Goats Do Roam at Fairview Wine Estate with our daily bread

by Diana Studer
- gardening for biodiversity
in Cape Town, South Africa

Fairview is on the slopes of the granite mountain of Paarl. Visitors stop at the Goat Tower as they head in. Swiss Saanen goats would like to climb mountains.

Goats Do Roam Goat tower at Fairview in April 2010
Goats Do Roam
Goat tower at Fairview in April 2010

Fairview is famous for its wines - with quirky names. Goats Do Roam. A history of the farm from the Khoi to the Huguenots.

Pair of goats at Fairview
Pair of goats at Fairview

For us it is about cheese. 'The arrival of a large group of French engineers in Cape Town to work on a new power plant [Koeberg Nuclear Power Station], added impetus to the cheesery. Goats’ milk cheese was a tough sell in South Africa in the 1980s as it was not a product that consumers were familiar with. Fairview recently became the first Carbon Neutral Cheesery on the African continent'

Blue Rock and Blue Tower. White Rock with cranberries. Bleu et Blanc. Brie or camembert with a crust of fresh herbs. We went home with enough deluverly cheese to keep us happy for weeks.

Goats at Fairview Wine Estate
Goats at Fairview Wine Estate

But what the Ungardener wants is the bread. Bretzel and ciabatta. From our new False Bay home good bread is part of our weekly food shop. With an in-store bakery at Woolworths in the Noordhoek Mall.

Most commercial bread in South Africa is steamed - which means it looks like crust, but it is rubbery, not crisp. I pull out the crumb (soft centre) of a white roll. ROLL it into a BALL. Then see how high you can bounce it! No wonder people have wheat allergies. The word glutinous, comes from the gluten in wheat. In the early 1960s they super-hybridised new varieties of wheat. Higher crop yield, herbicide resistant and for the bakers to make Larger Lighter Cheaper loaves of bread.

Heading home to Porterville via the Tulbagh mountains in April 2010
Heading home to Porterville via the Tulbagh mountains in April 2010

Fairview specialises in artisanal bread.
Baked fresh today, still hot from the oven.
Smells like bread, good to eat bread.
And with a Crisp Crust.
Crusty bread and blue cheese.
Sigh.

Jami @ An Oregon Cottage (finding joy in the simple and imperfect) has easy artisan bread. They like crusts. So do we – the joy of baking your own bread – is that people who like crusts – can bake rolls. A crisp crusty loaf of bread for one!

Road to Cape Columbine in July 2010
Road to Cape Columbine in July 2010

Cape Columbine
Cape Columbine

Our daily bread, despite us living surrounded by wheat fields, usually had ADDED FOOD MILES from Porterville. Added by us, because we bought our bread at Woolworths, for the Good-Food-Journey (video clip). Sliced low GI, which we freeze, then use as needed.

Kneading dough gives me eczema, so I tweak a no-knead recipe. Baking is on my tomorrow, next time, one day list - but I have baked rolls once in our new oven!

Elephant's Eye bread rolls
Elephant's Eye bread rolls

Elephant’s Eye Rolls

4 cups brown bread flour
(you can replace 2 cups with any other flour or crushed grain)
1 packet dry yeast
½ tsp salt
Add sunflower or poppy seeds for variety
Mix together.

1 tsp honey
2 tsps olive oil
~1 ½ cups of warm water (or buttermilk)
Mix together.

Add liquid to flour, adding more water if necessary, to form dough.
Allow to stand for 10 minutes.

Knead (or just mix with a wooden spoon, as I do)
Divide into six, for large muffin tin.

Leave to rise for 25 minutes, until doubled in bulk.

Bake in a preheated oven at 180 C for 40 minutes.

Tap the bottom, if it sounds hollow, bread is baked. Allow to cool before eating. Keeps happily for the three days it takes us, to eat for lunch.

I invite you to join us at Elephant's Eye on False Bay. Please subscribe as you prefer
via Feedly,
or Bloglovin,
or Facebook

Pictures by Jurg and Diana Studer
(If you mouse over teal blue text, it turns seaweed red.
Those are my links.
To read or leave comments, either click the word Comments below,
or click this post's title. If you are in email or a Reader, first click thru to the blog)

Comments

  1. The goats look very content but I'm guessing that they can escape that enclosure and go wandering if they like? The wall doesn't appear high enough to keep them penned. The commercial bread you described sounds a lot like the old "Wonder Bread" sold here, although it never occurred to me that it might be steamed. I almost never eat bread but my husband (who lives on a very restricted salt intake) makes his own bread using a bread machine - no kneading, the machine takes care of everything once the ingredients are mixed and dumped into it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I wonder, if they take it in turn to spend time at the tower. Then back to the fields?

