Steaming Cakes and Skillet Baking

By Sara:

Our friend Emmanuel, who is a pastor in Anyara, has been transferred to a different church, in town.  So he asked me to come and teach people in his new church about baking.  I have gone there twice - once to teach how to bake cakes by steaming them and a second time to teach how to bake things like scones and biscuits on a frying pan.  I forgot the camera the first time, so no pictures of baking cakes.  And the second time, there was a wild thunderstorm while we were baking, so the pictures are kind of dark.  But they are there!

There were a lot of youths who came to the trainings and they were very eager to learn baking skills.  It was very fun teaching this group because they are all so enthusiastic and willing to experiment.  When I came back for the baking on frying pans training, I learned that they had baked a cake after the previous training and used it for the bread in Communion at church!

It was also fun sharing how you can use old bananas to make banana cake and cooked sweet potatoes to make sweet potato biscuits.  Some people were also surprised to discover that you can make breads on a frying pan without coating it in oil.  The breads people make most often here are chapatti and mandazi, both of which are very fried.  So it is exciting to find that you can make tasty (healthier) breads even without an oven.  (It is also cheaper when you eliminate the ingredient of oil).

Here are some cheerful participants holding the instructions for their friends.

This church is right next to a school, so there are always crowds of school children who come in during their breaks (recess? lunch?) to see what is going on, and, of course, to taste the food once it is ready!