Ann's Blog
Soufriere, St. Lucia:
February 19, 2010
Hot Out of the Oven
A few minutes before 4 p.m. Almost time for the afternoon’s baking to go on sale in a nameless bakery on Bridge St. in the fishing town of Soufriere, NESTLED UNDER THE ST. LUCIA’S TOWERING TWIN PITONS. So, like we’ve lived here all our lives, we’re sweating patiently in the line-up in the bakery’s dim, hot, crowded anteroom.
mouthwatering smoky aroma included
There are two bakings a day – the other is around 8 in the morning – and the loaves, called “Kwéyòl (or Creole) bread,” are well worth sweating for, since this is one of the three remaining bakeries in Soufriere with a wood-fired oven. The loaves are like French ficelles – skinny baguettes – but shorter and with a softer crust and pointed ends that grow plump in the middle. More importantly, they carry a whiff of woodsmoke from the oven, which makes them completely irresistible. Obviously, I’m not the only one who feels this way: The baker – one guy – turns out 700 of these loaves himself daily. They cost a mere $1 EC apiece (about 37 cents), although if you need a brown paper bag, it will set you back half as much again. Steve now insists on buying a couple more than we think we need. He knows I’ll demolish a whole loaf myself (granted, they are small) between bakery and boat.
Today, we arrive in time to watch the baker stretching balls of dough into loaves (he had earlier formed the balls and left them to rest), and putting them on a long, slender wooden board that serves as his baking peel. They spend 20 minutes or so turning golden brown in the narrow, deep oven – heated by coconut wood – before he fishes them out with the peel and drops them into a big wooden basket. Around this time, an assistant arrives to handle the furious commerce – as the formerly patient throng thrusts bags and bills in his direction, in a sudden fever to get their bread and get going.
If you find yourself in Soufriere and want to taste the difference a wood oven makes to a loaf of bread, walk south on Bridge St. till you pass Church St. (the big church is a dead giveaway); if the bakery is open, about a half-a-block ahead on the right, you’ll see a sandwich board on the sidewalk that says “BAKERY” with an arrow. Follow it. At other times of day, look for the baker with his big woven basket covered with a white cloth across the street from the park in front of the church.
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