Newfoundland Food: Toutons

In Corner Brook, we tried our first authentic Newfoundland dish, the Touton. A Touton (pronounced tao-tin) is a piece of fried bread. Other names that I have heard from locals is towten, damper dogs or damper devils. It is an old culinary tradition in Newfoundland. A crispy outside and a tender slightly chewy inside make them very texturally appealing. It is an invention to use up leftover bread dough from the daily baking of bread that was very prevalent in Newfoundland kitchens until recent decades.  The dough was flattened into small rounds and traditionally fried in pork fat but nowadays, more typically in a combination of olive oil and butter. It is traditionally served with warm molasses. I thought that they were good, nice and light. Al was not too impressed but said they taste way better with warm maple syrup.

Having traditional Toutons in Corner Brook Cafe along with fruit and molasses

Here is a Touton recipe you can try:

1 Tbsp sugar

1 tsp sugar

1/2 cup lukewarm water

1 (16 oz.) packet traditional yeast

1 cup 2% low-fat milk

2 Tbsp shortening

1/2 cup cold water

1/ Tbsp salt

5-6 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 lb finely cubed bits of fatback pork or use a combination of olive oil and butter

Directions

Dissolve 1 Tbsp sugar in the lukewarm water, sprinkle with the yeast, let stand 10 minutes, then stir briskly with a fork.

Scald the milk; add shortening, stir until melted.

Add cold water, salt and 1 tsp sugar.

Make sure that the mixture is lukewarm, then add yeast.

Stir until blended.

Add 2 cups flour and beat with a wooden spoon until smooth.

Gradually add more flour until you have a moist dough that no longer sticks to the bowl.

Turn dough onto a lightly floured board and knead for a least 10 minutes.

Shape into a ball and place in a greased bowl, turning the ball to grease the top, cover with a damp cloth and allow to rise in a warm, draft-free place. Leave until it has doubled in size.

Punch down the dough and squeeze off pieces of dough approx 1/3 cup, flatten to approx 1/2" circular or triangular shape.

Fry the pork fat until scrunchins (this is the rendered fat back) are golden brown and crisp, remove scrunchins.

Fry the Toutons in the pork fat until golden on both sides. 

OR you can do what we did:

Buy some bread dough.

Form dough into about 2 ounce balls and flatten into 3 inch rounds

With a combination of olive oil and butter, heat half an inch of oil over medium-low heat (about 275° F) in a large skillet.

When they are golden on one side, flip them and fry for an equal amount of time on the opposite side.

Al liked them with maple syrup.

Give them a try!