Scottish Bannock Bread

For 6 to 8 Bannocks

4 oz (125g) medium oatmeal
2 teaspoons melted lard
2 pinches of bicarbonate of soda
Pinch of salt
3/4 tablespoons hot water
Additional oatmeal for kneading

Mix the oatmeal, salt and bicarbonate and pour in the melted fat into the centre of the mixture. Stir well, using a porridge stick if you have one and add enough water to make into a stiff paste. Cover a surface in oatmeal and turn the mixture onto this. Work quickly as the paste is difficult to work if it cools.

Divide into two and roll one half into a ball and knead with hands covered in oatmeal to stop it sticking. Roll out to around quarter inch thick. Put a plate which is slightly smaller than the size of your pan over the flattened mixture and cut round to leave a circular oatcake. Cut into quarters (also called farls) and place in a heated pan which has been lightly greased. Cook for about 3 minutes until the edges curl slightly, turn, and cook the other side. Get ready with another oatcake while the first is being cooked.


An alternative method of cooking is to bake them in an oven at Gas5/375F/190C for about 30 minutes or until brown at the edges. The quantities above will be enough for two bannocks about the size of a dessert plate. If you want more, do them in batches rather than making larger quantities of mixture. Store in a tin and reheat in a moderate oven when required.

http://foodlorists.blogspot.com/2007_10_01_archive.html

Bannocky Day

Scottish Cockfight 1785

In parts of Scotland, Shrove Tuesday is called Fasten's E'en, or Bannocky Day, but these days is not celebrated much, though cockfighting used to be common.



A crowdie, or dinner was traditionally held on this day. A ring was put in the basin or porringer of the unmarried people, and whoever found it had an omen of marriage. Then the Bannich Junit, or ‘sauty bannocks’ were brought out. They were made of eggs and meal mixed with salt to make them ‘sauty’, then baked on a gridiron. Some article was mixed with the dough, and whoever got it in his bannock would be married within a year. Bannich brauders were dreaming bannocks and contained a little soot; the baker had to bake these in silence. Each person would take one, slip off silently to bed, lay his or her head on the bannock, and be assured of dreaming about his or her sweetheart.

Bannocks Recipe

Before we start perhaps I should give you an idea what a traditional Scottish Bannock is. Quite simply it is a cross between a chewy oatmeal cookie and a biscuit. Best served fresh from the oven (clearly allowing to cool slightly) on its own, or split and toasted . Excellent for breakfast or with a cup of tea. Bannocks are best the day they are baked.



Highland Hearth by Edwin Douglas

Ingredients
Pinch of salt
3/4 tablespoons hot water
4 oz (125g) medium oatmeal
Additional oatmeal to be added when kneading
2 teaspoons melted fat (bacon fat is best, if available)
2 pinches of bicarbonate of soda