Konparèt

Ingredients

Dry

• 500 gplain flour
• 250 ggrated coconut
• fresh or desiccated
• 300 gbrown sugar
• 2 teaspoonsbaking powder
• 1 teaspoonsalt

Spices

• 2 tablespoonsfresh ginger, grated
• or 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoongrated nutmeg
• 1 teaspoonground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoonground cloves
• 1 teaspoonground star anise, optional
• 1 teaspoonvanilla

Wet

• 150 gbutter, melted
• 400 mlcoconut milk
• 2eggs
• or 100 ml more coconut milk

To serve

• sliced thick
• coffee
• carried as a gift when travelling

Directions

1. Crack the coconut and prise out the flesh. Grate it on the coarse side of a grater. Soak it in warm coconut milk first. Give it twenty minutes to rehydrate. Put the flour in a large bowl. Add the baking powder and the salt. Add all of the brown sugar to it. Add all of the ground spices to it.
2. Whisk it all together very thoroughly. Baking powder must be evenly distributed. Whisk the dry ingredients properly. Stir the grated coconut through the flour. Break up any clumps with your fingers. Add the grated fresh ginger as well. Mixing the wet ingredients is quick.
3. Melt the butter and let it cool a little. Beat the eggs in a separate bowl. Add the coconut milk in with them. Add the vanilla and the melted butter. Whisk it all together until smooth.
4. Pour the wet into the dry ingredients. Mix it with a spoon or your hands. Mix only until everything comes together. Do not beat it or work it hard.
5. Add a little coconut milk if it is too stiff. Grease a large loaf tin or round tin. Line the base with baking paper. Tip the whole mixture into the tin. Level the top with a wet spoon. Heat the oven to one hundred and seventy degrees.
6. Bake it for about one full hour. A dense mixture needs a moderate oven. Let it cool in the tin for twenty minutes. Let it cool completely before cutting. Dense bakes keep cooking as they cool.
7. Cut it into slices about two centimetres. Set the slices out on a serving plate. Serve strong coffee alongside it. It keeps a week in a sealed tin.

Technique

• Konparet is deliberately dense, heavy and close-textured, and that is what makes it keep and travel; people from Jeremie carry it when they travel and give it to family and friends elsewhere, which is a real and living custom.
• Baking powder rather than yeast is what raises it, which is unusual for something called a bread and makes it closer to a heavy cake in method; the name reflects how it is eaten rather than how it is made.
• Mix only until it comes together, since overworking develops gluten and makes it tough, and dense and tough are not the same thing; and let it cool completely before cutting, because dense bakes keep firming as they cool and a hot slice is gummy.

Substitutions

• Desiccated coconut soaked in warm coconut milk stands in for fresh.
• Extra coconut milk replaces the eggs where they are left out.

Variations

• Star anise and cloves are used by some bakers and not by others.
• It is baked as a tall loaf or as a flatter round, both are made in Jeremie.
• Fresh and ground ginger are used together by many bakers.

History

A speciality of Jeremie in the Grand’Anse, where it is baked in wood ovens and carried as a gift when travelling.

Frequently asked questions

What is Konparèt?

Konparèt is a bread & pastry from Haiti: dense spiced coconut bread with ginger and nutmeg, sliced thick. A speciality of Jeremie in the Grand’Anse, where it is baked in wood ovens and carried as a gift when travelling.

How long does Konparèt take to make?

Konparèt takes 30 minutes of preparation and 1 hour of cooking. The recipe makes one large loaf. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Konparèt?

Yes, within limits. Desiccated coconut soaked in warm coconut milk stands in for fresh. Extra coconut milk replaces the eggs where they are left out.

What is the most important thing to get right in Konparèt?

Whisk it all together very thoroughly. Baking powder must be evenly distributed. Whisk the dry ingredients properly. Stir the grated coconut through the flour. Break up any clumps with your fingers. Add the grated fresh ginger as well. Mixing the wet ingredients is quick.