      Delete
  2. Finally I found a way to post my comments to other gardenbloggers. And it's about time I send you, one of my regular visitors, a visit back. Thank you for your loyal commenting, Diana. I appreciate that.
    Adding you to my 'leseliste' seems to become the only way to send a comment to other gardenbloggers. Before I used to choose the way via 'Blogarchiv'.
    It has been a similar trend here in Germany concerning goats cheese, especially in the eastern part. Meanwhile we have quite a lot of goats-farms in the sorroundings of Berlin. I love that cheese as well, and was also surprised how good a glass of fresh goat's milk tastes. Goats cheese you get to know when you go to France and Italy, but fresh milk I never had before in the all those years.
    And the different ways to bake bread in Europe is another subject....even though I like baguettes, toasted british white bread but there is nothing like a german 'Vollkornbrot' oder Sauerteig-Roggenbrot, and I am glad there are so many excellent Vollkornbäckereien nearby.
    I love that goat's tower.. I think there more photos in your blog..if my memory doen't deceive me.Goats love the third dimension!
    Viele Grüße
    Sisah

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I miss the Swiss weekend treat of going to the baker and choosing a selection of rolls for a leisurely brunch.
      (You are remembering that I posted these pictures before ;~)

      Delete
  3. Diana - You and RMan do exactly the same thing to rolls! All he wants is the crunchy bit - and discards the inner softness.

    I totally concur - Fairview cheese is the best. Apart from eating their ripe Camenbert on melba toast, frying an unripe one in a bit of butter, and serving (again) with melba and homemade strawberry jam. Delicious :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. such beautiful photos and that goat tower is really something special !!!1
    Your bread sounds wonderful, I once knew a person who's eczema was worsened with bread making,, I think it quite a common irritant,,

    ReplyDelete
  5. Goats do Roam is such a fun name for wine, I followed the link and learned the story. There's also a cute photo of goats on the tower too. All their products sound quite good.

    I make almost all our bread using a machine to make the dough, then shaping into loaves for rising and baking in the oven.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oh I do love freshly baked bread. With blue cheese even better! You've made me hungry now. I'm another who uses a bread machine. It is just so convenient and apart from the fact the bread has a hole in the bottom I couldn't tell the difference from a loaf made by hand kneading.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I love a visit to Fairview but always feel a bit sorry for the goats - it must be so boring on that tower...hope they get to roam elsewhere too! Regarding your comment about bread: it makes a lot of sense. I have noticed a long time ago that I tolerate wheat and bread much better in Europe than here. And...I also LOVE Brezel!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I wonder? The goats don't seem unhappy. And they have a stream of tourists for entertainment ;~)

      Delete
  8. Oh, that bread looks delicious. I might have to try the recipe. And the goat cheese sounds tasty, too. I live in a part of the U.S. where cheese is a major food product. I love just about any kind of cheese.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I love goat's milk cheese and good bread. I bake all my own bread, I usually knead it in an orbital mixer and only finish by hand. The problem with most bread is that it contains 'flour improver' which is a disgusting substance that no one should be eating; I firmly believe it is that people are intolerant to rather than gluten; many Italians complain they can't eat bread any more because of the gluten but happily eat pasta made from the same flour - this should be telling them something, but no one else seems to be making the connection. It is almost impossible to buy bread in the UK that doesn't have the 'improver'. It is used to speed up the proving, when I make my own bread I find the longer it takes to prove the better it is!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. that Oregon bread link also has recipes for the whole sour dough process.

      Delete
    2. PS pasta is made from durum wheat (also gives couscous and bulgur and semolina)

      Delete
  10. Look at those horns!My goat doesn't have any for safety around the grandchildren (and me.) Must try the bread rolls recipe -- looks like something we would really enjoy. P. x

    ReplyDelete
  11. I do have gluten issues...but I would have to have some of your rolls....can't resist home baked crusty bread and rolls.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. that, choosing the flour, is why I bake my own.

      Delete
  12. Those cheeses sound divine! Add delicious lowish GI crusty bread and some of that v wine and I'd have a perfect meal! We make all our own bread, including rolls, to get the mind of bread we like. Lots of taste, crunchy crust, interesting seeds. You've reminded me that I need to make a trip to the smokery down the road, they make cheese too, and it is delicious smoked or un-smoked. Plus I like buying cheese where I can see the sheep and goats that provided the milk while I am paying!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. replacing some flour with crushed grain, or flakes, or pea flour, or linseed meal ... would be a low GI alternative.

      I was disappointed to see that the low GI bread we buy has soy (which is GM unless it says NOT)

      Delete
  13. I can't have any dairy but really miss eating cheese. I wonder if the goats ever fall off that tower?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm vegetarian and I look doubtfully at vegan 'cheese substitutes'
      Altho I imagine 'cashew cheese' might be good. But not Cheese.

      'Mountain' goats - and they can rest on each level, gazing out over the tourist entertainment.

      Delete
  14. Good looking goats. I did not realize I was hungry until I read your post. Now my stomach is rumbling, and all I can think about is that chunk of cheese bread in the kitchen!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Goats cheese and fresh baked bread what could be better? I too take the easy way out and make my bread using a bread maker. Sarah x

    ReplyDelete
  16. I agree with Sarah. Artisan bread and goat cheese is my idea of a lunch made in heaven! -Jean

    ReplyDelete