Guyanese bakes, also known as fry (fried) bake and floats, are mounds of fluffy dough, fried to a delicious golden brown treat. These fried breads are Guyanese a delicious snack or breakfast side dish.
Guyanese Style Bake or Floats
Guyanese floats are a breakfast staple in my home. We usually enjoy them on the weekend with sautéed salt fish. Soft fried bakes have a slightly crunchy exterior and a perfectly fluffy center.
Jump to:
- Guyanese Style Bake or Floats
- Why You'll Love This Guyanese Bake Recipe
- What is the history of Guyanese (fry) Bake?
- African and Indian Influences
- Guyanese Bake Ingredients
- How to Make Guyanese Bake
- Recipe Variation: Thick Guyanese Style Bake
- Other Recipe Variations
- Tips for making the best dough for Guyanese Fried Bake
- Tips for Frying Float Bakes
- Equipment
- Leftovers
- Easy to Follow Guyanese Floats Video Tutorial:
- FAQ & Troubleshooting
- Related
- Pairing
- Printable Recipe Card
Why You'll Love This Guyanese Bake Recipe
- Authentic: These bakes are true to the flavor and texture of bakes enjoyed throughout the Guyana and the Caribbean.
- Easy to follow: Made with just a few simple ingredients, you more than likely won't have to make a grocery store run to make these.
- Versatile: This recipe can be made savory or sweet so whether you're using it as a side for a meal or just want a tasty treat, this works!
- Delicious: These round mounds of fried dough are absolutely mouthwatering. Good luck having leftovers because this batch is bound to get devoured!
What is the history of Guyanese (fry) Bake?
Bakes are a popular dish across Caribbean cuisine. They are many things depending on the country. Like in Guyana, in Trinidad they are called float or float bake. In Jamaican they are called fried dumplings and Johnny in other countries. Although the exact origins of bakes or even why they are called bakes when they are fried, are unknown, the recipe definitely has Indian and West African roots.
African and Indian Influences
Many West African countries make something very similar to bakes called mandazi. Some West African countries also call their fried dough African doughnuts (donuts), puff puff and beignets.
In India poori (puri) a crispy fluffy fried bread, look exactly like Guyanese fried bakes. They are often savory and served with stews. Exactly like my mom Sheena (who is Indo-Guyanese) makes her bakes.
Guyanese Bake Ingredients
This recipe is made with easily accessible ingredients that are probably already in your kitchen.
- Warm water: Ensure the water is warm so the sugar properly dissolves.
- Brown sugar: This won't make the bread super sweet but it enhances the overall flavor.
- All Purpose Flour: For the dough; plus more for dusting the work surface.
- Baking powder: For that light, airy texture you expect.
- Salt: An essential ingredient for taste.
- Butter: Use vegan butter, coconut oil or cooking oil as alternatives
- Cooking oil: Use an oil with a high smoke point like sunflower, grape seed, avocado
See recipe card for quantities.
How to Make Guyanese Bake
Make Dough
Add the brown sugar and warm water to a small mixing bowl and mix together until the sugar crystals completely dissolve. Set aside.
Then add the flour, baking powder and salt to a large mixing bowl. Mix together well then add the butter and mix in using your fingertips. Mix until the butter combines to form a crumbly texture.
Next make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add the sugar water solution you set aside earlier. Mix together to form a soft dough ball.
Knead Dough Then Rest
Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead well into a smooth ball. This should take about 5 minutes.
Place the dough ball into a greased bowl, cover with a kitchen towel and let the dough rest for 30 - 45 minutes.
Divide Dough
After the dough has rested for at least 30 minutes, turn the dough onto a floured surface and divide into 12 pieces. Knead each piece into a smooth ball cover and rest again for at least 15 minutes.
Prepare Frying Oil
When ready to cook, add the oil to a large saucepan deep enough for deep frying and heat up on medium heat. The oil should be about 300°F. If you bring it to 350° F (the regular temperature for deep frying, your bakes will burn and the inside will be raw).
Fry Bakes
While the oil is heating up, on a floured surface, roll each dough ball into a flat disk. Then when the oil is hot submerge the rolled out dough, into the oil. The dough will initially sink to the bottom of the pot, then it will rise to the surface and begin to swell.
Flip
After about 1 to 1 ½ minutes or when the side of the bake that is in the oil is brown, flip the bake over to brown the top side. Once both sides are brown, remove from the oil and place in a dish towel lined bowl. Cover the bakes with the dish towel to keep warm while you fry the other bakes. Repeat the frying steps for the remaining 11 dough balls.
Serve
Serve warm with some delicious sautéed salt fish.
Recipe Variation: Thick Guyanese Style Bake
Some people before a thick fried bake. Use this exact recipe, but instead of rolling out the though into a thin disk, roll the dough out until it is a ¼ inch thick. Then shallow fry the dough in a frying pan with two cups of oil. Spoon the oil over the frying bake for even cook. Cook for about 1 ½ minutes on each side then flip and repeat.
