December 13th is the feast day of St. Lucy, who is the patron saint of St. Lucia and the feast day is celebrated as their National Day. In honor of St. Lucy/Lucia, I made "bakes" which are not baked at all, but fried.
It all starts with a pretty simple dough, slightly bready with a tiny bit of sugar.
The dough rests for about half an hour.
And then divided and shaped into flat discs. For my first batch, the dough was way too sticky and I got a little frustrated, so I ended up with four big discs. Which were way too big for a couple reasons.
The dough goes into about a quarter inch of hot oil.
And then fries on both sides until crispy and brown.
I served the first few I made with one of my new favorite meals--coconut kale and turmeric rice. The meal itself isn't from St. Lucia, but the flavors went well with the bakes and are similar to food eaten in Caribbean countries.
The only problem with the first ones I made was that when I broke them open they were completely raw inside. I ended up having to actually bake the bakes, which is not usually done, just to get the filling inside to cook all the way. Because I made them too big, the outside cooked much faster than the inside could. The inside was also just way too dense and even when cooked was not the light texture I was expecting.
So I made another batch. Instead of four discs, this one was made up of sixteen bakes. I also used a different recipe, one that incorporated some cinnamon for extra flavor.
The bakes puffed up nicely in the oil, and the insides cooked all the way through this time. Plus the cinnamon definitely added to the recipe, so it didn't just taste like fried bread. Bakes are eaten in a variety of different ways, with jam or with meat or saltfish, for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. I think the ones that I made are probably best for breakfast or a filling dessert. They taste almost like a denser, more savory beignet, which is certainly not a bad thing.
Recipes Used: Bakes
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