A bread to realise
There are many
liberation struggles going on around the world, but there is one I was not
aware of until yesterday evening, the liberation of the loaf is the battle cry of
bread and the art of baking what the United Artists for Africa mistakenly suggested
was God turning stones to bread because that never happened.
Having bought
takeaway Togolese beans (èwà
Àgànyìn), which is mashed black-eyed beans with a red chilli sauce, the
only adequate staple to go with it is Agége bread (a soft, dense loaf of bread),
which I soon learnt, I could not get anywhere in Cape Town that I decided to
bake my own.
All pans run free
Asking Alexa to find
a recipe on YouTube was a waste of time even with my putting on a thick
Nigerian accent as it offered either Gigi or Gay for Agege, it was just better
to type it in. Having gotten a good idea of what to do, I acquired the
ingredients and utensils and set to baking bread, my very first time.
After all I had done,
one thing was missing, a lid for my loaf pan. Apparently, you can get every
choice loaf pan for baking bread, in any material you might desire including
silicone that takes heat up to 230℃, but you cannot get
for the want of trying in stores, specialist outlets, or online, a loaf pan
with a cover or a lid.
Perseverance in lack
Then, I improvised, I
wrapped the loaf pan in heavy-duty foil, which kept the loaf in shape, but I
had to have it baking in the oven for thrice the recommended time because the
heat was not getting to the loaf as it would have if there were just a lid. You
have to ask, what happened to loaf pan lids or why no one around here seems to desire
to bake bread with the loaf liberally expressing itself beyond the mould?
Then again, what I
might not get on the retail market most definitely is in the professional
bakeries, because typical bread for toast is moulded in an almost square cross-section
to a rectangular length. I might have an alternative, using disposable
aluminium food trays with cardboard covers. It might suffice until I
accidentally find a loaf pan that invited a lid companion to the party, else,
it is to England where the freedom of the loaf is still a subject of debate
rather than of right.
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