This type of bake is thick and doughy on the inside. Slice open with a knife and enjoy stuffed with salt fish or keep it simple and add a few slices of cheddar cheese.
Other Recipe Variations
- Sweetness: When it comes to sugar, this recipe is flexible. So if you need to adjust the sugar for any reason please do. You may also use sugar alternatives like maple syrup, coconut sugar or honey in place of sugar in this recipe.
- Guyanese bakes with yeast: Many people make floats with yeast instead of baking powder. Substitute all of the baking powder in this recipe with ½ teaspoon of dry active yeast. Add the yeast to the sugar water solution and allow it to bloom before adding to the dry ingredients
- Fat: I prefer to add coconut oil to the dough. It gives it such a great flavor and (American) biscuit like texture. But you can use butter, lard, ghee, or even some cooking oil.
- Flavor: Aside from salt and sugar, you can add spices for a more distinct flavor. Try cinnamon or nutmeg.
- Shape: Sometimes, I roll the dough into a giant flat dish then use a biscuit or hand pie cutter to cut it into circular bakes. But you can cut your bakes into any shape. My mom always cut her bakes into triangles. Have little helpers? They can cut the dough into shapes like dinosaurs or hearts and stars. My children love using different shapes for their own unique bake cutouts.
Tips for making the best dough for Guyanese Fried Bake
Making a smooth pliable dough will result in the best bake texture. Use these tips to ensure you always get the best results:
- Always measure your flour properly so that you do not end up with more flour than the recipe needs. Here's a link to a great article on measuring flour. Measuring the flour ensures that the liquid to dry ingredients ratio is accurate and will help with the texture of the dough once you begin to knead it.
- Always let your dough rest! Trust me, I've made bakes in a rush and it is better to just let the dough rest for at least 30 minutes so that the gluten can activate. When the dough becomes a bit stretchy and doesn't break apart, it is ready!
- Dissolve the sugar in warm water. For many years I added the sugar directly to the flour. Sometimes the larger sugar crystals do not dissolve during mixing or frying and would create a bumpy texture on the outside of the finished bakes. Dissolving the sugar with warm water first gives the bakes a really smooth texture on the outside.
Tips for Frying Float Bakes
Guyanese Bakes are deep fried. For best results use a pot that will allow the bakes to have enough room to float above the oil and cook. This is why they are also called floats. Here are a few more bake frying tips:
- If you use a frying pan to fry your bakes, you will likely have to spoon oil over the bakes. I avoid using frying pans because they are shallow and the bakes rest on the surface of the frying pan. When this happens the part of the bakes resting on the frying pan will brown faster than the sides and the bakes will have an uneven color
- Use an oil with a high smoke point when frying your bakes. Avocado oil or sunflower oil are my preferred oil for frying Guyanese style bakes.
- Keep your oil at a constant temperature. I keep my oil around 325°F. If you don't have a kitchen thermometer, you can achieve this by keeping your heat on medium or just a little below medium. This ensures even cooking throughout.
- Don't overcrowd your bakes. You may be tempted to fry several bakes at once to speed up the process, but try not to over crowd the pan. Two bakes at max is what I recommend for seasoned cooks, one bake at a time if you are a beginner.
Equipment
- 2 Mixing Bowls: You need one small mixing bowl and one large mixing bowl. The small one will continue the warmed water and sugar. the other will hold the other ingredients and eventually the dough.
- Rolling pin: You will need a rolling pin to shape the bakes. Don't have one? Try a wine bottle.
- Large Saucepan: Fry the Guyanese bakes in this.
- Clean Dish Towel: Place this over freshly cooked floats to keep them warm as the rest of the batch finishes frying.
Leftovers
Store leftovers in the refrigerator for up to one week. Reheat them in the microwave, by wrapping them in a damp paper towel and microwaving them in 30-second increments.
The uncooked dough can be made ahead. Rest it in the refrigerator overnight or keep it frozen for up to one month.
Easy to Follow Guyanese Floats Video Tutorial:
FAQ & Troubleshooting
Why are Guyanese bakes sometimes called floats?
As they fry, the bread floats on top of the oil, hence the name.
What do you eat with Guyanese bakes?
Bakes are typically served with fish. Here are a few options: Sautéed Salt Fish, Sautéed Can Salmon, Tuna Cakes (stuff the bakes with tuna cakes to make a sandwich), Fried Fish or Fish Choka.
Why is my dough stiff and not soft?
This happens when you don't have enough liquids for the dry ingredients. See the tips above on how to measure your flour correctly.
Why won't my Guyanese bakes rise?
