Bad Baking Ideas

This weekend I had nothing in particular planned so I decided to bake. This was decidedly a bad idea. As a result of this decision I had flat heavy cinnamon buns. Fortunately they were very sweet (thanks to the half a tonne of brown sugar the recipe called for).

In Bolivia, as long as its sweet, it will pretty much get eaten. They love sweet. Pop, candy, over ripe bananas, you name it. If its sweet, they eat it. On top of that, cinnamon buns are bready (or at least they are supposed to be) so that was another point in their favor. Bolivians like bread. Aside from potatoes, its probably one of the most consumed things here. On every street corner there is bread.

As with everything here though, its a bit different. Bread isn't bought in loafs, buns are most common. There are different types as well. You can get hamburger buns which are not used for hamburgers. These are the most like what we have in Canada. Then there are other little buns that are very hard; sort of like bread that's been left out for a few days. Then there is mariqueta. This is the most common and most popular. They are like fat hot dog buns with a hard crust. But you can't have bread without knowing how to eat it.

So how to eat bread in Bolivia. Here's the kicker, you pretty much only eat the crust. Yes, I know, that's completely crazy. You cut the bread open, or in more informal settings just break it open with your hands, and then pull out the middle (la miga). I have asked why and no one seems to be able to give me a better answer than 'so you can put more in it'. And guess what they put in it, more sweet stuff like sweetened condensed milk or jam.

I know! I'm as shocked as you are. Why on earth would you take out the good stuff and just eat the crust. I was very confused at first because I would find little bits of what looked like parmesano regiano cheese in the morning and I couldn't figure out where it came from because they don't have parmesan cheese here. It took me a little while to figure out that it was the bits of bread, balled up from the night before that had been thrown away.

Anyway, to make a long story short. I can't bake here. Tops of mountains are not compatible with my baking skills, unless I try cookies. Mayby cookies would work. They don't rise, they're sweet and they are sort of crunchy.