{"id":79424,"date":"2016-06-04T09:02:54","date_gmt":"2016-06-04T07:02:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whalecottage.com\/blog\/?p=79424"},"modified":"2016-06-04T09:02:54","modified_gmt":"2016-06-04T07:02:54","slug":"koekedoor-season-2-episode-8-trouble-brewing-in-beer-baking-challenges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chrisvonulmenstein.com\/blog\/cape-town\/koekedoor-season-2-episode-8-trouble-brewing-in-beer-baking-challenges\/","title":{"rendered":"Koekedoor Season 2 episode 8: Trouble brewing in beer baking challenges!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"image\"<\/a>There was trouble brewing for most of the remaining six contestants on Thursday evening, when the Koekedoor Season 2 episode 8 focused on beer, and its role in watching rugby at home, accompanied by beer and beer-related snacks. Craft beers were the hero of this episode.<\/p>\n

Judge Mari-Louis Guy reminisced about listening to rugby matches on the radio, \"image\"<\/a>with commentator Gerhard Viviers. One of the snacks which a wife would make for the rugby-mad ‘manne’ would be a beer bread, shared judge Elizabeth Cloete, and this was the first challenge set, each of the three in the episode being beer-focused.<\/p>\n

Koekedoor PR consultant and Content Manager Errieda du Toit sent some background information about the theme for this episode: ‘It celebrates the craft beer revolution and the benefits for the<\/em>
\n baker. Some historians hold the theory that beer brewing preceded\u00a0baking of bread, and that bread arose from the brewing process. I also\u00a0chose this theme as craft beer, beer tasting and matching beer and\u00a0food is a much more informal experience than e.g. the more formal aspects of wine appreciation. Also SA has produced the world’s best\u00a0craft beer ( Stellenbrau), and all the aromas of the Stellenbrau which\u00a0stuck with me. \u00a0The informality of beer also gave us lots of license to have some fun… and Mari-Louis’ beer chippy chocolate tart with pretzel crust,\u00a0served with a peanut butter ice-cream float was the result! Manly\u00a0baking, fun partnering with finesse.<\/em><\/p>\n

At this stage of the competition the contestants have developed their\u00a0baker’s instinct, relying on\u00a0\u00a0 Their new-found\u00a0 confidence to tackle\u00a0the unfamiliar. The Pronkgebak challenge is very much in tune with\u00a0what’s hot, happening and trendy. The history of pretzels are\u00a0fascinating and we hope baking enthusiasts will enjoy this challenge\u00a0as much as most of them did. Kanya would rather not see another\u00a0pretzel ever again, while Wessels was in his element, making use of\u00a0his bread and yeast experience’.<\/em><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \u00a0Tuisgebak\/Home Bake<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \"image\"<\/a>The contestants were given 1\u00bd hours to bake their beer bread. For Wessels bread baking is about kneading. He added cheese and biltong to his bread. \u00a0Corli said that she knew little about rugby before meeting her future husband, whose work has a rugby focus. She looked in the iconic recipe book ‘Kook en Geniet’<\/em> for a recipe for beer bread, and was happy to find one. \u00a0She made a corn, cheese and beer bread, and made butter with mascarpone and cream. \u00a0Kanya added Rooibos and honey to her bread, and decided to make a hot tomato and yellow pepper jam, as well as a burnt milk powder butter to eat with the bread.<\/p>\n

    Sanet added apple and feta with cider to her beer bread, and made another with blue cheese and pear, and made a salt and pepper butter. Tara decided to add fennel and cheddar cheese, while Wilandi and Corli both added bacon. Wilandi made onion marmalade, coriander butter, and liver pat\u00e9 to serve with the bread. \u00a0Tara had forgotten to switch \"image\"<\/a>on her oven, and had to bake her beer bread from scratch. In making her onion marmalade, she cried, saying that there must be more than a thousand remedies to prevent this when chopping onions, but none of them work! \u00a0She made a wholewheat beer bread with fennel, cheddar, biltong, and sunflower seeds.<\/p>\n

    Wessels made salt tarts alongside his bread, made with Black Label and biltong. Wessels and Corli both beat cream for longer to make butter.<\/p>\n

