| Alternate name | Pinwheel bread, Māori bread, Parāoa koroua, Pakipaki, Pāpākiri |
|---|---|
| Main ingredient | Flour, Water, Salt |
| Place of origin | New Zealand |
| Associated cuisine | Māori cuisine |
Takakau, otherwise known as Pinwheel bread or Māori bread is a type of unleavened bread produced by the Māori people of New Zealand. It is made from mixing flour, water and salt together and kneaded, then cooked either directly on hot ashes or in a camp oven.
Background
Before Europeans found New Zealand, Māori traditionally made a type of bread from the root of Bracken fern. The roots were dug up, cleaned and roasted on hot embers, then beaten with a patu to soften the fibrous roots and washed in a basin filled with water to separate the starch from the roots. The decanted starch is molded into cakes and cooked on an open fire.[1] These cakes, called Komeke had a bland taste, so they were often flavoured with animal fat, flower nectar and the juice of berries.
Māori readily adopted flour when wheat was introduced by early Europeans.[2][3]
See also
- Ash cake
- Bannock (British and Irish food)
- Bannock (Indigenous American food)
- Bread in culture
- Damper (food)
- Rēwena bread
- Tortilla de rescoldo
References
- ^ Davidson, Alan (1981). Food in Motion The Migration of Foodstuffs and Cookery Techniques. Prospect Books. p. 317. ISBN 9780907325079.
- ^ Petrie, Hazel (2013). Chiefs of Industry Maori Tribal Enterprise in Early Colonial New Zealand. Auckland University Press. p. 127. ISBN 9781775585268.
- ^ Booth, Robert B. (1912). Five Years in New Zealand (1859 to 1864). J.G. Hammond & Company, Limited. p. 52. ISBN 9783849150198.