Kahikatea -Making Rewena bread for Matariki

Our science questions.

What is the Rēwena bug?
Where did the Rēwena bug come from?
What can we do with the Rēwena bug?
How do we grow and look after the Rēwena bug?

potato water

high grade flour

warm water

sugar

Rēwena Bug

There are 4 Steps to making Rēwena parāoa.

1) Grow the Rēwena Bug

2) Make the bread dough

3) Bake the bread

4) Eat the bread

Food to feed the Rēwena bug

Before beginning,
a Rēwena bug is needed.

1/2 cup of high grade flour
1 Tbsp of sugar
1/2 cup of potato water
1/2 cup of Rēwena bug
little extra warm water

1) Mix together 1/2 cup of flour with
1 Tbsp of sugar and 1/2 cup of warm water.

2) Add this mixture to the Rēwena bug.

3) Whisk it all together in the jar until there are no lumps.

4) Cover and place somewhere warm overnight like a hot water cupboard or by a heater.

How to grow the Rēwena bug.

Ingredients

Procedure

4x cups of high grade flour
1 Tbsp of sugar
2x cups of the Rēwena bug
1x cup of warm water

1) Add 4x cups of flour in a large bowl.

2) Add 1 Tbsp of sugar.

3) Make a well in the centre and add 1 warm cup of water.

4) Add 2 cups of the Rēwena bug.

5) Mix everything together using a large mixing tool.

How to make dough

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6) Oil the container to be baked in.

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7) Pour out the wet mixture onto a floured space.

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8) Sprinkle on a little more flour and knead with the tool, or by hand until it looks like scone mixture.

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9) Shape into a ball and add to container.

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10) Oil the surface of the ball.

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11) Cover and leave in a warm place, like a car, to prove for many hours.
Prove means rise and get bigger.

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1) Heat the oven to 200C.

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2) Place the risen dough in a hot oven for about
1 hour.

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3) Check for the golden colour.
Tap and the bread should sound hollow.

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4) Take out, cover with a damp cloth and then place on a rack.

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5) When cold slice into pieces and serve.

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Bake the Rēwena Parāoa

Serve with butter and eat with soup.
Invite families to share.

Eat the Rēwena Parāoa

What did we find out

First: What is a Rēwena bug and where did it come from?

Second: The Rēwena bug is a living fermented culture and needs to be fed. Rēwena means "bread made with potato yeast".
The Maori word for potato is 'rewa'.
The Maori people live in Aotearoa, New Zealand

Third: No two Rēwena bugs are alike.
They might look the same, but each one behaves differently in baking.

Fourth: Making Rēwena bread from the Rēwena bug takes perseverance and patience.

What did we notice

The next day our Rēwena bug had doubled in size and filled the big jar.
The smell was like vinegar.
The Rēwena bug bubbled like a hot pool.
The really bubbly Rēwena bugs made bigger bread.
The inside of the Rēwena bread had little holes.
One Rēwena bread fed two classes and our families.
A car was a good place to prove the bread.

Conclusion

The Science

The Rēwena bug is a potato bread dough starter.
The Rēwena bug has the science name of Lactobacillus.

First the Rēwena bug has to be fed with flour, sugar and potato water because the bug is a living fermented culture.

Then the Rēwena bug needs a warm habitat to grow such as a hot water cupboard.

Next the Rēwena bug acts as a natural leavening agent. The bug uses the sugar and turns this into natural yeast. The yeast is what causes the foaming and acid smelly action. The carbon dioxide gas causes the smell. The foaming action is what lightens and softens the bread dough. This action helps the bread dough to rise and get bigger.

After that the Rēwena Parāoa is made with the live Rēwena bug grown from flour, sugar and potato water.

Finally we eat the Rēwena Parāoa.

Overall the Rēwena Parāoa is better for our bodies because the naturally bubbling acids and long fermentation of the Rewena bug helps to break down the proteins and gluten in the flour. The Rēwena Parāoa is more digestible and easier for our bodies to absorb.

What did we wonder

We wondered.....

If we could make our own Rēwena bug.

How much time our Rēwena bug needed to be ready for baking.

If there was a way to find out if the Rēwena bug was ready for baking.

Why we needed a Rēwena bug for our bread dough.

What would happen if we did not add our Rēwena bug to the bread dough mixture.

What would happen if we did not cover the baked bread with a damp cloth.

What would happen if we left the Rēwena bug in the fridge.

If a Rēwena bug could blow the lid off the jar.

What would happen if we used taewa, Māori potatoes.

If we could experiment with making other breads using the same Rēwena dough recipe.

Tips for growing the Rēwena bug.

Go over the science part too of growing and taking care of the bug.
The Rēwena bug is a living fermented culture and needs food and a warm place to grow.
The longer the Rēwena bug grows, the better it is for bread making.
We started using it on day 6, but continuing on the weekend had even better results. Remember to share the bug with others.
The bug can be really watery some days, so just pour off the surface water and keep feeding.
If the bug is not needed, it can sleep in the fridge.
When you check the bug, you can see it bubbling.
The signs of a healthy Rēwena bug is it should double in size each day.
The bug should look like foam and smell strong like vinegar. The consistency feels like mucus. Drop a tsp of Rēwena into cold water and if it floats, it is ready for bread making.

Looks like foam, smells like vinegar and has doubled in size.

Bubbling but still quite watery.