Things did not get off to a good start:
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The packet was still sealed, and tightly so. I opened it, no moths flew out, and then I sniffed and there was nothing “off” about the smell, so I forged ahead. Some wouldn’t but I’m a no-nonsense kind of cook (i.e. foolhardy) and if it all went pear-shaped at least the hens would benefit from my labour.
Maintaining the off note – we might as well admit at this stage that my griddle pan is not of the best. I bought mine from Lidl and it is non-stick on a heavy aluminium base, not a nice cast iron one. It’s actually too large to fit properly on my cooker top and it heats lop-sidedly. It’s slow to heat up but then retains far too much heat. I’m pretty familiar with it and used to coping but it’s not the best way to test a new recipe.
I stuck to the plan to use a 2:1 ratio and measured in cups and teaspoons:
- 2 cups Beremeal
- 1 cup plain flour (I used bread flour)
- 1 tsp Cream of Tartar
- 1 tsp Bicarbonate of soda
- ½ tsp salt
This is fundamentally the recipe from Barony Mill (somebody needs to do them a new web site, it’s very Web 1.0) at Birsay, the origin of the Beremeal. They should know, yes? Besides, it seems to me that to be a Bere Bannock, then Bere must necessarily predominate. I can try a 50/50 mix another time but see no point in recipes that call for more plain flour than Bere.
I was a good girl – I sieved. Or perhaps I sifted. Who knows? I can never tell. Anyway, whatever I did grammatically, I included the raising agents and did not add them directly to the fluid component as some recipes direct.
As intended (see previous post) I deployed last night’s brew of yoghurt, thinning it down with skimmed milk to mix the dough. I guesstimated and added more as required, though in the end I suspect that my dough was a little too soft for the job. Why?
Well, I had problems kneading the dough into a manageable ball, it was too sticky. We’ll gloss over the rolling-out as circles have never been my forté, but I can say that moving the rounds onto the pan was an interesting experience – they were not readily amenable to the move. A stiffer dough would have been easier.
I split the dough into two halves and set one aside whilst I rolled the first one out. I rolled to a little less, perhaps, than 1 centimetre in thickness. Certainly far thinner than I would roll a scone dough.
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I suspect that I had not given my pan long enough to preheat before the first round went in.
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My recipe search had suggested that 10 minutes cooking time was required, five on each side. My first bannock had almost 8 minutes before flipping it over and took somewhere over 12 minutes in total, maybe 15. It rose more than I had expected.
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By the time that Bannock no 2 hit the pan, things had clearly hotted up. This is how it looked after flipping after just two minutes. I turned the heat way down for the second side and removed it from the pan after a total of 8 minutes. The lift on the dough was exactly the same as for attempt number 1.
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I sampled the first round as I was making my soup, in case a Plan B was needed. Plan B did not make itself urgent.
We sat down to our Broccoli and Cheese soup and helped ourselves to pieces of the bannock, liberally buttered. It was a happy marriage. Mr L ate from Bannock no 1 but I ate from Bannock no 2, to see if the difference in cooking temperatures had made a huge difference. As far as I could tell, both bannocks were equally cooked – neither was underdone, nor was either of them dry and over-cooked. I ate two wedges then the remainder of the first piece I had sampled (visible at the top of the photo above) which had by now become fully cold. This told me one important thing: I like my bere bannocks cold rather than warm.
The bannocks were lighter than I expected, and less bitter in taste. They have an agreeably chewy skin or “crust” and are nicely filling to eat.
As Mr L ate more than one for lunch I tentatively enquired if we might have them again at tea time and he said yes, of course. I think we can count this bake a win, at least in this household.
Now, dare I test them on the Show bench?
Oh, this is the point at which I should mention that we have a scheduled power cut on Thursday. I’m not planning on baking a lot, if anything at all (still undecided) but for the busy bakers, that power cut is going to be a pain. It makes me wonder just how full the Show benches will be this year.
I am now wanting a proper cast iron griddle pan.
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