Laverbread recipe

Laverbread with egg & bacon breakfast

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.

Opened tin of laverbread

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.

Frying laverbread and bacon rashers

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.

Laverbread and 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 recipe

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Lavabread with breakfast

Laverbread

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 ingredients
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

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!

David's batter cake wet & dry ingredients David's batter cake wet & dry ingredients

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

David's batter cake cooking on a cast iron griddle David's batter cake cooking on a cast iron griddle

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.

Griddle cake sliced horizontally and buttered

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 recipe

David's batter cake

David's batter cake

Welsh Fare, A selection of Traditional Recipes
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
David's batter cake ingredients
Keyword batter cakes, griddle cakes

Cakes & Bakes: Welsh griddle cake

Slice of home-made Welsh griddle cake with cup of tea | H is for Home

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.

Dry ingredients | H is for Home Adding milk to the dry ingredients | H is for Home

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.

Ball of griddle cake dough | H is for Home

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!

Cooking a griddle cake on a cast iron baking stone | H is for Home Cooking a griddle cake on a cast iron baking stone | H is for Home

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“.

Cooked griddle cake | H is for Home

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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Slice of home-made Welsh griddle cake with cup of tea | H is for Home #cacengri #cake #cookery #cooking #griddlecake #recipe #Wales #Welsh #Welshcake #Welshcuisine #Welshfood
Welsh griddle cake
Serves 8
Ingredients
  1. 230g/8oz plain flour
  2. 115g/4oz butter
  3. 60g/2oz sugar
  4. 1 egg, well beaten
  5. 60g/2oz currants
  6. ¼tsp salt
  7. ½tsp bicarbonate of soda
  8. buttermilk or milk (I'd say 50ml/1¾ fl oz is about right)Welsh griddle cake ingredients
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Instructions
  1. Rub the butter into the flour, add the other dry ingredients and mix thoroughly
  2. 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
  3. Blend the dry ingredients with the egg and milk, and knead the mixture into a soft dough
  4. 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
  5. Bake evenly on both sides on a moderately hot bakestone
  6. Split in half when warm and spread thickly with butter
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Cakes & Bakes: Ffroes

Home-made ffroes with mug of tea and Welsh Fare cookbook | H is for Home

A couple of weeks ago, I bought myself a second-hand copy of Welsh Fare: A Selection of Traditional Recipes by Sara Minwel Tibbott. The author was Assistant Keeper in the Department of Oral Traditions and Dialects at the Welsh Folk Museum – the place at the top of our list of places to visit. We’re really interested in seeing their collection of reconstructed historic buildings and their contents.

First published in 1976, the aim of the book was to:

Collect and record, to study and reflect the folk life of Wales… It is the responsibility of the Welsh Folk Museum, having collected this oral evidence from the oldest inhabitants… not only to preserve this historical information for the benefit of future scholars, but to present it… to contemporary readers as part of their inheritance.

Dry ingredients and cubed butter in a mixing bowl | H is for Home Pouring milk and egg mixture into a mixing bowl | H is for Home

The pages are full of traditional Welsh recipes, accompanied by some wonderful photographs. I chose to make one of the recipes for ffroes (pronounced ‘froies’) or pancakes from Abercynon, Glamorgan. There are half a dozen or more variations of pancake recipes included in the book. There are even more names given over to this dish, depending on the area of the country, county or even district; crempogau, cramoth, grempogau, bancosen, poncagau, pancocs… the list goes on!

Spooning ffroes batter into a cast iron skillet | H is for Home Flipping over ffroes that are cooking in a cast iron skillet pan | H is for Home

They were gorgeous and very, very morish! I’ll be trying out more of the recipes included in the book – probably not the one for ‘Pwdin Gwaed Gwyddau’ (goose-blood pudding) – there’s a host of pudding, bread and cake recipes for me to try!

Home-made ffroes | H is for Home #crempog #grempog #chrempog #crempogau #bancosen #ffroes #pancakes #recipe #cooking #cookery #WelshCuisine #WelshFood

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Home-made ffroes with mug of tea and Welsh Fare cookbook | H is for Home

Ffroes

Welsh Fare: A Selection of Traditional Recipes, Sara Minwel Tibbott
Course Breakfast
Cuisine Welsh
Servings 30

Ingredients
  

  • 450 g/1lb plain flour
  • a little salt
  • a little organic ground nutmeg
  • 85 g/3oz sugar
  • 115 g/4oz butter
  • 3 eggs
  • a little warm milk
  • 2 tsp baking powder

Instructions
 

  • Mix the flour, salt, nutmeg and sugar together in a warm basin and then rub in the butter into this dry mixture
  • Add a little warm milk to the beaten eggs and gradually pour into the dry ingredients, beating well with a wooden spoon to make a smooth batter. If the batter appears to be too stiff, a little warm milk may be added
  • Allow to stand for half an hour, and then fold in the baking powder but do not beat
  • Now drop gently from a tablespoon on to a moderately hot, well greased bakestone and bake the pancakes until light brown on both sides
  • Put on a plate, spread each with butter and sprinkle with sugar
  • Continue to bake with the remainder of the batter in the same way
Ffroes ingredients
Keyword Ffroes, griddle cakes, pancakes