-
McDough Goes to Montenegro: The Ajvar & Roasted Garlic Sourdough Adventure
Some loaves are planned. Some loaves have plans of their own. This one appears to be the second kind. The original idea was simple enough: take everything I’ve been falling in love with here in Montenegro and turn it into bread. Ajvar. Roasted garlic. A touch of rye flour for earthiness. Good olive oil.…
-
The Great Tomato Rescue Mission
Sometimes the best meals aren’t planned. In fact, this one started because I forgot to roast garlic. I had levain sitting on the counter for a loaf of bread I wanted to make—a roasted garlic, ajvar, and Vegeta sourdough with a little rye flour and sesame seeds on top. My dough was happily autolyzing,…
-
Vegeta Is Something I Will Never Forgeta
If you’ve never been to the Balkans, you’ve probably never tried Vegeta. If you’ve spent any amount of time in the Balkans, you’ve almost certainly eaten it whether you realized it or not.
-
Once You Start Making Your Own Bread There’s No Going Back!
There’s something that happens once you start making your own bread. At first, it’s just curiosity. A jar of flour and water sitting on the counter bubbling away while you wonder if you’ve officially lost your mind. Then comes the first loaf. Maybe it rises. Maybe it doesn’t. Maybe it tastes incredible but looks…
-
Sunday Roast, Reservations Recommended
I almost missed my first proper Sunday roast in Scotland because of a sign in a restaurant window. Or maybe the sign is exactly what started it. I was walking through town when I spotted a wooden easel outside the restaurant advertising Sunday roast reservations. Not just “Sunday lunch,” but a real roast —…
-
Domaći Mafini od Banane
Sourdough Banana Muffins, Shared Across Languages in Montenegro There’s something beautiful about realizing that kindness is a language long before words are. Today, I stood in a basement laundry room in Montenegro with my sweet neighbor helping me figure out the washing machine. I know almost none of the language here. She explained that…
-
Crock-O-Dough Dundee
The Creation of Mac Dough It started in a freezing cold kitchenon the fourth floor of a flat in Dundee,with the River Tay just outside like it had something to sayand I wasn’t quite sure yet if I was listening. I had always wanted to try making sourdough.It had been one of those “one…
-
And Then There Was Gingy…
GINGY THE GINGER BUG Bonjour, Bitches. Not everything begins quietly. Some things arrive with a presence. Gingy was one of those. She wasn’t born in Dundee like Mac Dough,in a cold kitchen where patience was required just to survive. No. Gingy was born in Tayport.In a warmer, better-equipped kitchen.The kind of place where things…