to try

+ The People’s Bread Co deliver weekly to the Wanaka and Hawea region, will same-day courier to Queenstown or overnight courier anywhere in New Zealand. Buy from the Thursday Artisan Market, Mediterranean Market and Soul Food Organic in Wanaka.
+ Pembroke Patisserie sell bread directly from their Albert Town premises and various stockists throughout the region.
+Look for European Bakery breads through various stockists throughout the region.
+ If you’re in Clyde, Olivers bake a selection of bread for sale at The Merchant of Clyde.
+ Up the road in Alexandra, The Courthouse Café bake great sourdough for sale daily.

*If you’re a bread maker and I’ve missed you, let me know you’re out there – drop me a line at editor@incommonmag.co