(Flowerpot) Granary Loaf

The finished product

I've long had a desire to be able to bake bread, and assumed that it was challenging.  This recipe has convinced me how accessible it is, and how a few slight variations can make for an interesting bake.  Flowerpot loafs seem to have become a real artisan trend and can be found at most London markets, so I was surprised to see the recipe in one of Chrissie's books as I didn't realise it was a traditional method dating back decades.  Of course it makes sense that it was simply a convenient reuse of a commonplace item.  Although I don't recall Chrissie ever making bread, I recall hundreds of terracotta flower pots around Scotscraig - my childhood home that had previously been Chrissie's home.  


With this recipe I haven't changed the ingredients at all, although I did supplement the recipe with some pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds mixed into the flour.  Just a few grabbed out of a bag.  


It is critical to first prepare the flower pots - and a warning for when you do this - it filled my kitchen with an awful chemical-like smell, which thankfully didn't return when I baked the bread.  Here's Chrissie's instruction for preparation:
* To season flower pots - wash and dry thoroughly.  Brush inside liberally with oil or lard and bake in a moderate oven for 1-2 hours


1lb Granary Flour or 1/2 lb strong white flour and 1/2 lb wholemeal plain flour
1 sachet easy blend yeast
1 tablespoonful sunflower oil
Good 1/2 pint warm water
(1 teaspoon salt)
Plus of course a selection of seeds to throw in optionally and definitely to decorate on top with the help of a beaten egg.  I go for sunflower, pumpkin, sesame and poppyseed.


The recipe:

An homage to my late grandfather,
Raymond Green who spent many
years working for Watson & Philip in
Aberdeen

1. Mix salt and yeast with flour
2. Add water and oil and mix well
3. Turn onto a floured board and knead till smooth about 5 minutes.
4. Put back in bowl cover and let it rise in a warm place till doubled in size - about 45 minutes
5. Turn onto a floured board and reknead lightly and divide (1/2) dough to fit two greased and floured tins or flowerpots
6. Leave to rise in a warm place
7. At this point I brushed the top of the loafs with some beaten egg and sprinkled seeds on top
8. Bake in a hot oven 220 degrees celsius for about 30 minute

If the pots are well floured, then the bread simply pops out.  I find it nice to cut into chunks and serve back from the flower pot. These can of course be baked in a traditional loaf tin, or as rolls.


Enjoy!

An introduction to this blog

Today, I'm an adopted Londoner, living South of the River and working a fairly corporate life north of the river, but when time allows I'm happiest creating in the kitchen.  This is undoubtedly an impact from a childhood far from here, around 500 miles north, growing up in Deeside, a few miles west of Aberdeen.  

The recipe books

Many of the women (past and present) in my family have been keen cooks and bakers, and this is indeed the case for me.  My parents recently uncovered a series of recipe books carefully documented by my Great Auntie Chrissie which both remind me of my childhood, but also provide a historic record of recipes more common to times past in the UK and some specifically Scottish.  Chrissie began her recipe documentation in 1922 and her books appeared to date up to the 1970s/1980s, I know as one recipe is attributed to my own mother, who she would have only met in the early 70s.  

1985 - Chrissie with great-nieces - l-r Lynsey (me), Kate
& Jane

Together with my Grandmother, Agnes Abernethy, these two women conjure wonderful culinary memories from my childhood out in Deeside.  My memories persist of my Grandma particularly in her kitchen which I remember as very dark, iron and formica-filled (this was the early 1980's after all).  Whereas my grandmother baked and cooked practically blindfolded, relaying the quantities as a "bittie o' this and a bittie o' that", Chrissie was  a disciplined documenter and patiently scribed each of her recipes into a series of notebooks, the first is dated 1922 and is most likely from her time at the "Do' School" - a neatly transcribed book of "Cookery Recipes" beginning with instructions on how to cook stock and including recipes such as 'Boiled Salad Dressing' and 'Brain Cakes'. Whereas I never experienced Chrissie's 'Brain Cakes' - perhaps one that never graduated into her repertoire - I do recall many a wonderful meal with her.  

As much of my cooking today takes inspiration from other cuisines, I thought it would be a fun experiment and a good record to test out some of Chrissie's recipes and provide my own views on how these could be tweaked for our modern tastes.  

Some recipes are somewhat brief and require some invention, so I hope that you can enjoy these too and I do welcome any thoughts from yourselves in the comments.

To learn a bit more about Chrissie, read her intro page, an except below:

Chrissie, far right, at the
Do School

Christina Reid Forbes (née Abernethy) was born in 1904 at her parents' farm, Bakebare, in Drumoak, Aberdeenshire, Scotland.  Chrissie came from a large family, the second youngest of eleven (from two mothers) and the only daughter of the second family.  (Her mother was also named Christina, née Greig.)  My Grandfather, Douglas, was in fact the baby of the family.  

Inevitably Chrissie developed an interest in cooking and baking, one can only assume through supporting her mother in feeding her large collection of brothers, and certainly cemented through her attendance at the Aberdeen School of Domestic Science (the "Do' School") and perfected through the following twenty years keeping house for her mother. 

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