Just one loaf of bread

Ingredients

1 lb of strong flour
1 heaped tsp salt
1/2 oz lard or 1 oz butter
1/2 pt lukewarm water
1/2 oz fresh yeast creamed with 1 tsp sugar

1. Rub the fat into the flour.
2. Add the salt.
3. Make the warm water by mixing 4 fl oz hot water with 6 fl oz cold water.
4. When the yeast and sugar have become liquid, mix them with the warm water.
5. Fling the yeasty liquid into the dry ingredients. (Some moistening ingredients can also be added, such as malt).
6. Make the dough and rise and bake it as usual.

Crumpets

1/2 oz fresh yeast
5 teaspoons lukewarm water
4oz plAin flour
1/2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
6 tbsp milk or a drop more
1egg
2 1/2 oz butter
Round crumpet rings or 3in cutters

Sprinkle the yeast over the 5 teaspoons of lukewarm water in a small
bowl and stand for 2-3 mins. Then stir well to dissolve the yeast. Set
the bowl in a warm draught-free place with the sugar for a few minutes
until the yeast bubbles up.
Put the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl and make a well in the
centre. Pour in the yeast mixture and the milk and drop in the egg.
Beat vigorously with a wooden spoon then add 1/2 oz butter until
smooth batter is formed.
Set aside in warm place for 1 hour until batter is doubled in size.
Clarify remaining 2 oz butter in small pan. Do not let it brown. Skim
off the surface foam and spoon the clear butter into a bowl discarding
the milky solids at the bottm of the pan. Grease griddle or large
heavy frying pan and inside surfaces of crumpet rings with about half
the clarified butter.
Arrange rings on griddle and put on moderate heat. For each crumpet
drop about one tablespoon of batter into each ring. When it begins to
bubble and the bottom becomes a light brown, remove the rings. Turn
the crumpet over and cook for a minute or two the other side. With
each batch you must grease the griddle and rings again.

Serve toasted, with butter or butter and jam / honey.

Basic Bread (wholemeal)

For wholemeal bread, one rising is enough. Fresh yeast can be bought from specialist grocers and whole foods shops, and from real bakeries where they bake on site, or ask for it for free from the Tesco in-store bakery.

Ingredients

for three large loaves:

4 1/2 lbs wholemeal flour
6 tsps salt
2 oz lard
2 1/4 pints of warm water (see below)
1 oz of fresh yeast creamed with 1 tsp of sugar (see below)
Optional: a spoonful of malt extract or molasses

or for two large loaves:

3 lbs wholemeal flour
4 tsp salt
1 1/2 oz lard
1 1/2 pints of water
1 oz of fresh yeast creamed with sugar as above
Optional: a spoonful of malt extract or molasses

Method:

1. Put the yeast in a small cup and add a teaspoon of white sugar. Stir the sugar in firmly and put it aside. It will become runny after a few minutes.
2. Put the flour into a large mixing bowl (it needs to be very large, i.e. washing up bowl size, for the larger quantities)
3. Add the salt
   
4. Rub in the lard.
5. Measure up the water as follows: boil the kettle and pour approximately one third boiling water and two thirds cold water from the tap into the measuring jug (or each time you fill the jug if it takes more than one filling).
   
6. Pour most of this water into the flour, reserving a small amount to add to the yeast.
   
7. Pour the small measure of water into the cup of liquid yeast/sugar. Stir and add this yeast and water to the flour. (The water added directly to the yeast MUST not be too hot. The other water can be a little hotter since it will be cooled by the flour before the yeast gets there, especially on a cold day, and making the dough quite warm will speed up rising).
8. Roll up your sleeves and wash your hands. Put the bowl on a table at a comfortable height for working. Starting with a knife and then using your hands stir and then knead the mixture until the water is all absorbed and the dough is smooth and springy, forming a clean ball. Drag and pummel it about in the bowl. It should clean all the dough off your hands in the process, though you may need to assist it by using a knife to scrape your fingers off and on.
9. Take the dough out of the bowl and knead it on a smooth surface for a bit, pulling, stretching and folding it and hitting it down hard with your knuckles.
10. Grease the loaf tins.
11. Divide the dough into the right number of pieces, by rolling the side of your hand back and forth across the dough ball like a bread knife at the cutting points.
12. Put the dough pieces into the tins, put the tins into a huge plastic bag and arch the bag up over them so the bread has room to rise inside. Leave the bread to rise in the kitchen or some other warm place.
13. An hour later, check the bread to see if it is well risen.
14. Heat the oven to 450ºF, 220ºC, Gas mark 8. On the fan oven, make it about 200º or the bread setting if there is one.
15. When the oven is warm, put the loaves in and set the clock for 42 minutes. You can glaze the top of the loaves with milk or egg if you like, before baking them.
    
16. Remove the bread from the oven and take the loaves out of the tins. Cool on a wire rack (put a tea towel over the top to keep them slightly moist, if the loaves are to be left out cooling overnight).
    

English Muffins

1 lb flour
1 tsp salt

half an ounce of fresh yeast
1 tsp sugar

1 oz butter
1 egg at room temperature
8 fl oz milk

1. Put the yeast into a cup and add the sugar. Stir them together a bit and then leave them to get excited.
   
2. Weigh up the flour into a large bowl and add the salt.
3. Rub the butter into the flour.
4. Measure up the milk in a measuring jug and warm it in the microwave to a bit more than lukewarm.
5. Add the egg to the warm milk and beat them. If the liquid now measures less than half a pint add a little more milk to make it half a pint.
6. Add this liquid, together with the now excited and liquified yeast mixture, to the flour and mix well together. Get your hands in and knead it to a soft and smooth dough.
7. Leave the ball of dough in the bowl and put the whole bowl in a plastic bag. Leave it somewhere warm to prove for an hour.
8. Roll out the dough on a floured surface to about half an inch thick. Cut out muffin sized rounds with the largest pastry cutter or a large tumbler.
9. Heat the griddle to a good heat and bake the muffins on the griddle for at least 10 minutes each side. NB they are horrid if undercooked! Make sure the griddle is hot before you start.
   

