Johnny cake

Ingredients

Dough

• 500 gplain flour
• 2 tbspbaking powder
• 1 tspsalt
• 2 tbspsugar
• 100 gbutter or shortening, cold
• 300 mlcoconut milk

To serve

• cheddar
• ham
• refried beans
• butter

Directions

1. Rub the cold fat into the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar until it looks like coarse crumbs.
2. Keep the fat cold and rub it in quickly. Warm fat blends into the flour instead of staying in flakes, and the cake bakes dense rather than short.
3. Add the coconut milk and bring it together with a light hand into a soft dough.
4. Coconut milk rather than dairy is what makes a Belizean johnny cake, and it gives the faint sweetness and the close, tender crumb.
5. Stop mixing the moment it comes together and do not knead it.
6. Roll or pat the dough out to about 2 cm thick.
7. Cut rounds about 7 cm across, pressing the cutter straight down without twisting so the edges rise evenly.
8. Prick each one two or three times with a fork.
9. Set them on a tray and bake at 200°C (390°F) for 20 to 25 minutes, until risen and pale gold.
10. Take them out pale rather than brown. They are meant to be soft, and colour means they have dried out.
11. Split them while still warm and fill with cheese, ham or refried beans.
12. They are Belizean breakfast, sold from bakeries and stalls from early morning and eaten on the way to work.
13. The Bahamian johnnycake under almost the same name is a single thick pan bread rather than small split rounds, and the two are separate things.

Technique

• The name is usually traced to journey cake, a bread made to travel.
• They go stale quickly and are best within a few hours.
• Some bakers use half coconut milk and half water for a lighter cake.

Substitutions

• Tinned coconut milk, which is what most people use.
• Shortening in place of butter, which is the bakery standard.

Variations

• Fried rather than baked, in a heavy pan.
• Larger, as a single round cut into wedges.
• Johnnycake, the Bahamian version.

History

Baked Creole biscuit eaten at breakfast with cheese or beans; the name is common across the anglophone Caribbean from journey cake.

Frequently asked questions

What is Johnny cake?

Johnny cake is a bread & pastry from Belize: coconut-milk biscuit split with cheese or ham. Baked Creole biscuit eaten at breakfast with cheese or beans; the name is common across the anglophone Caribbean from journey cake.

How long does Johnny cake take to make?

Johnny cake takes 15 min of preparation and 25 min of cooking. The recipe makes 12 cakes. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Johnny cake?

Yes, within limits. Tinned coconut milk, which is what most people use. Shortening in place of butter, which is the bakery standard.

What is the most important thing to get right in Johnny cake?

Keep the fat cold and rub it in quickly. Warm fat blends into the flour instead of staying in flakes, and the cake bakes dense rather than short.