Homemade Traditional Steamed Bread: Another family recipe

Comfort food always comes with some good ol’ bread. Bread is a universal staple that comes in many forms and steamed bread, also known as uJeqe, is an African favourite. If you don’t have an oven, you can still make your favourite bread that everybody can enjoy. It’s super soft and without a crust, making it great for kids too who often don’t like the texture of a hard bread crust. Our Homemade Traditional Steamed Bread recipe is easy to make and comes out perfect every time. You’re going to need more than one batch though because that’s how delicious it is.

Being a traditional recipe, we also use traditional dough mixing styles with the well in the middle of the dry bread ingredients. The Homemade Traditional Steamed Bread comes out of the pot as the softest, tastiest bread you’ve probably had in a long time. It’s perfect with stews, soups, curries but is the best with a thick spread of butter and jam. It’s also a great opportunity to teach the kids about traditional baking and cooking, making it the perfect family recipe.

Looking for a bread recipe that’s not only tasty but easy to make? Try our Homemade Traditional Steamed Bread recipe and see smiles all around the table.

Homemade Traditional Steamed Bread Recipe

5 from 3 votes

Recipe by Xoliswa Ndoyiya Course: SidesCuisine: South AfricanDifficulty: Easy

Servings

4

servings

Prep time

10

minutes

Cooking time

45

minutes

Total time

55

minutes

Ingredients

• 3 cups 3 flour

• 1¼ cups 1¼ water

• 3 tbsp 3 sugar

• 1 tbsp 1 canola oil

• 1 tsp 1 salt

• 3 tsp 3 yeast

• ½ tsp ½ baking powder

Method

• Sift the flour, salt, baking powder, sugar and yeast in a large mixing bowl.
• Whisk the water and canola oil in a smaller bowl.
• Create a small well in the centre of the dry ingredient mixture and add a third of the warm water mixture. Slowly combine the ingredients. Continue this process until you have used up all of the water mixture.
• Start to combine thoroughly. You can use an electric mixer or hand-held mixer using the dough hooks to knead or knead by hand. Knead the mixture until it is smooth and stretchy.
• Coat the top of the dough with olive oil and cover the bowl in cling film. Leave the dough to rise for 30 minutes.
• Place between 500 ml and 1 litre of water in a large pot and bring to a boil. Grease an enamel-coated or stainless steel bowl and place the dough inside. Cover the bowl with the lid (any lid that fits should do) then cover the big pot and boil on high heat for 45 minutes.
• Check that the large pot still has enough water in it, and has not dried up, from time to time.
• Serve warm with butter and jam, or with a hot soup, stew or spicy curry.

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