If you’ve been on course with us in Panama, you know what Johnny Cakes are! If you’ve been missing the versatile little bread roll, it’s your lucky day. I recently had the opportunity to learn how to make Johnny Cakes from scratch with Doña Valencia and Doña Graciela, two women in an Indigenous community called Solarte Uno near Bocas Del Toro.
We made 80 cakes, which is less than the ladies normally make – a few hundred a week to sell. The ingredient list typically looks something like five-pounds-of-this, two-pounds-of-that, and 20-cups-of-the-next-thing. Traditional recipes make enough to feed a small army…or at least the entire neighborhood!
I turned to the internet to see if any bakers out there had successfully scaled the recipe down to a dozen or so and found The Recipe Island, who saved me the trial and error in the kitchen – thank you Joni!
While it’s not exactly the same as baking the cakes with homemade coconut milk and slowly in a fire pit inside a deep pot, it might be as good as we’re going to get outside of Panama…
Ingredients
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 6 tbs. sugar
- 4 tsp. baking powder (option to sub yeast)
- 2 tsp. salt
- 4 tbs. shortening (option to sub butter)
- 12 oz coconut milk (1 can less 1/4 cup)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400˚ Fahrenheit (~200˚ Celcius)
- Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt
- Then add shortening and combine using a fork or your hands
- Warm coconut milk in the microwave or on the stove and then add to the flour mixture
- Mix until the dough is formed then turn out onto a floured surface
- Knead until the surface is smooth
- Divide into 12 equal pieces and form into a ball
- Place into a prepared pan
- Flatten slightly and poke holes into the surface with a fork if you wish
- Bake at 400˚/200˚ for 25-30 minutes until golden brown on top
Johnny Cake recipes vary from place to place and even from house to house, but the general idea is the same. To make a version similar to Doña Valencia and Doña Graciela’s, sub shortening for butter and baking powder for yeast. If using yeast, be sure to let the flattened balls rest and rise for about 10 minutes before baking.
Just like that, you have a quick and tasty little bread to serve with a meal or as a meal in itself. If you need some inspo, some of our favorite ways to eat Johnny Cakes here at OBCR are as peanut butter & jellys or make-your-own pizzas.
Enjoy this taste of Panama from wherever you may be, but don’t forget to come back soon…
If you try your hand at making Johnny Cakes at home, tag us on Instagram or Facebook, or email a photo to [email protected] for a chance to be featured.