Slow down and smell the bread
In a stone building resembling a traditional Provençal barn, some flour, water, yeast and salt are ready to be mixed into dough. “We will be baking two country loaves and paninis today,” Jeff Lawrence starts his introduction. “I’m not teaching you a recipe, but the interaction of ingredients. The most important thing is not to rush the process!”
Jeff is about to teach his course called Bread Fundamentals: What a Difference the Water Makes.
The barn, which was originally built as an entertainment room, as well as the house offer splendid views of Wakkerstroom Wetland Reserve. Every now and then a roaming cow has to be shooed out of the garden.
JEFF AND SUE bought their 7500m2 property in 2004 for R180 000. “It was a weekend house, a place we could come to enjoy the countryside while our lives were in Joburg,” Sue says.
For 11 years they would escape to Wakkerstroom to unwind and cook for family and friends. Then, four years ago, shortly before Jeff’s retirement, they decided to relocate permanently. Jeff used to head up Nedbank’s Affordable Housing Development Finance division, and Sue owned a business and factory specialising in promotional clothing and embroidery. She considered carrying on with her company in Wakkerstroom, but there was a
