My Recipe for Belizean Johnny Cakes

I love a Belizean Johnny Cake. They are a breakfast mainstay at local delis, bakeries and even at gas stations. (I’ve heard from more than one person that the best johnny cakes in Belize are sold at a gas station just outside the town of Dangriga in Southern Belize)

Often split in half and filled with beans and chicken (often the leftovers from yesterday’s meals) or ham and cheese, these simple quick bread biscuits have a very distinctive Belize-twist. Coconut milk instead of milk or cream. A practical and DELICIOUS substitution.

For those on Ambergris Caye now: Tan’s Mart has Country Barn coconut milk for $2.95 – the CHEAPEST I’ve seen coconut milk in ages. It’s generally $5.95 to $6.95bzd a can. I bought a bunch – we use it for curry also.

But let’s start from the beginning. So many cultures have some sort of quick bread. Corn breads, biscuits, journey cakes, johnny cakes, fry breads, soda breads, pancakes – a fast, yeast-free dough you can cook fast and hot and take with you on your journey. Traditionally, in Belize, these are baked on a fogon (a fire hearth) and if you can find one cooked like that…a bit of smoke, a crispy crust, GRAB THEM.

We are using baking POWDER in this recipe, not baking soda. Powder’s rising power is activated by liquid – soda (the one that comes in a yellow box) needs an acid (like lemon or buttermilk or cream of tartar) to rise.

I LOVE a great johnny cake. And Celi’s Deli in San Pedro makes them SOOO perfectly. BUT…well, there is no real but…they are perfect. $3.50bzd. Toasted with ham and cheese – they are my perfect breakfast. But I want to do them at home. I want to do them at our new camp. So guests can wake up early (sunrise is pretty standard for avid flyfishers) and grab a johnny or two before they head out.

So I started to play around with the handful of ingredients. I consulted with the FB world, I asked some folks from around the country for tips. This bread isn’t about exact ingredients so much as the technique. But they are EASY! You can wake up and have these on the table in less than an hour.

Here’s my final recipe. You can half it or double it. It’s pretty forgiving.

Belize Johnny Cakes Recipe

• 1 lb of flour (about 3.5 cups…you don’t need to be exact)
• 6 Tbls Shortening, room temp (I used Crisco, I found one of the Guatemalan brands too dense/hard – some folks like to substitute a bit of butter)
• 4 tsp of baking powder (I like to taste the powder, I think that’s important)
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 big tsp of salt (plus some for sprinkling on top before baking)
• 1 1/2 cup of coconut milk

Notes about coconut milk: I have not tried this with homemade coconut milk (made by grinding coconut, soaking it in water and squeezing the milk thru a clean cloth) though I bet it is DELICIOUS and brings the most coconut. I have used canned milk and powdered coconut milk. If using powdered, I liked it best when it was mixed quick thick (a bit less water than recommended on the package) – it added a nice coconutty flavor to the finished bread.

Directions: In large bowl or large platter or just on very clean countertop, make a mound of the flour. Dig a little hole and add baking powder, sugar and salt. Blend with clean fingers. Add shortening and blend by pinching and rubbing mixture, by using fingers tips, until shortening is incorporated with the flour.

Warm up your coconut milk. I like to place the can in hot water for about a minute. You want it warm but not hot.

Again, make a hole in the pile. Pour in about a cup of your milk and mix with fingers. Continue to add coconut milk until your dough pulls together – incorporating all the dry crumbs. Knead for about 1 min until incorporated. More than you would knead for a biscuit but do not over knead. You don’t want it sticky – if it gets sticky, add a bit more flour. But you also don’t want crumbly. You want a relatively smooth dough.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease pans liberally with shortening.

Let dough rest for 10 mins. Roll into 10-15 balls depending on the size of the johnnies you want. I consistently got 12 cakes. Mine are a bit rustic…homemade. Flatten into discs and puncture with a folk for the classic look. Sprinkle each with a nice pinch of salt.

Bake until slightly brown. It generally takes about 15 minutes but watch your first batch. My little table top oven is probably very different form yours.

Voile!

Eat warm. Slice in half and stuff with eggs, bacon, beans, chicken, cheese, butter….whatever you like.

You should taste and smell a bit of coconut. Yum.

Let me know what you think…or if you like to do it differently or…any tips are much appreciated.