Breaking Bread

It was cold and wet as I set off for Amsterdam. After two months in Bremen, I said goodbye to start the next leg of my journey. By then I had learnt a few things about hitchhiking in Germany.

It is illegal to hitchhike on the Autobahn so you have to stand at the Tankstelle (fuel station). Here you could eat something (if you can afford it), drink a warm or cold beverage and, most importantly, take a shower. Trust me, if you are hitchhiking, you do not miss the opportunity to take a shower. You do not want to forfeit a hard-to-get ride simply you smell like a testosterone-drenched billy goat.

I quickly learnt the German registration number system. This made life a lot easier. With the appropriate information scribbled on a sheet of yellow paper, I could go to a Tankstelle and search for a car with a registration number of a place near my destination. Once I identified the car, I would wait for the owner to emerge, then make a quick assessment as to whether there would be enough room for one more rather large passenger with luggage, and then ask politely if they are perhaps travelling to my destination (which I knew they were because I read the number plate). I got many lifts this way.

Once a truck driver saved me from a rainstorm that made me wish I were back home in the Namib Desert. He handed me a few paper disks that they use to record their trips. Standing next to the road waving these got me many rides with trucks and everyone wanted to hear my story of how I got my disks in the first place.

Anyone who has been a serious hitchhiker will tell you about the grave dangers of boredom. I once had to wait for two full days for a lift. Those were cold, wet nights and no one wants to provide shelter if they’ve seen you trying to bum a lift. Somehow, hitchhikers are deemed suspicious characters especially these days when we all have heard stories about serial killers picking up hitchhikers.

Back in the day, it used to be part of our generation’s initiation into adulthood. With just a backpack and a thumb pointing towards the heavens, we could relive the life of Jack Kerouac and the Dharma Bums or Jack London before he wrote ‘White Fang’. Who other than a hard-edged hitchhiker would appreciate William Least Heat-Moon’s ‘Blue Highways’, or London’s ‘The Road’?

Other than dealing with boredom, waiting and reading, hitchhiking taught me a lot about food.

What keeps and travels well. Salami is great but keep it out of the sun and rain.

Dark sourdough breads made with rye or spelt are great because they last a few days. With a good hard salami and mature hard cheese, these breads will sustain you for days. And when they eventually get too hard to chew, you could always dunk them in coffee. Time and exposure transform them into delicious rusks.

Sweets and other sugary treats help generate body heat that is crucial for those cold nights. Alcohol, on the other hand, depletes body heat, so it is best to stay away. Besides, no one likes a drunken travel companion.

To this day, a meal of salami, cheese and bread reminds me of that journey through the European hinterland. It was before the wall came down and before the Euro. Life around the Mediterranean was cheap and meaningful for us who slept on the beaches and in bus stations. Places where people spoke of situations and declared their wisdom on the walls.

People had a lot to say, even if it was nothing.

And somewhere, between Trier and Constantinople, I received a precious gift of focaccia bread from someone who claimed she shared blood and bread with Constantine the Great.

• 500 grams bread flour

• 310 grams water

• 10 grams honey

• 10 grams salt

• 2.5 grams wheat gluten

• 2.5 grams dry yeast

• Sundried tomatoes (to taste)

• Olives (to taste)

• Fresh herbs

• Course sea salt

• Olive oil (as needed)

• Add the ingredients to the bowl of a stand mixer and mix with dough hook until fully incorporated. Mix on medium speed for five more minutes.

• Let the dough rest in the bowl for 10 minutes, then mix again for five more minutes on medium speed.

• Transfer to floured work area and shape into a ball. Coat the dough lightly with oil and let rest for at least an hour under plastic wrap before using. When ready to bake, transfer the dough to a baking tray.