Old Flour

Looking through my bread baking cupboard, I found some old Emmer flour and an assortment of other ancient varaities like barley, khorisan and oats, which were fast approaching their best by dates.  So I decided to use them up.

First bake was a Neolithic flat bread which was originally documented from the Shetland Isles from archaeological evidence.  This is Blaanda bread, a stone baked unleavened flat bread.

Take 100g of barley flour, 100g of ground oats and rub in 50g of butter.  Mix into a thick dough using whole milk and divide into 4 round dough lumps.  Using fingers and palms, shape the dough into flats and bake on a moderately hot griddle iron.

The resulting bread is tasty and can take a variety of toppings or be an accompaniment to cheese, stew or soup.  Eat within 24 hours for it to be at its best.

By adapting this recipe to 100g barley flour and 100g ground oats and mixing into a stiff batter with milk, an oatcake can be produced.  Just ladle the batter onto a moderately hot griddle and turn when the down side is firm.  Cook on both sides.  This is the original oatcake, dating back to about 3600 years ago.  It smells and tastes like a thick Staffordshire oatcake.

I have put both of these recipes onto my bread site at http://www.breadpages.org.uk