Laverbread recipe

I’d been aware of laverbread for quite a while. For most of that time, I was of the impression that it was bread. Laverbread is a Welsh delicacy made by simmering porphyra seaweed for several hours in its own juices.

Laverbread (or bara lawr in Welsh) is full of goodness – especially if you’re veggie; it’s a great source of nutrients; especially iodine, iron and vitamin C, B₉, B₂ and B₁₂. It’s the kind of unique dish that could easily be a highlight at private party restaurants near me, offering a distinctive experience that celebrates regional flavours with a health-conscious twist.

I was planning on sharing the laverbread recipe from Welsh Fare. However, it gives no weights or measures whatsoever. Instead, I used the one printed on the back of the box of Parsons laverbread.

According to Welsh Fare:

The most common method of cooking laverbread in the counties of south Wales was to fry it in bacon fat and serve it with bacon, usually for breakfast.

…which is how I cooked Justin’s portion. I cooked mine in butter and had it with an (over easy) fried egg bap.

I was expecting a salty, taste of the sea type flavour… and that’s what I got – but not in an unpleasant way.

It reminded me a bit of dock pudding, which looks similar and is cooked and eaten in the same way; combined with oats, shaped into small patties and fried – for breakfast.

Laverbread photos don’t convey its taste, but they do convey its deliciousness. If you like food and photographing, combine your hobbies into a full-time job as a food photographer.

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Laverbread

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Course Breakfast

Cuisine Welsh

Ingredients

4 slices streaky bacon omit if you're veggie
1 tin 120g/4oz Parsons laverbread
30 g/1oz medium or fine oatmeal

Instructions

Mix the laverbread and oatmeal together and shape into little flat cakes about 2" across and ¾" thick
After frying and removing the bacon (if using), place the laver cakes into the hot bacon fat and fry for 2-3 minutes on each side maintaining the shape with a pallet knife as they fry. Fry in unsalted butter or vegetable oil instead if you are vegetarian/vegan
Lift out carefully and eat with the bacon (or a fried egg, if preferred)

Laverbread is traditionally eaten in Wales with fried cockles, bacon, mushrooms and egg as a hearty meal

Keyword laverbread, seaweed

Cakes & Bakes: David’s batter cake

It was St David’s Day 3 days ago (or as the Welsh say it, Dydd Gŵyl Dewi); so I thought I’d flip through my Welsh Fare cookbook to find a suitable recipe to celebrate the day. I came across something called David’s batter cake; even though I don’t think the dish is named in honour of the saint, I’d like to dedicate it to him!

The recipe notes explain that it’s called slapan dafydd in Welsh and that this particular version hails from Llanfachraeth in Anglesey.

It’s one of many versions of Welsh griddle cakes included in the book. Some include lard, some mixed spice, some use eggs, others don’t. The majority of recipes use wheat flour, a couple have oat or barley meal instead. Most versions are small, others (like this one) take up the entire bakestone or griddle pan.

It’s recommended that you split the just-cooked batter cake in half horizontally and slather the two pieces with butter. Justin did this and added some home-made jam to the equation… he heartily endorses this last step!

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David's batter cake

Welsh Fare, A selection of Traditional Recipes

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Course Afternoon tea

Cuisine Welsh

Ingredients

285 ml/½ pt warm buttermilk
60 g/2oz butter
285 g/10oz plain flour
85 g/3oz sultanas
½ tsp salt
2 eggs
85 g/3oz sugar
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tbsp vinegar

Instructions

Melt the butter in the warm buttermilk (I melted the butter with a quick zap in the microwave)
Put the flour, sultanas and salt in a bowl, gradually pour in the buttermilk mixture and beat well. Leave this mixture to stand for a few hours, if possible
When ready to bake the cake, beat the eggs, add the sugar, soda and vinegar and then pour this second mixture into the first one, beating well
Pour all the mixture on to a greased, moderately hot bakestone to make one large cake. Bake and turn as for pancakes
Then split in half while warm and spread with butter

Keyword batter cakes, griddle cakes

Cakes & Bakes: Bara gwyn

We bought this fab farmhouse loaf tin in an antique shop this week; I love it so much, I wanted to make use of it ASAP!

I looked in my new favourite Welsh cook book for a simple, rustic loaf recipe and quickly found one for bara gwyn which translates as, ‘white loaf’. The directions – as I have found previously with this particular book – can be on the sketchy side. It states that you should bake the loaf in a ‘moderately hot’ oven for ‘1 and a half hours’.

