Good Things in England - A Practical Cookery Book for Everyday Use, Containing Traditional and Regional Recipes Suited to Modern Tastes. Florence White
done scotch yourcake round the waist and tear it open.
11.Butter it to your taste and put it in the oven again to dissolve your butter thoroughly.
N.B.—Half a pound of butter is sufficient to butter this cake. [It is not correct to use butter for Sally Lunn: half a pound of scalded cream should be used instead.—ED.]
Teacakes
Lancashire
INGREDIENTS: Flour 1 lb.; salt 1 teaspoonful; lard 2 oz.; compressed yeast 1 oz.; lukewarm milk 1/2 pint; sugar to cream the yeast 2 teaspoonfuls.
TIME: 10—20 minutes.
METHOD
1.Warm the flour slightly, but don’t make it too hot.
2.Mix in the salt and rub in the lard.
3.Cream the yeast with the sugar.
4.Mix it with the lukewarm milk and beat it smoothly into the flour with a wooden spoon.
5.Then set in a warm place to rise.
6.When well risen turn on to floured board.
7.Knead slightly.
8.Cut into 8 pieces.
9.And make into round pieces.
10.Lay on a greased and floured tin.
11.And set near the fire to rise again for about 15 minutes.
12.Bake in a moderate oven 10—15 minutes.
N.B. —Immediately after taking from the oven, rub over with a buttered paper, and cover with a light clean blanket; this gives them a soft skin.
For a change use currants and a little sugar and an egg and, if liked, a little spice may be added after the first rising. In this case, however, the teacakes must be baked in greased tins.
West Riding Oatcake or Riddle Bread
(Can be bought [1931] from Mr. James Leach, oatcake baker, 24, Hardcastle’s Yard, High Street, Skipton, Yorkshire; business established 1858.)
INGREDIENTS: Fine Yorkshire oatmeal, a little yeast, salt and water. This is made into a thick cream and thrown in a narrow strip on to the ‘bak’ stone’ when the steam immediately puffs it up, and this, Mrs. Marshall, of Skelwith Fold, says is why the under part is smooth and the top rough. When baked it is damp and flexible and is hung on the wooden clothes rail before the fire to dry or on lines across the kitchen ceiling. It must be crisped quickly immediately before it is to be eaten.
‘It has then,’ says a member of an old Yorkshire family, ‘a most characteristic slightly bitter and very appetising flavour, and a most agreeable texture all its own.’
‘It can be used to soups, fish, fowl, cheese, butter, or any kind of meat in place of any other kind of bread or biscuit.’
Derbyshire Oatcake
As made in 1811 and still made to-day, 1931
INGREDIENTS: Fine oatmeal 2 lb.; water 1 quart (32 oz.); barm, or compressed yeast, 1/2 oz.
TIME: leave mixture to stand for 2 hours before baking.
METHOD
1.Put barm or yeast into the water which must be warm.
2.Put all into the meal.
3.Mix by hand till smooth.
4.Leave mixture to stand for 2 hours before making.
5.Pour a cupful on to a hot stone (a baking tin or frying-pan, if no stone is available).
6.Turn the cake so that it is done on both sides.
7.When cold cut across into four pieces, cut and butter them.
Wheaten Meal Scones
One of the many good things made at Boston, Lincolnshire, sent by Miss Cullen, of Dundee.
INGREDIENTS: Wheaten meal 3/4 lb.; flour 1/4 lb.; cream of tartar 3/4 teaspoonful; bicarbonate of soda 3/4 teaspoonful; 1/2 teaspoonful of salt; butter 1 to 2 oz.; sour milk sufficient to mix.
TIME: to bake 20 minutes.
METHOD
1.Sieve the dry ingredients into a basin.
2.Rub in butter until free from lumps.
3.Make a well in centre, and pour in enough sour milk to make a softish dough.
4.Turn out lightly on to a floured board and form into a round.
5.Mark it across in four, place on greased baking sheet.
6.And bake in a moderate oven for about 20 minutes. When nearly ready break into 4 pieces, brush them over with milk or beaten egg, dry in the oven for a few more minutes, and serve hot.
Wholemeal Scones
The Fanny Calder School of Cookery, Liverpool, 1904
INGREDIENTS: Wholemeal 1 lb.; white flour 4 oz.; lard 2 1/2 oz.; castor sugar 2 oz.; egg 1; pinch of salt; cream of tartar 1 large teaspoonful; carbonate of soda 1/4 teaspoonful; buttermilk 1/2 pint.
TIME: 20—30 minutes according to size and thickness in a quick oven.
METHOD
1.Rub the lard into the white flour.
2.Blend it with the wholemeal, sugar, salt, cream of tartar and carbonate of soda.
3.Mix well.
4.Beat up the egg.
5.Make into a light dough with one egg and about 1/2 pint buttermilk.
6.Form into flat rounds, brush with egg.
7.Bake in a quick oven.
Cream Scones
North Country
INGREDIENTS: Flour 1 lb.; salt 1 teaspoonful; cream of tartar 1 teaspoonful; bicarbonate of soda 1/2 teaspoonful; eggs 2; cream or evaporated milk 1/4 pint; milk, a little if needed; butter 2 oz.
TIME: about 15 minutes.
METHOD
1.Rub the butter into the flour.
2.Add salt and cream of tartar and bicarbonate of soda.
3.Beat the eggs and mix with the cream.
4.Mix into the flour to make a light dough using a little milk if necessary (some flours take up more moisture than others).
5.Turn on to a floured board.
6.Knead lightly.
7.Roll out 3/4 inch thick.
8.Cut into rounds with a cutter.
9.Place on a greased and floured tin.
10.Prick top to prevent blistering.
11.Bake in a quick oven about 15 minutes and serve cold.
Oatmeal Scones
Boston, Lincolnshire, Miss Cullen
INGREDIENTS: Flour 7 oz.; oatmeal 3 1/2 oz.; sugar 3 oz.; butter 3 oz. lard 1 oz.; baking powder 1 teaspoonful; egg 1; a pinch of salt; 1/4 cup cold water.