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Trini fry bake
Fry bake: puffy fried breakfast bakes from Port of Spain
On Saturday and Sunday mornings across Port of Spain, a bowl of dough becomes a pile of golden, hollow-bellied bakes that get split open and stuffed with buljol, smoked herring, cheese or a fried egg. They are soft and slightly chewy inside with a thin, blistered crust, nothing like the dense coconut bake baked in the oven. The usual mistake is frying in oil that is not hot enough: the bakes soak up fat and stay flat instead of ballooning. A short rest for the dough helps them puff. Chef's tip: roll the rounds no thicker than 5 mm and spoon hot oil over the top as they fry, and almost every one will inflate like a pillow.
- Total time
- 30 min
- Difficulty
- easy
- Serves
- 4
Ingredients
For the dough
- 10 ½ oz plain flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp sugar
- ½ tsp salt
- ⅔ oz buttercold, cut small
- ¾ cup waterlukewarm, about
For frying
- 2 cups vegetable oilfor shallow frying
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Method
0/6 doneStep 1: Mix 10 ½ oz plain flour, 2 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp sugar and ½ tsp salt in a bowl. Rub in ⅔ oz butter with your fingertips until no lumps remain.
Step 2: Add ¾ cup water a little at a time and mix into a soft dough that just stops sticking to the bowl. Knead for 2 minutes until smooth, cover and rest for 10 minutes so it relaxes.
10 minStep 3: Divide the dough into 8 pieces and roll each into a ball. On a floured board, roll each ball into a round about 12 cm wide and 5 mm thick.
Step 4: Heat 2 cups vegetable oil about 2 cm deep in a heavy frying pan over a medium-high heat until a scrap of dough rises and sizzles at once, about 350°F.
Step 5: Slide in 2 bakes at a time. Spoon oil over the tops until they puff, then turn and fry until both sides are deep golden, about 1–2 minutes a side.
10 minStep 6: Drain on kitchen paper and keep warm under a cloth while you fry the rest. Split each one at the side and fill while hot.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 340 kcal
- Protein
- 7 g
- Carbs
- 50 g
- Fat
- 12 g
- Fibre
- 2 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does trini fry bake take?
- About 30 minutes in total: 15 minutes to prepare and 15 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 4 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegetarian?
- Yes. It has no meat or fish.
- What can I use instead of plain flour?
- Self-raising flour, same amount (then leave out the baking powder).
- What can I use instead of baking powder?
- ¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda + ½ tsp cream of tartar per 1 tsp.
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