The look on the faces of the villagers that were
present at today's bread baking workshop said
... what is it.
It is every volunteer's story fodder that we
take with us and always comes back to mind when
someone burns something in the oven.
I am sure by now that everyone can tell that it is a
bread that was exposed to some pretty high
temperature ...
Everything went well for the workshop until we
arrived at the payday, the highly anticipated
moment ... the moment of truth.
So, it was really kind of funny watching the villagers
reaction to the first great appearance of one of the 27
breads that were placed inside the traditional oven.
Should we make excuses first or wait till later
... maybe later.
We used this huge traditional oven which was left from
the time of the occupation by South African troops.
It is about 7ft tall, 6 ft wide and another 7 or so feet
deep. It's impressive and seeing as the South African
military left in something like 1989, it is still in decent
condition.
There were something like 40 people total with about
15 adults and the rest, kids. It was really ok. It was
actually fun. Almost everyone got their hands into making
the dough. They had some ownership in it all.
It could best described as somewhat of a carnival
atmosphere. Adults talking amongst each other, kids playing
games and running around, really just plain, nice.
So it was kind of funny when the first bread came out in
the condition seen in the picture. It is just the plain old typical
project that when things are going too good, it can't be true.
Ok, excuse as to why. It was the first time baking with this
oven. We put in a decent amount of wood seeing as the
oven was fairly big. Sound logic, wouldn't you say?
It was really a surprise that when they opened the oven door
after 10 minutes and saw the bread in that state. It should
have taken something like 30 to 45 minutes so as to cook
well and through. I am not sure but I think we somehow
figured out how to cook faster than a microwave.
It must be said that not all the bread came out in that manner.
After we saw the situation we opened the door and let
it cool some as it baked. Something like half turned out
with what would be 1st degree burns instead of the above
bread's 3rd degree status.
I have been at this a while and for me it is just plain normal to
have something not go well enough to allow the project to
come out without a hitch. Call me pessimistic but I say ...
it just ain't never going to be 'the perfect project'. In
reality, it would be boring if it went just as drawn up.
Oh yeah, despite it's appearance, the bread tasted really
good and the best way to judge the workshop's success
was by the speed with which the bread was consumed.
All 27 were gone in less than 30 minutes and that with 15
big people and 25 small people to make it go away.
We are doing an encore bread making workshop
Tuesday, this time well go light on the wood and it should
come out better. This time we may actually look like we
know what we are doing, where's the story in that?
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