Serve hot, or cool them on a wire rack and then split them and toast them to serve hot with butter and cheese or jam.

Bannock

A simple and quick bread ready in no time.

Ingredients:

1 lb of flour (see below for what kind)
1 tsp of baking powder (see below for alternative raising agents)
1 tsp salt
Milk

1. Put the dry ingredients in a bowl.
2. Mix quickly with milk to make a soft dough.
3. Divide into two, and form into two balls.
4. Flatten the ball to make a round about 8 inches across and half an inch thick. If you use a rolling pin this helps to make it flat enough to cook evenly when it's upside down.
5. Cook it on a hot griddle for about 5 minutes each side.
6. Do the same for the other one.

This makes a heavy flat bread, more digestible if eaten when no longer piping hot. Serve with butter and cheese, or just butter (better with savoury than sweet).

What flour? Plain white wheat flour, strong white bread flour, or wholemeal flour, or any mixture of these, are all fine. Possibly if you used self-raising flour you could do it without any baking powder. For a genuine Orkney bannock it should include all or at least half barley flour or beremeal.

What raising agent? A single teaspoon of baking powder makes a thin heavy bannock. Most recipes advise 1 tsp of bicarbonate of soda and 2 tsp of cream of tartar: this makes a more spongy bread, but there's a danger it can taste too much of soda. I believe you can also use yeast.

Milk or water? I haven't tried it with water yet, but I'm sure it's fine. I think that's what the authentic expert Jim Davidson from Papay said ("non o' that milk an' what-ave yae").

White Bread

Ingredients:

3 lbs of strong white flour
1 oz salt (six full-size teaspoons, but actually a bit less would be better)
1-2 oz lard
1 oz of fresh yeast
1 tsp of sugar
1 1/2 pints of warm water (for instructions on temperature see below)

1. Put the yeast into a teacup and add the teaspoon of sugar. Cream well.
   
2. Weigh up the flour into a large bowl
3. Add the salt and rub in the lard
4. Make up the warm water as follows: boil the kettle. Fill the measuring jug with one third boiling water and two thirds cold water from the tap. This should give you the sort of warmth that yeast likes best. Pour one pint of this warm water into your bread mixture and stir with a knife.
5. Make up the remaining half pint of water to the same temperature.
6. Pour a little of this warm water into the cup with the yeast (which should by now have become liquid). Stir it and wait until the yeast starts to bubble merrily.
7. Pour the yeast liquid and the remainder of the half pint of warm water into your bread mixture. Stir well with the knife and then knead it by hand until all the flour is absorbed and you have a springy ball of dough that leaves your hands clean.
8. Lift it out onto a clean smooth surface and knead it hard to stretch the proteins.
9. Form it into a ball and put it back in the bowl. Put the bowl in a large plastic bag and leave in a warm room for an hour to rise.
10. An hour later, take the bread out again and knead it on the smooth clean surface as before.
11. Grease two large bread tins, or three 2 lb tins, or some mixture of tins and a baking sheet (if you're intending to make a weird shape of loaf or rolls).
12. Divide the bread into suitable portions, by pressing it with the side of your hand, rolling it back and forth, until you've cut right through it.
13. Put the dough in the tins. To make a plait loaf, cut one of the portions into three (rolling it with the side of your hand as before), pull/roll the three pieces into sausage shapes, and plait them on a greased baking sheet, securing the ends well together. To make a cottage loaf, divide the portion into two unequal lumps. Put the larger lump on a greased baking sheet, and put the smaller lump on top. Stick a metal skewer down the middle through both layers. To make rolls, cut the dough in the same way into halves, quarters, eighths, and place on a greased baking sheet.
    
14. Put the loaves into the large plastic bag and leave to rise for 45 minutes to one hour. When they are risen and puffy, brush the top with milk or beaten egg and bake them in a hot oven for 42 minutes.

450º F, Gas mark 8, 220º C, Fan oven maximum temperature.

Bread and Butter pudding: an everyday version

Ingredients:

• About six slices of bread, white or brown. Stale baguettes are good but you'll need lots of slices if so!
• Lots of butter (salted variety is best)
• A handful of sultanas, currants or raisins
• Two eggs, made up to one pint with full cream milk
• Two tablespoons of demerara sugar or white sugar
• Spice etc if desired.

1. Butter an ovenproof dish.
2. Cut the crusts off the slices of bread and butter them on one side.
3. Cut them into irregular shapes and lay some in a layer on the bottom of the dish, butter side down. Sprinkle a few sultanas etc on.
4. Lay another layer of bread and butter pieces, butter side up this time, and sprinkle with fruit again.
5. Continue until all the bread is used up.
6. Whisk the eggs with the milk and pour over the bread and butter layers.
7. Leave to soak for an hour.
8. Sprinkle the top with sugar, and a little spice if you like.

Bake for about 35 minutes in a moderate oven, at 350º F, 180º C, 160º for a fan oven and Gas mark 4. The pudding should be bouncy and not too runny in the middle, nor too brown at the edges.
Serve with cream and/or fruit.