This happens for a number of reasons:
- Not using enough oil to fry the bake (see tips above)
- Using cold or old baking powder
- Not allowing the dough to rest before shaping and frying
- Not allowing the oil to come up to temperature before frying
- Having a stiff dough that is not smooth and pliable, therefore creating cracks on the surface of the bakes and preventing it from puffing up
Why are my floats stiff?
This typically happens when the dough isn't soft enough. Also, make sure you allow the dough to rest before cooking.
Related
Pairing
Do you love this recipe? Have questions or suggestions? Let me know in the comments section. Then check out my YouTube, TikTok, or Instagram for more delicious recipes.
Printable Recipe Card
Guyanese Bakes (Floats)
Ingredients
- 1 cup Warm water
- ½ cup Brown sugar
- 3 cups All Purpose Flour plus more for dusting work surface
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon butter may use vegan butter, coconut oil or cooking oil
- 4 cups cooking oil high smoke point oil like sunflower, grapeseed, avocado
Instructions
- Add the brown sugar and warm water to a small mixing bowl and mix together until sugar crystals completely dissolve. Set aside.
- Then add the flour, baking powder and salt to a large mixing bowl. Mix together well then add the butter and mix in using your finger tips. Mix until the butter combines to form a crumbly texture.
- Next make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add the sugar water solution you set aside earlier. Mix together to form a soft dough ball.
- Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead well into a smooth ball. This should take about 5 minutes. Place the dough ball into a greased bowl, cover with a kitchen towel and let the dough rest for 30 - 45 minutes.
- After the dough has rested for at least 30 minutes, turn the dough onto a floured surface and divide into 9 pieces. Knead each piece into a smooth ball cover and rest again for at least 15 minutes.
- When ready to cook, add the oil to a large saucepan deep enough for deep frying and heat up on medium heat. The oil should be about 300°F. If you bring it to 350° F (the regular temperature for deep frying, your bakes will burn and the inside will be raw).
- While the oil is heating up, on a floured surface, roll each dough ball into a flat disk. Then when the oil is hot submerge the rolled out dough, into the oil. The dough will initially sink to the bottom of the pot, then it will rise to the surface and begin to swell.
- After about 1 to 1 ½ minutes or when the side of the bake that is in the oil is brown, flip the bake over to brown the top side. Once both sides are brown, remove from the oil and place in a dish towel lined bowl. Cover the bakes with the dish towel to keep warm while you fry the other bakes. Repeat the frying steps for the remaining 8 dough balls.
- Serve warm with some delicious sautéed salt fish.
Deborah says
Yes, we still call it bake
Althea Brown says
Right 1 bake 2 bake?
Corletta Hamilton says
I find that I have to add a bit more water than the recipe asks for as the dough was a bit tough.
Kamal Fazil says
Hi.
Great recipes
When making the bakes, what is the temperature of your cooking oil?
Althea Brown says
Hi there, it is just about 350 but don't let it go above 375 or the bakes will be raw in the middle.
Kamal Fazil says
This is the very best bakes recipe ever.
No one can top this, amazing bakes
SB says
Metemgee bake recipe is my absolute favorite! Precise details, including the temperature of the oil. Thank you!!
queenella kingston says
i use them rescipe and de bake in even fry it taste like raw fish
Michelle says
I tried this recipe and this was the first time my float bakes came out so good. They actually swelled up and stayed soft and so yummy!!!
Althea Brown says
Yay! Thank you for sharing.
Cullen Kong says
I just finished cooking and eating mine with some bacalo...hmm hmm good! Thanks
Asha M says
This bake recipe is the bees knees. I’ve been using it quite a bite over the last few months and my bakes are always soft and delicious. Thanks for taking the time to test recipes so that we all can enjoy delicious treats!🤤🤤
Jinell Ann says
So i just tired the recipe, it's my first time making it but to my surprise it was okay 😂
Thanks for sharing the recipe💜
Nicole says
With this recipe, Bakes are perfection every time !
Naz R says
What an awesome recipe. Made it this weekend and everyone loved it.
Thank you so much!
Naz
Alana says
This is my go to recipe for bakes. I half the sugar and it still tastes delicious. I could have people thinking that I can actually cook with this recipe. 🤣
Babs says
Love this recipe. My bakes looked like a pufferfish.. They were soft and Fluffy and yessssss... Delicious. It was a bit on the sweeter side so next time I will use less sugar. My kids enjoyed it. Thank you so much for sharing... Xoxo
Althea Brown says
You’re welcome.
Irene says
Why are they called floats? I've always known them as bakes. These are what Indians call bathura, it's an Indian dish originally brought from the Indians, but the name was changed mistakenly because people could not speak Hindi. A friend of ours who is of Indian nationality and lived in Guyana explained this to me. Instead of Bathura it was shortened to baith and thus we got the word bake. I only recently noticed everyone calling it floats, I never knew this while living in Guyana.
