A rustic introduction

Well, to be honest, I was about to jump into this 'blog'-thing head first until my well-studied and wise daughter insisted I introduce myself properly. So, here goes! My name is Charl Roux, and I live in the Tsitsikamma (which is a Khoi word for 'place of abundant water'), close to the sea. Pictured below is the view from my front door (as well as my bed - mmm!). My hands-on relationship with food started when I built my first clay oven a few years ago, serving fresh bread, meat, cheese(which I was produsing on the farm from my own goats), olives and other tapas from the farm. Next, I plan on building a clay oven and crafting breads, foods and desserts in the oven. Firstly, I will concentrate on perfecting comercial white and brown breads as well as a few artisan breads, such as rye, ciabatta, and potato sour dough. In this blog, which will document this ongoing journey, I will show you how to build an oven and share recipes as I test, try, serve and enjoy them. Hopefully, you will get to see a glimpse of my life, including my family, friends, surroundings and ideas as time passes.

When this is established, I want to start serving food straight out of the oven once a week - every Sunday - and as bookings pick up I will work towards firing the oven for two days a week. Eventually, I hope to turn it into a fully-functioning restaurant. I believe that time will mould my plans and - considering that I am quite flexible - I will grow with them. So, welcome to my journey - I hope you have as much fun as I know I am. Put on your seatbelts - it's going to be a bumpy, bumpy ride!