    \"image\"<\/a>The judges said that Corli’s bread had a strong beer taste. Kanya’s bread had a fynbos taste, from the a rooibos tea she added. Sanet made a bread each from a lager and a cider. She did not knead them. Wessel’s bread slices were quite white when the bread was cut, and the judges said that it meant that no eggs had been added. \u00a0His salt tarts were said to be a winner.<\/p>\n

    2. \u00a0Fyngebak\/Advanced Technique Challenge<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

    The second challenge was to make a Beer Chip \"image\"<\/a>Tart, for which 3 hours was allocated, as well as a peanut butter ice cream Milk Stout float. Each contestant was given a pack of ingredients to prepare this challenge, as well as a recipe, but the contestants did not see the final preparation before they had completed their own tarts. The pack of ingredients included beer, nuts, curry powder, chocolate, chips, cornflakes, and more. Wessels used curry and peri peri in his preparation.<\/p>\n

    The tart had a smoked beef chip crust, and a chocolate and stout filling. The challenge included making a Chakalaka flavored nuts, homemade peanut butter, ice cream, and a beer stout float.<\/p>\n

    Kanya said that she felt like being on the Titanic, the ship about to set sails. She complained about the sweet taste of the ice cream, and decided to add a little salt to temper the sweetness. Sanet was unsure when to take her tart out of the oven. There was a lot of running between the work stations and the fridges.<\/p>\n

    \"image\"<\/a>Wessels’ tart was judged to be the best decorated, and judge Mari-Louis Guy said she wished that she had used his simple method of decorating the tart with pretzels around the edge. Tara’s tart had baked for too long. Kanya’s tart had received too much heat. Wilandi’s flavored nuts were judged to be good, was her Stout a Beer. Sanet was said by the judges to look unsure during the preparation of her tart. The tart did not set, and judge Elizabeth said that she must have used too few eggs, or \"image\"<\/a>added too much beer.<\/p>\n

    Corli was praised for her Beer Chip Tart, described as being perfect. Her flavored nuts were praised too. The judges spoke amongst themselves, saying that the contestants did not realize that an oven loses 40% of its heat when the door is opened.<\/p>\n

    Errieda sent the following note for this episode: ‘Hi Chris, for this series we had a very accomplished baker on set who\u00a0<\/em>tested the Fyngebak recipes designed by Mari-Louis, ensuring that it\u00a0can be baked in the time and competition conditions. Christine\u00a0Capendale enjoys a moment behind the scenes with the Beer tent’s\u00a0fyngebak she made according to Mari-Louis’s recipe. A chocolate beertart with a Simba chips crust and a beer and peanut butter ice cream\u00a0shake, with chakalaka spiced beer nuts on the side. Most unusual\u00a0ingredients for Koekedoor, where everything is made from scratch and\u00a0Simba chips beef flavoured is the last thing to expect. But when\u00a0Mari-Louis is involved, expect next level baking, on trend and always\u00a0delicious’.<\/em><\/p>\n

    3. \u00a0Pronkgebak\/Flaunt It Challenge<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

    The challenge was to bake nine pretzels each, ‘paired’ with a specific beer. A dipping sauce had to be prepared too. It was a difficult challenge, as none of the contestants had ever baked pretzels before.<\/p>\n

    Each \"image\"<\/a>contestant received a beer from a box, Kanya being allowed to choose one first, in having won the previous episode. Corli\u00a0was chuffed that she was given a pumpkin-based beer, given that her daughter’s nickname is ‘Pampoen’. She made Pumpkin Parade Pretzels, the filling made with butternut, feta,\u00a0maple syrup, and pumpkin spices. This she served with toasted pecan and
    \npumpkin butter, a pumpkin cheesecake dipping sauce, as well as pecan\u00a0pumpkin chutney.<\/p>\n

    Sanet initially appeared challenged with the flavours in her banana beer, and had hoped to get the Darling Brew (which I was fortunate to try some flavours of at #FirstThursday two days ago), which is made in the West Coast town of Darling, close to her home town.\u00a0She made ‘Piesang Paraat Pretzels’, which she\u00a0served with banana chutney and cinnamon dipping sauce made with\u00a0natural yoghurt, cloves, cinnamon, and honey. She created flavour sprinkles of\u00a0banana (having first bruleed them, and then dried them in the oven until crisp), rum, walnuts,\u00a0pimento, and salt flakes.<\/p>\n

