Recipe
🍳 BREAKFAST
Rēwena Parāoa (Māori Potato Bread)
A traditional Māori sourdough raised with a fermented potato starter, baked into a soft, faintly sour loaf.
Māori (New Zealand) · advanced · serves 8
prep 40 min · cook 40 min
~322 cal · 8g protein · 68g carbs · 1g fat · 3g fiber · 5g sugars · 0g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Rēwena parāoa is a traditional Māori bread leavened not with commercial yeast but with a rēwena "bug", a starter of boiled potato, flour and sugar left to until it bubbles. Parāoa is the Māori word for bread and flour, and rēwena is the potato mixture that raises it.
The bug works like a sourdough starter and takes a day or more to become active. Once it is bubbling, it is mixed with more flour, sugar, salt and water into a dough, kneaded, left to prove, and baked into a round loaf with a cracked, floury crust and a soft, gently sour crumb.
It is often called a bread that takes practice to master, because the wild is temperamental. A well-made rēwena is prized on the marae and at family tables, sliced and eaten warm with butter, honey or golden syrup.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian, vegan and dairy-, nut-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 8
1 medium floury potato, peeled and diced
1 cup plain flour, for the starter
2 tsp white sugar, for the starter
4 cups plain flour, for the dough
2 tbsp white sugar, for the dough
1 tsp salt
about 1 1/2 cups warm water
Instructions
1
Make the bug: boil the diced potato in unsalted water until soft, then let the potato and its water cool to lukewarm. Mash the potato, stir in the starter flour and sugar, and add enough of the potato water to make a thick batter.
2
Transfer to a large jar, cover loosely, and leave in a warm place for a day or two, until it is bubbling and has roughly doubled.
✎ Chef’s note
Keep salt out of the bug: salt stalls the wild ferment that raises the bread.
3
Tip the dough flour, sugar and salt into a bowl, make a well, and add the bubbling bug with the warm water. Mix to a soft dough, then knead on a floured bench about 10 minutes until smooth.
4
Cover and leave in a warm place to rise until doubled, up to a few hours. Knock back gently, shape into a round loaf on a lined tray, and cut a few slashes across the top.
5
Bake at 425F (220C) for about 40 minutes, until the crust is deep golden and the loaf sounds hollow when tapped underneath. Cool before slicing, and serve with butter, honey or golden syrup.
Traditional Māori marae and home baking.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Waikato. Today the same land carries the largest concentration of dairy cattle in New Zealand, something close to a quarter of the national herd, which is why butter, cream and cheese are simply assumed in the local cooking rather than treated as ingredients. The hangi still does the ceremonial work that no oven does.
🗺️
New Zealand. The pavlova is argued over with Australia and the argument has some real evidence in it: the two earliest recipes carrying the name are Canterbury ones from 1933 and 1934, while researchers trace the meringue-cream-and-fruit form itself further back to German-speaking Europe and the American Midwest. The flat white is disputed on similar terms between Sydney and Wellington.
🌍
Oceania. The staple crops here were carried on purpose. Lapita voyagers moving east from roughly three thousand years ago brought taro, yam, banana, breadfruit and coconut with them along with pigs and chickens, because most of the islands they settled had almost nothing edible growing on them. The earth oven travelled too, as umu, imu, hangi, lovo, mumu, motu and um.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from New Zealand
Boil-Up with DoughboysA one-pot Māori classic: pork, kūmara, potatoes, and watercress simmered together, with dumplings dropped in at the end.
PavlovaA cloud of meringue, crisp shell, marshmallow heart, piled with cream and summer fruit. The dessert two nations claim.
Mince on ToastSavory, gravy-rich beef mince spooned over hot buttered toast, a nostalgic Kiwi breakfast and any-time comfort meal.
Browse all New Zealand recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Oven.
Storing it: Best the day it is made. Wrap well and refresh in a warm oven, or freeze and reheat straight from frozen.
Make it a New Zealand meal
Flat WhiteDrink
PavlovaDessert
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Frequently asked questions
What is Rēwena Parāoa (Māori Potato Bread)?
A traditional Māori sourdough raised with a fermented potato starter, baked into a soft, faintly sour loaf.
Where does Rēwena Parāoa (Māori Potato Bread) come from?
Rēwena Parāoa (Māori Potato Bread) is a Māori (New Zealand) dish from Waikato, New Zealand.
Can Rēwena Parāoa (Māori Potato Bread) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Rēwena Parāoa (Māori Potato Bread) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Rēwena Parāoa (Māori Potato Bread) safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Rēwena Parāoa (Māori Potato Bread) take to make?
About 80 minutes total (40 minutes prep, 40 minutes cooking), serving 8.
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