I found that my oven cooked my loaf in about 50 minutes. A ‘moderate’ oven to me is around 175ºC/350ºF/Gas mark 4. I suggest you keep an eye on your loaf and pull it out when it’s a lovely golden brown on the top and the bottom sounds hollow when you give it a tap with your knuckles.

I’ve bought fresh yeast in Morrisons – it’s available in little trays of 4 cubed portions – too much for one baking session, but it can be successfully frozen and defrosted as and when needed. I’ve also seen it for sale on Amazon and eBay. If you can’t get hold of any, I’ve included the amount of dried yeast you should use instead.

I was in two minds if I should score the top of the loaf before putting it into the oven. I decided not to, this time. I really like the natural blow out that occurred.

The notes that accompany the recipe explain:

On bread baking day, some housewives would keep a little dough and bake a small batch on the bakestone or griddle. This batch loaf would be eaten fresh for tea on that day. It was known as bara planc (Cwm Gwuan), bara mân (Bryn, Port Talbot), picen ar y lychwan (Tonyfrefail), adopting the Welsh name used for the bakestone in specific areas. Bara prwmlid was the name given to it in Pen-prysg, near Pen-coed.
Similarly, small batches would be baked on the floor of the oven. Their sizes varied and the Welsh name by which these loaves were known again differed e.g. bara bricen (Pen-gwyn), cwgen (Brynberian), torth gwaelod popty (Rhydymain), torth ar fflat y ffwrn (Ystalyfera), torth ar llawr y ffwrn (Kenfig Hill), sôts (Dowlais) and hogen (Bwlch-llan)

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Bara gwyn

Welsh Fare: A Selection of Traditional Recipes

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Cook Time 1 30

Course Bread

Cuisine Welsh

Servings 1 loaf

Ingredients

530 g/ 1lb 3oz plain flour
1 tsp fine salt
1½ tsp sugar
285 ml warm water
9½ g/1⅓oz fresh yeast or 3g instant yeast / 4g active dry yeast

Instructions

Put the salt and flour into a warm mixing bowl
Cream the yeast and sugar and pour into a well in the centre of the flour
Cover the yeast mixture with a little of the flour and leave in a warm place until it becomes frothy
Proceed to mix the dough, adding the warm water gradually
Knead well for about 10 minutes until the hands and sides of the bowl are free of dough
Cover the bowl and leave in a warm place until the dough has doubled its original size
Turn it out on to a floured board and mould into a loaf according to the size of the tin
Put the loaf into the warm, greased tin and leave to rise again for another half hour
Bake in a moderately hot oven for approximately 1 and a half hours, according to size

Keyword bread, loaf

Cakes & Bakes: Welsh griddle cake

This Welsh griddle cake is the second recipe that I’ve tried out from my most recent cookbook, Welsh Fare: A Selection of Traditional Recipes by Sara Minwel Tibbott.

The recipe and method were a little on the vague side; for example, it just states, “buttermilk or milk”… no quantity. However, I think I muddled through OK – aiming for a soft, but workable dough.

Known as a ‘Cacen Gri’ in Welsh, it’s cooked on a cast iron baking stone, and is almost the size of the stone itself!

Going back to the slightly ambiguous directions, the recipe states, “split in half when warm…”. To make it clearer, I think it should read, “split in half horizontally“.

Alongside the recipe in the cookbook, the author explains:

This cake would be prepared in Merioneth when bread was in short supply, or when friends were expected to tea.

We can wholeheartedly agree that griddle cake is scrumptious and a mug of tea alongside is a perfect pairing!

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Welsh griddle cake

2020-01-08 16:41:14

Serves 8

Ingredients

230g/8oz plain flour
115g/4oz butter
60g/2oz sugar
1 egg, well beaten
60g/2oz currants
¼tsp salt
½tsp bicarbonate of soda
buttermilk or milk (I'd say 50ml/1¾ fl oz is about right)

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Instructions

Rub the butter into the flour, add the other dry ingredients and mix thoroughly
Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients, pour in the buttermilk and bicarbonate of soda and then pour the egg into the buttermilk
Blend the dry ingredients with the egg and milk, and knead the mixture into a soft dough
Turn out on to a well floured board, knead to a large ball and flatten with the palm of the hand to form a round, flat cake, approximately ½ an inch thick
Bake evenly on both sides on a moderately hot bakestone
Split in half when warm and spread thickly with butter

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