    Wessels was a gentleman on the set, helping Tara to open her bottle of beer. Tara made Bone Crusher pretzels with grapefruit glaze and grapefruit salt,\u00a0and as a dip she made a mascarpone and caper ‘butter’ flavoured with lemon\u00a0zest and wasabi.<\/p>\n

    Kanya had chosen a coffee based Black River Coffee Stout, and chocolate and orange would be a perfect match. \u00a0She\u00a0made ‘unani’ Persian Pretzels, unani being an ancient practice of\u00a0balancing ‘cold’ and ‘warm’ flavour profiles. \u00a0She sprinkled the pretzel dough with coffee and\u00a0star anise, and others with a blend of rose petals, coffee and orange\u00a0salt. Her dip was a beer, spices and rose chocolate fondue. \"Koekedoor<\/a>She also\u00a0made a roasted camembert in vine leaves as a warm dip.<\/p>\n

    Wilandi made Purper (dark purple) Pepper Pretzels. Her focus was on beetroot and dark chocolate to enhance the\u00a0flavours of the Jack Black Butchers Block Pale Ale. Her sauce was a\u00a0beetroot puree with dark chocolate, flavoured with aniseed, nutmeg,\u00a0cumin, and cloves, coriander, and rooibos. Her flavour sprinkles baked\u00a0into the pretzels included toasted\u00a0 pepper, aniseed, and coriander. She\u00a0also made oven-baked beetroot chips, some of which were ground and added\u00a0to the dough, and the rest was served salted with the pretzels dipped in\u00a0the beetroot choc dip.<\/p>\n

    Wessels said that he has never baked for a living, and would love to bake all day if he could. He selected Southern Right Ale, referring to a Southern Right whale, saying that it had swum to Cape Town, and gave his pretzels a Bo-Kaap flavour. The beer has\u00a0pronounced spice, with tropical\u00a0and caramel aromas. He named his creation ‘Walvisdraai \"Koekedoor<\/a>Pretzels’ (Turn\u00a0of the Whale, or also Dance of the Whale, as ‘draai’ has different\u00a0meanings in Afrikaans). He added honey, warm chai rooibos tea, and beer\u00a0to his dough and glazed it with honey, sesame seeds and poppy seeds. \u00a0He\u00a0made a buttery ale caramel dipping sauce, a fresh tropical fruit\u00a0yogurt dip, a three-mustard and honey dip, and a peanut butter and chili\u00a0beer sauce.<\/p>\n

    Wessels’ pretzels were judged to be of a bakery standard, as were Wilandi’s.\u00a0Tara’s sauce was judged to be too thick, while Kanya had used too small a pot, restricting the size of her pretzels. Sanet’s pretzels were judged to be neatly made, being soft and crisp where they should be.<\/p>\n

    While waiting for the judges’ feedback, Wessels said that he felt that all had done well in this episode. The judges said that Wessels is a good general baker, and was named the winner of the episode. Wilandi was praised too, being told that she had her rhythm back. Corli\u00a0also went into the top three.<\/p>\n

    The bottom three were Kanya, receiving feedback that she should not change recipes; Sanet, for losing focus; and Tara was told that baking is like a sport practice, needing dedication. \u00a0It was Tara who was sent home. Wessels was sad to say goodbye to her, saying that she is a small person with a big heart.<\/p>\n

    Koekedoor<\/strong>, kykNET<\/strong>, channel 144 on DStv. Thursdays 20h30 \u2013 21h30.\u00a0www.kyknet.dstv.com<\/a><\/strong> Twitter: @Koekedoor @kykNETtv<\/h4>\n

    Chris von Ulmenstein, WhaleTales Blog:\u00a0www.whalecottage.com\/blog<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0 Tel 082 55 11 323 Twitter:@WhaleCottage \u00a0<\/strong>Facebook: \u00a0<\/strong>click here<\/a>\u00a0Instagram: @Chris_Ulmenstein<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    There was trouble brewing for most of the remaining six contestants on Thursday evening, when the Koekedoor Season 2 episode 8 focused on beer, and its role in watching rugby at home, accompanied by beer and beer-related snacks. Craft beers were the hero of this episode.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false},"categories":[26463,3,124,587,266,32565],"tags":[34017,2003,14588,26373,32378,34018,8824,33679,15711,34016,34014,3148,33839,1410,34015,19648,33692,33854,1528],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t