Hi Everyone, so what kind of bake to make? Fry Bake, Roast Bake, Bake Bake, Coconut Bake or Pot Bake? Sounds confusing? Well, it is, especially when you don’t know all these different kinds of bakes even existed! My Trinbagonian foodie-friend, Chennette, described it as “language problems”.
The plan was to make bread but confronted by a lack of yeast, she instructed her Guyanese helper to add some more shortening and milk to the other ingredients and “mix it somewhat soft”. The idea was to make, in her words, bake bake. Chennette explained that the confusion came when she was trying to explain how to shape and bake the bake! You see, in Guyana, we only know about two kinds of bake – fried bakes and pot bakes. I have said this before, we Guyanese are a very literal people when it comes to naming our food, so when we say fried bake, we mean that it is cooked fried in hot oil. When we say pot bake, we mean that it is a bake cooked in a covered pot.
You can now imagine the confusion of Chennette’s helper when she told her to make bake that’s cooked in the oven! Apparently the bake bake is dough that is kneaded with the same ingredients for bakes – flour, water, baking powder, a pinch of salt and some kind of grease (butter, shortening, oil) – patted flat and then cooked (baked) in the oven. This means that Trinidad and Tobago, the Land of the Hummingbird, boasts of five, count them, five kinds of bakes!
There are the fried bakes (aka floats), pot bake (cooked in a covered pot on the stove) coconut bake (made with coconut flesh and milk and baked in the oven) and then there is bake bake and roast bake. But hold on! Not everyone refers to the bake bake and roast bake as two separate kinds of bakes. Some households use the names interchangeably to mean the same thing – bakes cooked in the oven. And then there are others that refer to the roast bake as the kind of bake cooked on the tawah and directly over the fire, hence the use of the word roast to describe that bake.
I too was baffled by Chennette’s bake bake talk and so I turned to the Trini bible of recipes – The Multi-Cultural Cuisine of Trinidad & Tobago & The Caribbean by the Naparima Girls High School. I have the updated and revised edition. Alas, the only two bakes mentioned in the book are: fried bake (float) and coconut bake. I knew that I would have been heading to Trinidad in March to promote my book, so I used the time to find out more about the bakes.
I was most interested in the bake bake. When I would ask about the bake bake, my question drew some blank stares and when I would qualify and say that it is the bake cooked in the oven then the people would laugh and say, “Oh you mean roast bake!” Talk about language problems! (laugh)
Remember last week I told you about the bake and shark I had in Port-of-Spain, from a shop around a corner? When the driver Dale asked me, “fry or roast” I swore he was asking how I wanted the shark with my bake – fried or roasted, I said, “Fried of course”. I figured that the next time I would try the shark roasted with the bake. As we sat eating our bakes and shark, I noticed that Dale’s bake was completely different from mine so I asked him what was he having with his shark, “roast bake” he said. “You mean the bake that was cooked in the oven, baked in the oven?” I asked”. He responded, “Yeah, we call it roast bake. Is de same ting like de fry bake only we roast it in the oven.” “But have you ever heard of it referred to as bake bake?” I persisted. “Some people jus call it bake and by that we know they mean de bake bake in de oven.” Dale continued with his breakfast, perhaps wishing that this woman would not interrupt him with all of this bake talk! As for me, I couldn’t wait to get back to Barbados and make some roast bake, ahem bake bake.
I got some fresh shark at the market and spent the most of Saturday morning making shark and bake. I made two kinds of bakes – the fried bake and bake bake. The bake bake was a new eating experience for me. First of all, I could not believe how easy there were to make and I really liked the textural experience, outside was a little crusty but the inside was tender and meaty. Actually, I didn’t even want to put anything between it. All I wanted to do was to slather it with butter and let a shower of shredded cheese rain down on it, drop a couple slices of cucumbers and tuck in. My tasters enjoyed both kinds of bake but they definitely finished the fried bakes first. I guess fried dough rules!
Baked Bakes
(Roast Bakes)
Yield: 4 – 5
Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon butter
Lukewarm water (or milk if you like)
Directions
1. Mix together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar.
2. Rub in the butter to the flour.
3. Add enough water to form soft dough. When the dough comes together, knead for 2 minutes. Rub the dough and bowl with a little oil and cover and let lest for at least 30 minutes.
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
5. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
6. Knead rested dough for 30 seconds to 1 minute and divide into 4 or 5 equal pieces. Form the dough into balls and then roll them into 4-inch circles and transfer to lined baking sheet.
7. Bake for 25 minutes or until the top is lightly coloured and the bottom sounds hollow when wrapped.
8. Cool on wire rack and serve warm with your choice of filling.
Cynthia
Cynthia@tasteslikehome.org
www.tasteslikehome.org
NB: Write to cynthia@tasteslikehome.org for Cross Buns recipes.
