Cassava Bread

Medium·40 min active + 30 min resting

The Kalinago (Carib) flatbread — bitter cassava grated, pressed dry of its juice, sieved into flour, and toasted on a hot griddle into a firm, flat round. Dominica's Indigenous bread, dating back millennia.

Cassava

Salt

Coconut

Cassava bread is the ancient flatbread of the Kalinago (Island Carib) people of Dominica, made from grated, pressed, and toasted bitter cassava — a pre-Columbian Indigenous staple.

Break cassava bread and it is firm, dry, and faintly nutty, snapping into a dense flat round that softens as you chew. Bite: clean, mild, and toasty, with the subtle earthy flavor of pure cassava and no leavening — more cracker than loaf. A living link to the Kalinago, eaten plain, with coconut, or dipped in stew. Dominica's Indigenous bread.

Pressing out the cassava's juice removes its natural toxins (cyanogenic compounds) and excess water; the dry, sieved flour fuses on the hot griddle as its starch gelatinizes, binding into a firm cake without any flour, yeast, or fat — an ancient, ingenious preservation bread.

Variations

With grated coconut mixed in (sweet). With raisins and spice (sweet farine). Thinner and crisper. Thicker. As a base for toppings. Made with a touch of pumpkin.

On the Palate

Where Cassava Bread sits in the Dominica flavor cloud

Cook to learn

Press the grated cassava truly dry: squeezing out the juice removes its natural toxins and the water, and only the resulting bone-dry flour will fuse on the griddle into a firm cake instead of a wet paste.

Techniques

Baking

Ingredients

Serves 6

1 kgCassava

1 tspSalt

optionalCoconut

How it's made

8 steps · 40 min active + 30 min waiting

1
18 min
Peel and finely grate 1 kg cassava.
2
10 min
Wrap the grated cassava in cloth and press hard to squeeze out the (toxic) juice; discard the liquid.
Watch out
Keep pressing until only a few drops squeeze out and the pulp feels dry, sandy, and crumbly.
3
8 min
Push the pressed cassava through a sieve to make a light, fluffy flour; add a little salt.
4
4 min
Heat a flat griddle or heavy pan over medium heat.
5
3 min
Spread a layer of cassava flour into a round and press flat.
6
6 min
Toast 5-6 min until the underside sets and the starch fuses into a firm cake.
Watch out
The underside is set when the edges pull in and the whole round lifts as one firm, dry cake.
7
5 min
Flip and toast the other side until dry and lightly golden.
8
3 min
Cool and serve, optionally with coconut or as a base for fillings.