Shanti says
I think because when you fry them and they start to float you can soon eat them (and start to bloat).
I miss my Grano so much. Eating these are sure to make me cry (happy tears).
Candacy S says
Indeed! That’s why they’re called floats. And we have several kind of “bakes” in Guyana. So to differentiate we’d say “float or float bake.”
Amanda R says
Always love this recipe. I want to make ahead and freeze it refrigerate the dough. Has anyone ever tried? Any thoughts?
Danielle says
My first time trying and they came out great! Everyone loved them, thank you. I was reluctant to try for years only because I thought it would be hard and I would screw it up and I didn't. I was never really good at frying, and this made me more confident. Thank you again.
Althea Brown says
Thanks for sharing and so glad it came out great
Jo says
Perfect. Mi eat dem off real quick
Althea Brown says
❤️❤️❤️
Zamina says
Thank you, this recipe was delicious 😋
Althea Brown says
So glad you liked it
Chi says
Hi,
My bake won't puff up.
They float up to the top but won't puff up.
I've tried FIVE TIMES! Each time with baking powder, lukewarm water and yeast.
What do you think I'm doing wrong?
Khaleel Mohammed says
Possibly outdated baking powder. And ensure you mix the dry ingredients well...and allow the 30 minute or more period for setting. This is just my fallible opinion.
V.W says
Metemgee is God sent, since quarantine I have been following her recipes and they all taste just like my grandmother and moms. Thank you so much for sharing yout craft with us:-)
Althea Brown says
Thank you!
SB says
Easy to follow recipe & perfectly delicious every time!!
Althea Brown says
Thank you, thank you!
Nyasha says
I tried these while I am by my friend and they came out peeeeeerfect! Now I have to be making bakes every other day for bfast.
Althea Brown says
Love it. Thank you.
Derek says
Thank you for this ! It’s hard to have my mom teach me when all she says it’s “e easy, yuh jus put lil flowah and yuh bakin powda and yuh fry am” haha but she makes triangle, do you have a video making it triangle way? I want to impress my mom
Khaleel Mohammed says
Possibly outdated baking powder. And ensure you mix the dry ingredients well...and allow the 30 minute or more period for setting. This is just my fallible opinion.
Meme says
Soo Soo good
Maria says
Easy to follow and delicious
Alina says
My sister made bakes for us using your recipe. They were the best bakes we’ve ever had.
Lisa says
My favourite Guyanese breakfast food! Yum!
Natisha Nina says
Best bake recipe! Always a hit! Absolute perfection!
Alicia says
Hi I live your blog and have been following for some time now. This is my 3rd time attempting to make float bakes. 1st tune they didn’t rise when were too flat and wasn’t sweet enough. 2nd time they came out too thick and dense. 3rd time I added more butter the bakes came out nice and buttery but when drying soaked up all the oil. Please tell me why?
Althea Brown says
Hi I am sorry that you are struggling with this recipe. I have to ask if you are following it exactly as written, because with the amount of baking powder and the amount of oil, the bake should rise. Also if you want your bakes to be sweeter you can try my other recipe for Guyanese sweet bakes. And yes too much butter will make your bakes soggy. That's why it is important to follow the recipe as written.
Amanda R says
Always love this recipe. I want to make ahead and freeze it refrigerate the dough. Has anyone ever tried? Any thoughts?
Amanda R says
repost* Always love this recipe. I want to make ahead and freeze it refrigerate the dough. Has anyone ever tried? Any thoughts?
Althea Brown says
You can definitely freeze the dough and if you have a vacuum sealer even better.
La-Shaka St Louis says
Gonna be making bakes using this recipe today, thanks for making our traditions so accessible.
Sharon Lackey says
Hi, can you post the sitting time if you substitute the baking powder with yeast, thanks, Sharon from Ga.
Lisa says
I usually don't comment on recipes, but hats off to this one. Made it today for the first and everyone loved it. They even went back for seconds. I didn't use as much sugar and added some cinnamon powder. My best bakes by far, can't wait to make this again. Will definitely share this recipe with friends and family. Thank you!!
Tash says
Looks delicious! Can you give me a average on how many calories in one bake?
Shonelle says
I think I fried mine a bit too long. The layers beneath the outside were oily
Althea Brown says
Oh no. Oily bakes usually means the hot wasn't quite hot enough when you first added it.
Susan says
Instead of warm water, use warm milk instead and dissolve the sugar in it. Makes for a tastier bake.
Pamela says
Made these and they were amazing, best bake recipe I’ve tried. The family loved it!! I made them in the wok what a great idea… they came out evenly cooked… thank you for all the tips!,
Althea Brown says
i'm so glad you loved these. Thank you do much for trying my recipe and rating it.
Pamela says
Forgot to post my rating.