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Rēwena Parāoa
Rotorua, New Zealand
A living thread back to pre-colonial Aotearoa: a naturally leavened Māori potato sourdough whose starter, the 'bug,' is kept alive and passed down through generations of a whānau (family), sometimes for decades. The starter is built from boiled potato, flour, and sugar left to ferment and capture wild yeasts, then folded into a dough that bakes into a dense, faintly sweet, tangy loaf with a tight golden crumb. It emerged after Europeans introduced both the potato and wheat, and Māori bakers ingeniously married the new ingredients to indigenous fermentation know-how, creating a bread found nowhere else on earth. Rēwena is the bread of the marae (meeting grounds) and the hāngī feast, sliced thick and slathered with butter, and a good loaf is a point of deep family pride, the quality judged entirely by the vitality of that inherited bug. Many Māori cooks will tell you a borrowed rēwena starter is one of the most intimate gifts you can give. Outside New Zealand it is virtually unknown.
Ingredients
- 1 mediumfloury potato, peeled and diced
- 150 gplain flour (for the starter 'bug')
- 2 tspsugar
- 600 gplain flour (for the dough)
- 300 mlwarm water
- 1 tspbaking soda
- 1.5 tspsalt
Directions
- 1
Boil the potato in unsalted water until soft, then mash and reserve the cooking water; cool both to lukewarm.
- 2
Make the 'bug' (starter): mix the mashed potato, 150 g flour, sugar, and enough reserved potato water to form a thick batter in a jar.
- 3
Cover loosely and leave in a warm place for 3-5 days until bubbly, sour, and active, feeding with a little flour and water if needed.
- 4
To bake, combine the 600 g flour and salt in a large bowl and make a well in the centre.
- 5
Dissolve the baking soda in a splash of warm water and stir it through the active starter to mellow its sourness.
- 6
Add the starter and warm water to the flour and mix to a soft dough, then knead for 8-10 minutes until smooth.
- 7
Shape into a round loaf, place in a greased tin, cover, and prove for 1-2 hours until risen.
- 8
Bake at 200C for 35-40 minutes until golden and hollow-sounding when tapped; cool before slicing thickly with butter.