Student Focus: Janet Cruywagen

by Lisa Finnimore 

Janet Cruywagen lives with her husband and son in Pretoria, South Africa. She found sourdough baking in 2020 through a free webinar, which was given by Vanessa Kimbell at the Sourdough School with the intention of reaching out to new bakers during lockdown. Janet’s enthusiasm soon took her from making delicious wholesome bread to discovering more about the techniques and science behind the craft. With her commitment to nourishing the wider community – and to Vanessa’s motto of ‘sharing the knowledge’– Janet was given a scholarship to attend an online course at the Sourdough School.
    Now a graduate of the Sourdough School’s Baking as Lifestyle Medicine certificate, Janet is determined to use the impressive social skills she honed while working as a pastor in her community. She describes herself as a woman ‘on a mission to change the perceptions about bread and health and to empower with evidence based research’. She teaches sourdough baking from home and online through her business, Grace and Crumbs.                   

How did you choose the name Grace and Crumbs for your business?
I was a full-time pastor, working with the elderly, when I started to play around with names with the word ‘grace’ in them. Grace and Crumbs was born from the idea that we can discover grace within crumbs. Crumbs are often thrown away without thought, and we forget that they still actually have a lot to give. We can repurpose crumbs in so many ways, adding them in to different recipes, maybe just to give a dish that extra crunch it needs to make it sing. I’m thinking perhaps on top of a shepherds pie, or of my dad’s favourite – he loves crumbs in his tea with sugar! I also wanted to incorporate something of my profession as a pastor in my name and that’s how it came about.

Who are you aiming to reach with your teaching?
My target audience is mostly women from all walks of life. When you put people together in a group, they start sharing their life stories, which is amazing. They feel heard; they get a sense of belonging through these workshops, and it’s so rewarding to be part of it. I’ve noticed through my different workshops how connections and friendships form organically whilst working together.

How do your students respond to the process of making and learning about sourdough?
They learn the art of slowing down, listening to the needs of their bodies and minds. It’s a way of them connecting to new people and growing existing friendships. Aside from this, they benefit from the evidence-based research I can introduce them to, especially regarding fermentation and digestibility.

What are the things about sourdough baking that you love most?
I love that it forces me to slow down, be mindful. And even if I don’t want to bake, it ends up being so good for my mental health that I feel refreshed after having my hands in the dough.

Janet describes herself as ‘a proud mom to a wonderfully neuro-diverse boy’. Much of her learning about sourdough and nutrition has been driven by her commitment to her son’s health and his experience of food. By learning how the sourdough bread making process can unlock nutrition, Janet has developed a way of baking that can run alongside even the busiest of lives, and this is what she is most determined to share through her teaching.
    “Baking as lifestyle medicine really changed our family’s life. By having access to proper information, I learned how vital it is to bake bread for nutritional purposes and not just to create aesthetically pleasing breads. My son is neuro-diverse and super sensitive to texture, so I had to transform the food he eats (which is basically toasted cheese, pasta and pizza) into something that will nourish his body and brain. I am very passionate about helping neuro-diverse families with easy, affordable and not super time-consuming sourdough recipes.”

What is your favourite thing to bake?
My favourite bread is an oat and honey boule. It is so lovely, I finish it with a honey drizzle over the outside of the loaf. I also love to play around with different dried flowers, beetroot and pea flour and sweet potato powders.

What is your favourite flour to bake with, and is there a local producer you want to give a shout-out to?
My favourite flour is a local brown flour from South Africa. The whole plant is milled, and it’s unsifted. The microbial activity and nutritional value is amazing and I use it in all of my baking – even cakes. My starter is also fed with this flour. The brand’s name is Gideon Milling and they are regenerative farmers from the Cape who are passionate about nutrition in South Africa. They strive to keep their price-point low so that stoneground flour is not only a luxury, but available for all.

Nutritional equity is an issue that weighs heavily on Janet’s mind. Although she lives in a privileged neighbourhood in Pretoria, Janet is well aware of the poverty and inequality that she lives alongside. She works with Echo Youth Development, a charitable organisation that provides a support system for vulnerable youth in South Africa. Her role is to empower young adults to live a healthier lifestyle through better nutrition.

Janet’s approach is epitomised by the graduation recipe she developed for her Sourdough School diploma. She took the ‘proudly South African dish’ of Vetkoek (fried dough) with mince and adapted it to increase the nutritional diversity of the ingredients. Janet’s recipe reduces the glycaemic index and saturated fat of the dish, but she has worked hard to retain the delicious comfort that this familiar staple provides for households all over the country. The dough for the savoury doughnut-like bread is made with a diversity blend of flour and fermented overnight, eschewing ultra-processed wheat, fast-action yeast and refined sugar. The minced beef filling, which is usually full of saturated fat and high in salt, becomes a gut-friendly dal in Janet’s version, rich with spices and tomatoes. ‘The beauty of this dish, and the comfort it provides, should be accessible to everyone, regardless of their background or disposable income.’ You can find Janet’s graduation recipe here and read more about the specific challenges faced by cooks in South Africa.

You have said that one of your greatest ambitions is to have a South African sourdough school, based on the principles you learned with Vanessa. What inspired this?
Vanessa taught me that sourdough can be fun, affordable and user friendly. There is so much more to sourdough baking than the pretty Instagram snapshot we see so much of. Sourdough has the power to heal in so many ways: physically, mentally and emotionally. Sourdough baking has truly transformed my life forever, and I will be always grateful to Vanessa for helping me understand and bear the fruits of it in my life.

For more information on sourdough baking classes with Grace and Crumbs, or to connect with Janet, please visit her website www.graceandcrumbs.co.za or join her on Instagram @graceandcrumbs