Unleavened Bread

Description

Ingredients

one pound plain, white flour
half a teaspoonful salt
half a teaspoonful bicarbonate of soda
half a pint buttermilk
(a few currants, optional)


Method

Put the flour in a bowl and work in the salt and currants.
Dissolve the soda in the warm buttermilk and pour it gradually into the flour.
Mix all together to make a soft dough.
Knead it lightly and turn it out on to a floured board.
Shape the dough into a round flat loaf, rolling it lightly with a rolling pin.
Put the loaf on a greased, hot bakestone or heavy frying pan and bake until the surface begins to harden.
Turn and bake on the other side.


Upper Banwy, Montgomeryshire.

This unleavened bread was commonly prepared as a stop gap when the week’s supply of bread fell short before the regular baking day. The ingredients varied slightly, according to local custom – water was used as an alternative to buttermilk for mixing it, and sugar and currants were optional extras in some areas. The name by which it was known was closely linked with these ingredients, e.g. bara llaeth enwyn (buttermilk bread – Crug-y-bar), bara soda (soda bread – Pennant, Llanbryn Mair), bara trw’r dŵr (bread through water – Abergorlech), or it was simply known as bara crai (Aberaeron), or bara cri (unleavened bread – Bont Dolgadfan).