BACON AND CHEESE LOAF
The history behind this tasty bread goes like this: (to skip this portion and go straight to recipe, click here)
My friend Kenny Chow and myself were making bullets one 1993 evening (a typical South African past-time) during our summer university break. The motions of making the bullets, or more specifically re-loading, was much like pulling on a slot machine lever before they were done away with and replaced with buttons.
Kenny looked over to me and smiled, "So what have you got planned for tomorrow?" I suppose this was a rhetorical question, as the summer vacations were so long we never had any plans except to loaf about from day to day. He continued "Let’s go to Sun City, I’ll pick you up at seven!" He explained that his brother would be there taking some family friends around and seeing the sights.
I asked if he was serious and he confirmed that he was, but I just laughed it off. Why would I want to wake up at 7 in the morning during my summer vacation? We carried on reloading bullets until about 1 in the morning.
The next morning, at about 7 am, my mom came to my room, telling me I had a visitor. It was Kenny, asking if I’d packed my stuff yet. Who was he kidding - I had barely woken up! I gathered a few things and I vaguely remember him suggesting we spend the night there. I took no notice of this as I though that he was surely joking now, how could we afford to do such a thing? All I took with me was a kit bag with swimming trunks, a spare pair of shorts, T-shirt, jacket, towel, sun-block and an umbrella.
We headed off to the resort famous for its hot conditions and wonderful resort facilities, although these all came at a price. The travelling distance was immense and the cost of getting in and using their facilities was pricey. Even a tiny Hot Dog with a green tinted sausage would cost quite a bit. We decided to stock up on some food for the journey as well as for when we arrived there.
We stopped off at a Greek-run take-away and bakery just a short distance from my home in Brixton, and as they’d just opened, most of their goods were either freshly baked, or were about to be reheated. We bought a full rotisserie chicken, and decided to get some potato crisps and perhaps some bread rolls to have with our chicken. While looking over their selection of baked goods, we saw a rather odd looking loaf of bread. It was squat and was covered by some melted cheese. It also had some weird pieces sticking out from various points, so we enquired about it.
The assistant who was serving us said that it was a bacon and cheese loaf, but we weren’t sure if we had heard he correctly because of her accent, so the owner of the shop confirmed that we’d heard correctly and that it was delicious. He may have been exaggerating just to make a sale, but we decided to get it anyway, along with a few rolls.
We finally headed off towards Sun City, and although it was early in the morning, it was getting quite hot in the car. Along the way, the smell of the food got the better of us and we just had to try out the chicken as well as the loaf. We decided to just break off a few pieces of the loaf, and when we tasted it, we were surprised that it was so tasty! We carried on eating it until we’d eaten almost half of the loaf! We forced ourselves to stop, so that our food would last us the rest of the day.
Along the way to Sun City, we noticed that just around a blind corner, were 3 traffic police cars parked one behind the other in the emergency lane, and that the cops were having their lunch while sitting between the cars. We both looked at each other and quipped that that was the silliest thing we’d seen all day – imagine if some person had to come around that corner at breakneck speed and hit them. As traffic cops, surely they should have known better. We also figured that we should take it easy on the way there, and stick to the speed limit, as they were more likely to trap people on the way to Sun City and not on the way back – as people would be less co-operative if they’d just lost a lot of money. Actually, they’d be beyond suicidal and probably psychotic.
We arrived at Sun City at around about 10am, and headed straight for the Valley of the Waves. En route there, we stopped off at some of the slot-machines and Kenny tried his luck. He was lucky and won a bit of money, which we used to pay for the entrance to the Valley. When we got there, we found that it cost too much to get in, and that the price was reduced later in the afternoon.
We headed back into the main building and to the Pink Flamingo bar. Finding a seat in a darkened corner, Kenny ordered a beer for himself and a glass of coke for myself. We got the food out and made chicken rolls, accompanied by crisps and topped off with the bacon and cheese loaf. When we met up with Kenny’s brother Anthony later that evening and described the loaf to him, he was disappointed that we’d eaten the whole thing and only had a piece of crust left over! He didn’t even get to try any.
Playing the slots again before heading for the Valley of the Waves, we bumped into Claire Chum, our friend who was here with her cousins from Canada, and who was brought here by Anthony, although I only found out about this later. Kenny was lucky once more and we managed to subsidise our entrance to the water-park.
With the school holidays over, the queues were at a minimum, and we rode ourselves silly on all the slides and in the wave pool.
That afternoon, we joined Claire and her cousins on a game drive through the Pilanesberg. All was going well until the jeep broke down on the way to their chalet at Bakubung. We had to walk back the rest of the way, and with the sun beating down on us, I had to use my umbrella to keep cool, while Kenny used a towel! We must have looked so stupid, I’m sure any of the Big 5 would have died laughing at us.
Dinner that night consisted of instant noodles, and we had coffee in the main building of Sun City. By this stage I realised that we were going to stay the night, on the floor of their chalet. I had not brought my toothbrush or anything. That night, we were also confronted by these huge moths that terrified the girls (from Canada), and we could not really attack them because they were flying too high.
The next morning, Anthony treated us all to a full breakfast, so generous was he after winning at Bingo the day before (well, that was the reason he gave us - he was too much of a gentleman to let in that it was his birthday). In the dining area, there were more of these huge moths flying about and on the floor, and the Canadian girls started screaming and tried to step on them. At that moment, one of the managers there suddenly shouted out that as this was a game reserve, and that nothing was to be killed. Absolutely nothing.
Over the years that followed, I’d return to the bakery to buy a take-away, and I’d never fail to go to their bread section and ask for their Bacon and Cheese loaf. They’d either just sold out, and later on, not be made at all. They said that the reason for their termination was the lack of demand, which I could not believe, as well as the non availability of Purene, a shortening that was popular in the 50’s and 60’s. I always wanted to try this bread again, and when I arrived in London in 1999, I had some time on my hand and got myself a recipe for bread. I modified it and added Bacon and Cheese. My first loaf was really successful, and I’ve made it many times thereafter.
And so that concludes my story of the cheapest trip to Sun City that I’d enjoyed in my student days, and the history to my quest to find yet another Bacon and Cheese Loaf.
I hope that you’ll try my recipe below, and that you get the same results that I have. It is best to have as fresh as possible, and especially if you have it with a bowl of home-made soup in winter. Another option would be to use Cheese and onion instead, with a topping of fresh spring onion on the top along with the grated cheese.
If using non-instant yeast, dissolve the sugar in half the water, and add the yeast. Allow to stand for 10-15 minutes until frothy.
Variation: Add half a large onion, or 1 medium onion, finely chopped and fried in butter until soft, and 3 tablespoons of chopped spring onion, instead of the bacon. Sprinkle the the loaf with grated cheese and chopped spring onion.