Scottish Yule Bannock is a traditional Scottish recipe (from Orkney) for a classic soda bread that's flavoured with Christmas spices for Yule. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Scottish version of: Scottish Yule Bannock.
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This Scottish yule bannock is halfway between a traditional yule bannock and a modern day shortbread. The flavours are perfect around Christmas with cinnamon, allspice, mixed peel and cherries and the beremeal adds a nutritious traditional element. Originally they were made with oatmeal and they represent the ultimate ancestor of shortbread. This recipe comes from Orkney and uses the local barley flour, bere.
Bere, pronounced 'bear', is a six-row barley cultivated mainly on 5-15 hectares of land in Orkney, Scotland. It is also grown in Shetland, Caithness and on a very small scale by a few crofters on some of the Western Isles, such as North Uist, Benbecula, South Uist, Islay and Barra. It is probably Britain's oldest cereal in continuous commercial cultivation.
Ingredients:
225g of white flour (I used spelt flour)
225g of beremeal
25g of chopped glacé cherries
25g of mixed peel
50g of sliced almonds
110g of icing sugar
1 tsp of ground cinnamon
1 tsp of mixed spice
1 tsp of vanilla extract
pinch of sea salt
225g of unsalted butter
4 tbsp of milk
caster sugar to sprinkle on the top
Method:
Pre-heat the oven to 160°C (fan).
Sift together the flour and the bere into a large mixing bowl and mix to blend together.
Add in the cherries, mixed peel and sliced almonds and mix throughly. Sift over the icing sugar and mix through.
Now add in the spices, vanilla and salt and mix through again.
Melt the butter and pour into the flour mixture. Stir together and then knead lightly to start forming a dough. Add in about 2 tbsp of milk and keep kneading. Add in a further 2 tbsp of milk and knead until you have a smooth dough.
Roll with your hands until you have a well kneaded smooth ball. Divide into two equal portions.
Roll out one piece of the dough on a well-floured work surface until about an 2.5cm thick and use your hands to form into a circular round.
Score the top of the bannock cake into quarters and then score each quarter in half to create eight segments.
Pinch around the edges and prick the entire surface of the cake lightly with a fork. Repeat with the second dough half.
Lift and the bannock into a cast iron flat pan or a baking tray. Transfer into the centre of your pre-heated oven and bake for 25-30minutes or until golden brown.
Once baked, remove from the oven and prinkle a generous amount of caster sugar over the hot bannock cake.
Serve by slicing through the pre-scored segments and place on a wrack to cool.
