Most people are familiar with Wendy Rahamut's delicious Caribbean recipes but have never actually tasted her hand.
However from next week, Rahamut will be opening a new chapter of her culinary life, giving everyone an opportunity to sample her goods at an affordable price.
From November 7, Rahamut, the T&T Guardian's resident chef who publishes the Caribbean Gourmet magazine and is the host of the TV show Caribbean Flavors, will be opening a bakery cafe called Breadology, at the South Park C3 Centre in Tarouba, San Fernando.
Giving her trademark smile, a bubbly Rahamut said now that her 22-year-old daughter Adara is at university, she has the time to open up her own little shop.
"I always have this innate desire to bake bread and through the years I would always explore different types of breads.
When I decided I wanted to do open my own bakery cafe, I went to the French Culinary Institute in New York and I did the artisan baking class. This changed my life because I learnt to do bread the long-time way," Rahamut said. With Adara as her chief "palate," Rahamut said she has honed her baking skills by sampling delicacies internationally and mastering her own unique recipes.
She said breadology will offer European-styled bread, cakes and pastries made from scratch. During her 20 years of giving cooking and baking classes, Rahamut said she received a lot of complaints about the quality of goods available on the market.
"I realised that there was a need for better baked goods on the small retail market. A lot of bakeries are cutting corners by using artificial ingredients that are not good for your health, even though they give you a better rise on pastries and breads. We are seeing lots of parbaked bread, cookie mixes and cake mixes," Rahamut said.
The culinary artist said she also planned to unveil an array of mouth-watering breads such as regular white bread, coconut bread, wholewheat bread, multigrain bread with seeds, hops and European-styled Focaccia (a flat oven-baked Italian bread) and cheese batter bread.
For those who are health conscious, Rahamut said she also planned to bake spelt bread. Spelt is a grain that contains gluten, much less than common wheat, but it is not a gluten-free grain.
Wanting to incorporate locally-grown produce in her cafe, Rahamut said sweetbread and banana nut bread will be baked using T&T's finest locally-made chocolate.
"I want people to taste my ole-time bread, Danishes, croissants. Everything is going to cater to our local tastes and we will have all the breads that we have grown accustomed to over the years," Rahamut said excitedly.
She also plans to utilise locally-made flour such as breadfruit flour, sweet potato and cassava flour into her products in the near future.
While some may complain that cooking takes up too much time, Rahamut said there is no middle ground when it comes to health. Saying her thrust has always been to stay away from processed food, the petite, energetic mother said she also planned to offer a line of breads made with organic flours.
"This is going to be an additional cost factor but I want everyone to enjoy my breads. Of course, I will also bake breads made with all-purpose flour. I want them to come to my bakery knowing they will be getting really good stuff." Rahamut said.
She also urged citizens to go out to the markets and pick up local produce.
"We are too spoilt with imported foods and we have adopted the American lifestyle which means we are getting American diseases. We have to go back to basics by going to the market and getting your stuff. You can still fill your market basket with $200 and feed a family for less than $200 a week," Rahamut added.
She said the Caribbean offers the best fruits globally.
"Our fruits take the cake and if you just go down to the Debe market you will see all sorts of local fruits. Our farmers are working very hard and our markets are overflowing with produce so people have to take responsibility for themselves and do what is best for their families," Rahamut said.
Even though she cooks mouth watering dishes almost every day, Rahamut stays slim by playing tennis three times per week and doing a daily exercise routine.
"I love food but I've grown accustomed to an active lifestyle. I am always busy," she smiled. Rahamut said she planned to put her "life and soul" into her bakery cafe.
"I don't have big dreams of having a fleet of bakeries because I want to hold on to quality. I will be baking everything myself with the assistance of two other qualified bakers. I won't be selling at my bakery but every creation will be my own recipe and formulas which I have mastered over the years," she said.
With Christmas fast approaching, Rahamut said she planned to do orders like other bakeries and from next year she will be doing wedding cakes.
So what will be her most unique product? Rahamut stopped short, thought for a bit and then blurted, "I can't give you that secret but I can tell you that I do a fabulous coconut tart and amazing currant roll."
Rahamut said she still planned to juggle her cooking classes at her home as well as to complete her fifth book giving sensational seafood recipes.
Her latest culinary offering, Curry, Callaloo and Calypso: The Real Taste of Trinidad & Tobago, showcases T&T's indigenous foods by way of old and new recipes handed down through generations. She has also published three other books, Modern Caribbean Cuisine, Quick Fixing and Caribbean Flavours as well as an annual cooking calendar which is quite popular internationally.
"Cooking is an art form and I want to share it with as many people as possible. For some it is a competitive thing so people will come and do classes secretly especially men whom I think have realised that they need to cook and take care of themselves. I love teaching and I'm happy to share the knowledge," she added.
Rahamut said she planned to one day open up a bakery cafe in Grenada as well.
She noted that there is currently a global movement towards small intimate bakery cafes and owners are going back to using basic products.
"In France they have started milling their own flour. Bread is the heart and soul of life and it is my latest passion. I want to take T&T on this journey with me," she added.
�2 Wendy Rahamut's cooking column appears in the T&T Guardian every Saturday.
INFO
The bakery cafe will be open to the public from November 7. Anyone wanting information on Breadology can email Rahamut at rahamut@gmail.com