Bara brith for tea.

Posted on September 10, 2024 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Bread, Food, Fruit, Life, Llandudno, spices, Tasty, tea shop, Treat, Wales, Welsh, Wikipedia, YeastLeave a comment

With a cup of tea.

Just back from Llandudno in Wales where my sister bought me a Welsh fruit loaf for a treat. I just had a couple of slices with some butter and a cup of tea. Very nice. Apparently it’s lost favour with younger people but I’d urge you to try it.

Wikipedia says :

History:

Bara Brith derived its name from the Welsh language, bara meaning bread and brith translating as speckled. It was traditionally made in farmhouses by adding fruit, sugar and spices to the basic bread dough to make a sweet treat for special occasions. It has subsequently been used as a colloquialism—to “over spice the Bara Brith” means to do something to excess.

We got two loaves from a little tea and cake shop in Llandudno.

Did you know?

Posted on August 8, 2024 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged Bacon, brown sauce, Cheese, fillings, Food, Jam, Life, oat flour, Oatcake, Oats, sausage, Tomatoes, Water, YeastLeave a comment

Credit Moorlands eater photo of a Staffordshire Oatcake.

Today is Staffordshire Oatcake day. According to Google:

“Oatcake Day is celebrated annually on August 8th to honor Staffordshire and its famous oatcake. The day began in 2010. Some people celebrate by visiting Staffordshire Oatcakes in Hanley to learn how the Potteries staple is made. Others share their oatcake creations on social media using the hashtag #StaffordshireDay.”

Basically the Staffordshire Oatcake is a thin pancake style flat tasty disk made of oatmeal flour, yeast, water and possibly other ingredients. It is cooked on a hot griddle in a thin layer so it ends up looking a bit like a lace doily but with fewer holes. You can buy a dozen or half a dozen to take home, or if you get them from an oatcake shop you can have them with various toppings. Mostly cheese and bacon, or bacon and mushroom. My favourite is sausage, cheese and tinned tomatoes. Sometimes with a bit of brown sauce. You can also eat them hot with butter and jam, but that’s probably not acceptable behaviour! And rolled or folded? That’s your choice!

Definitely a Staffordshire specialty. Not to be confused with Scottish oatcakes which are smaller and thicker.

Local artist, poet and author, Arthur Berry wrote “Ode to the Oatcake”…

Making bread

Posted on November 4, 2021November 4, 2021 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Baking, Bread, Cooking, Linseed oil, Loaf, Rising, strong white flour, YeastLeave a comment

I decided to make a loaf today. Its just gone in the oven for half an hour, gas mark eight. Today’s loaf is half a packet of ready mixed linseed oil bread and half strong white flower. To make sure I had the right amount of flour I tipped flour from the big bag of strong flour into the small half full one till it was filled (I don’t have scales). Then as the strong flour didn’t have yeast I added a level teaspoon of dried yeast. I mixed it with about half a pint of luke warm water and a teaspoon of honey. I should perhaps have added a bit of oil and salt, but I decided not to.

The photo is the dough after it had risen, doubling on size, then it was knocked back and allowed to rise again. I’m happy with how much it has expanded. I hope the loaf that comes out will be light and fluffy… We will see. X

Staffordshire Oatcakes

Posted on August 20, 2021 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Flour, Food, historic, Internet, Oatcakes, Oats, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trent, Yeast3 Comments

I just found this on the Internet when I was trying to describe Staffordshire Oatcakes.

A local artist, Arthur Berry, wrote an ode to the Oatcake. Likening it to pancakes, tortillas, chipatis, all sorts of thin flat round things that you can wrap food in. In this case the main constituents are oats, flour and yeast.

Enjoy hot from the grill or microwave with cheers, bacon, mushrooms, tomatoes. What ever you fancy. Also jam. Maybe even tofu?

Just out the oven

Posted on August 23, 2020August 23, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Baking, Bran, Bread, Bread and cheese, Cooking, Eating, Home made bread, Loaf, Oats, Oil, Water, YeastLeave a comment

It’s looking OK. Bread made from a kit, added a few rolled oats and a bit of bran.

I used oats on the outside once it had proved and been knocked back. When I took it out of the bowl to put into a Pyrex flan dish it had trebled in size. It only shrank slightly when I put it in the dish. The kit I had used contained yeast and had mixed seed in it. It was cooked on gas mark eight (high heat) for twenty five minutes. Now it needs to cool. The loaf needs turning ouf of the flan dish but it’s too hot at the moment. I don’t have any oven gloves so will use a tea towel. Will have a bit later on with bread and cheese if it’s OK?

Breadmaking

Posted on October 22, 2019October 22, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Bread, Flour, Food, Funny, Humour, Oil, Pinch of salt, Poem, Poetry, Rise, Water, Yeast2 Comments

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When my hubby makes bread,

It’s like an alien invasion.

It’s like the film ‘the blob’

Expanding

Contracting,

Overflowing.

The flour is everywhere,

Brown and white

Two packets of yeast,

Half on the floor.

The biggest pan,

The hottest oven.

Rising up to the ceiling,

Growing like a balloon.

Cooked

Nice with marmalade.

Babka rose

Posted on July 12, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Babka, Bread, Bread in common, Cooking, Folded, Food, Hartshill, Poppy seed cake, Risen cake, Stoke-on trent, Tasty, YeastLeave a comment

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There is a place in Hartshill in Stoke-on-Trent that opens on a Friday and they sell Babka’s.

It’s called Bread in Common and they bake delicious bread but also babka buns, tea cakes and other delights.

I’d never tasted a babka before, they are apparently made in many places, as far apart as Poland and Israel. They are folded in layers and rise because they have yeast in them. The ones we bought have a sweet mixture including poppy seeds folded into them. They are cooked in little tin trays and when they come out of the oven they have swollen and spread out so that they are a spongy, bready consistency. They are delicious.

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Yeast