Hops bread is a common bread made in Trinidad and Tobago, it can be considered a dinner roll with a hard crust. It is loved for its crusty top, especially when hot. This bread must be eaten within two days of baking or it can get rather firm. It tastes great hot, with melted cheese or butter. It also makes a great lettuce and fried fish sandwich.
A sandwich made with this bread is usually simple. You can just add a thick slice of cheese to the hot bread. The cheese will then melt and stretch. This soften cheese and the soft inner part of the hops bread is just delicious. If you want to make a sandwich that is a bit more loaded, then add with the cheese slices of sausage, lettuce and tomatoes.
For a Tasty Hops Bread
Long ago hops was made mostly with white flour, but as people became more health conscious they added a little whole wheat flour to it. Adding whole wheat flour to this bread recipe does not compromise the taste but adds much to your health. The hops bread below was made with white flour and whole wheat flour. I encourage you to try it or as we say in Trini “try it, yuh go like it”.
Hops Bread Recipe
HOPS BREAD
Ingredients:
4 cups flour
1½ tbsp. dry instant yeast
2 tsp. sugar
1¼ cups water
1 tsp. salt
Directions:
Sift flour in a medium sized bowl. Add sugar, yeast, and salt. Mix the dry ingredients well. Form a well in the middle of the ingredients and pour the water all at once. Mix with a fork thoroughly before kneading. Knead for 8 to 10 minutes adding flour if necessary to make a medium stiff dough.
Grease the bowl and the top of the dough. Cover and allow the dough to rise for about 25 minutes Punch down the dough and form into balls. Place the balls on a grease tray and cover with a damp cloth, and allow to rise for about 1 hour or until it double in size.
Bake in a preheated oven 400°F for 20 minutes. Yields about 9-10 hops.
Variation
Whole wheat hops (as shown in the picture):
I like adding some whole wheat to my hops. You can try it by using instead 3¾ cups of flour and ¼ cup of whole wheat for this recipe.
Hops Bread
Ingredients
- 4 cups flour
- 1½ tbsp. dry instant yeast
- 2 tsp. sugar
- 1¼ cups water
- 1 tsp. salt
Instructions
- Sift flour in a medium sized bowl. Add sugar, yeast, and salt. Mix the dry ingredients well.
- Form a well in the middle of the ingredients and pour the water all at once. Mix with a fork thoroughly before kneading.
- Knead for 8 to 10 minutes adding flour if necessary to make a medium stiff dough.
- Grease the bowl and the top of the dough. Cover and allow the dough to rise for about 25 minutes.
- Punch down the dough and form into balls. Place the balls on a grease tray and cover with a damp cloth, and allow to rise for about 1 hour or until it double in size.
- Bake in a preheated oven 400°F for 20 minutes.
- ¾ cups of flour and ¼ cup of whole wheat for this recipe.
Hops bread and curry channa back in Couva as young man…. I would buy that inside the cinema… There was always a vendor inside the cinema shouting “Wok yo mout in house.” House being the name of the cinema; downstairs it was called Pit. That’s how I learnt to cuss because all you could hear was cussing. And, the cigarette smoke was like a cloud suspended in mid air… I lost my virginity right there in that cinema but that’s another story.
Tony what a comment ….Maybe one day I would be able to hear the rest of the story lol