Swiss Family Robinson has been on my TBR for ages. Like, maybe decades. I think I never felt much urgency to read it because I saw the movie a kid, so I already knew the story. I finally read it a few weeks ago, and not only is it a fun read, it’s positively PACKED with food. Like it was written with me in mind! Get ready for a menu bursting with fun tropical ingredients. I’m so excited to begin! 😀
Today’s recipe is cassava rolls. Cassava bread/cakes are a staple of the family’s diet in the book. The flour itself is made from dried, ground cassava root, also commonly known as yuca (fun fact: tapioca flour is made from the starch of the same root!). I don’t work with alternative flours much, so I was excited to try something knew.
Let me say, this took LOTS of experimentation to get right. First I tried making yeasted cassava rolls, but they never really rose, even after I tweaked the recipe. Then I used my trusty soda bread recipe as a starting point. This at least gave it some rise, but the texture was dense and chewy. In the end, I added a couple eggs and subbed in all-purpose flour for 25% of the total flour to give the rolls more lift and a lighter structure. The final rolls have a rugged exterior and soft, pleasantly chewy interior with an almost nutty flavor.
To pair with it, I whipped up a quick batch of compound butter with honey, lemon, and figs—all ingredients that appear in the book!
A
Cassava Rolls with Honey Lemon Fig Butter
“Cassava bread is highly esteemed in many parts of the New World, and I have even heard that some Europeans there prefer it to the wheaten bread of their own country. “
— Swiss Family Robinson
INGREDIENTS:
- For the Bread
- 1 1/2 cups cassava flour
- Cassava flour has a habit of measuring very inconsistently by volume, so it’s better to measure by weight. For this recipe, I measured 1 cup of cassava as 3.7 oz (105 g).
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 1/2 cups cassava flour
- For the Butter
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1 Tbsp honey
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice
- 4 dried figs, diced
Makes 8 rolls and 1/2 cup butter
INSTRUCTIONS:
- FOR THE BREAD. Preheat oven to 400°. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, salt, and baking soda. Add the milk and eggs all at once. Stir until fully combined, but do not over-stir.
- Using a large spoon, drop 8 equally sized scoops of batter on the parchment paper, making sure the scoops are spaced at least 2 inches apart. Bake for 15-17 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through.
- Allow to rest on the baking sheet for 2 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
- FOR THE BUTTER. In a medium bowl, beat together the butter, honey, and lemon juice. Stir in the figs. Transfer to a sealable container. After use, seal and refrigerate any leftovers.
- Serve with dinner in a tropical paradise.
Leave a Reply