Sunshine and Bakes

St. Lucia has taken my heart.

It's true.

Each morning the island greeted me with roosters calling back and forth across the hills. As the early sunbeams dried the dew from the grass, I would roll myself out of bed, splash some water on my face, and walk up the path to the main building to take in the overwhelming beauty of this gorgeous little island.

My precious days in St. Lucia were mainly spent building houses, visiting nursing homes for the poor, and working at elementary schools, among other activities. While the working days were tough at times, seeing the joy on the faces of the people there made every moment meaningful for me. 

 

One of the perks of visiting an island in the Caribbean is all the delicious fruit available. We often had fresh guava, starfruit, grapefruit, mangoes, and bananas lying around for us to eat. For breakfast I would usually eat oatmeal, fruit, cereal, toast, or eggs. 

Besides all of the fresh fruit, some of my favorite treats in St. Lucia are called bakes. Bakes are essentially a type of fried bread and can be paired with sweet or savory items. Some people ate them with cheese and summer sausage, while others ate theirs with cinnamon and sugar. This year, I took a little cooking lesson from my friend Noella, who took the time to make bakes for our entire group. After the dough was made, we broke pieces off, rolled them into balls, flattened them into circles slightly larger than the size of our palms, and fried them for a few minutes on each side--until golden brown.

When I got home from St. Lucia, I was determined to replicate Noella's bakes because they are just SO delicious! ***Warning: bakes are addictive and not at all good for you, but you must try them. :) 

Make sure you use canola or vegetable oil...olive oil is too heavy for frying foods. Also, make sure the oil is nice and hot. I let mine warm up on medium-high before placing the dough rounds in the oil. 

When they are finished, they should be puffy in the middle and golden brown. Let the bakes cool on some paper towels before enjoying. Oh, and here's a small hint: bakes + nutella = heaven.

Ingredients for bakes (makes about 12):

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter

about 1 cup lukewarm water

extra flour for dusting

canola or vegetable oil for frying

Mix together the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Then, take the butter and use your hands to mix it into the flour mixture. This part feels a little strange since there is so little butter compared to flour, but just mix it until you can no longer see individual hunks of butter. Then, slowly add lukewarm water to the mix, just a little at a time, until the mixture is moist enough to hold together. Knead the dough for a few minutes and let it rest for about 20-30 minutes. Afterwards, heat up the oil on medium high. Knead the dough for one minute, then pull off pieces of the dough and roll them into 12 individual balls. Next, take a dough ball and flatten it by pressing the dough between your thumbs and fingers. Do this until all twelve dough balls are flattened. Once the oil is hot, slide a dough round into the oil and fry for a few minutes on each side, or until golden brown. Using a slotted spoon, remove the bake from the oil and let it dry on a paper towel. Repeat until all of the dough is fried. Lastly, enjoy your bake with your favorite cheese or yummy spread.

If you would like to learn more about the work I did in St. Lucia, or about the Good News Project just send me a comment. Also, keep your eye out for more recipes from St. Lucia ~ I didn't even mention the market yet!