By Hannah Gallant
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Every summer I visit Prince Edward Island with my dad. It's a hell of a drive: 12 hours in the car. We leave before dawn and arrive by dinner time. I enjoy going there and visiting my family. There are countless aunts, uncles, and cousins.
My dad and I sleep in the Old Credit Union. It’s a house, but not really - it is literally the building where the local Credit Union operated a hundred years ago. When there was talk of tearing it down, my Pépé bought it and moved it to family land, where it now sits near the shore looking out on the Atlantic Ocean. This building is just a building - no bathroom or electricity. For that, we would walk over to my tante Maria’s house. We usually stay there for a week or two. We spend the time fishing for clams, swimming, kayaking, and eating lots and lots of food. Now obviously, PEI is an island and they eat lots of seafood. I’m vegetarian and don’t eat seafood, so I’m basically stuck with bread and vegetables. Vegetables means fried or boiled beyond all recognition. Bread means galette blanche, a light bun usually served warm fresh from the oven. With a slab of butter, galette blanche can feel like a meal all on its own. My Mémé is famous for her delicious galette blanche recipe. It has been passed down through generations of the Acadian women of my family. Every year when we leave PEI, we are sent home with a bag of galette blanche, which lasts maybe two days. It's a nostalgic bread, really. It makes me think of all the summers spent on an island where maybe a quarter of the population is a relative of some kind. I think of family and all the special memories of hanging out with the one cousin that's actually my age. The Recipe
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2 tbsp yeast
2 tsp sugar
3 cups warm water
8-9 cups flour
1 cup oil
2 eggs
2 tsp salt
Put 1 cup of warm water in a small bowl. Then add sugar and yeast. Let sit to ferment for about 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a larger bowl, mix eggs, oil, and 2 cups of water. Add yeast and sugar mixture and blend well. Gradually add 8-9 cups of flour. Knead well by hand, sprinkling more flour as required to prevent it from being sticky. Cover with a cloth and put somewhere warm. Let the bread rise for 1 hour.
Roll out with a rolling pin and cut into circles using the top of a glass. Let rise for 30 minutes. Prick holes into the top of the dough balls with a fork. Then bake in a preheated oven at 400 for about 15 minutes.
2 tsp sugar
3 cups warm water
8-9 cups flour
1 cup oil
2 eggs
2 tsp salt
Put 1 cup of warm water in a small bowl. Then add sugar and yeast. Let sit to ferment for about 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a larger bowl, mix eggs, oil, and 2 cups of water. Add yeast and sugar mixture and blend well. Gradually add 8-9 cups of flour. Knead well by hand, sprinkling more flour as required to prevent it from being sticky. Cover with a cloth and put somewhere warm. Let the bread rise for 1 hour.
Roll out with a rolling pin and cut into circles using the top of a glass. Let rise for 30 minutes. Prick holes into the top of the dough balls with a fork. Then bake in a preheated oven at 400 for about 15 minutes.