Baking again - Lardy Cake

Goodness me, is that April and May nearly gone already? It's all been a bit quiet on the baking front recently. Not only have we been brought low by a couple of nasty colds, but I've been trying to get back on with brewing - a nice bitter, and a mild to be ready in about 3 weeks - and Ali was working flat out to put together stock for her first craft fair. Read more about that over on the Craft Matters blog.

Then there's our new Facebook shop opening, again more on this over at Craft Matters. Special offers there for a limited time...

In addition to all this activity, having gone through a few of our old cook books to find some interesting recipes, I've had a few un-blogworthy disasters... So finally, it's third time lucky with a great recipe for lardy cake from the Dairy Book of British Food I last dipped into just before Easter.

Lardy cake is not something for those worried about their waistlines, and probably comes under the category of occasional treat rather than everyday staple! It's traditional to the West Country and the version I made did compare quite well to a memory of lardy cake from a holiday in Devon several years back.

So here's the recipe:

450g (1 pound) strong white bread flour
1.5 tsp dried yeast (or fresh yeast: 15g or 1/2 oz)
1 tsp salt
75g (3oz) lard, diced
75g (3oz) butter, diced
180g (6oz) dried fruit: sultanas, currants, raisins, whatever you fancy.
50g (2oz) candied peel, chopped (optional - if not, bung in some more sultanas)
50g (2oz) sugar

Sprinkle dried yeast into 300ml warm water with a pinch of sugar & leave somewhere warm for 10-15 mins until frothy. Or blend fresh yeast with 300ml lukewarm water.

Put flour & salt in a bowl and rub in 15g (1/2 oz) of the lard until all the lumps are incorporated in the flour. Make a well and add the yeast & water mix. Then beat together to make a dough which leaves the bowl clean. You don't want it too sticky: add flour or water to get the right consistency.

Then either turn out onto floured surface & knead for 10 minutes or put in a food processor with a dough hook on the lowest setting for 10 minutes. It needs to be smooth and stretchy.

Put the dough into a bowl, cover with a clean tea towel and leave it somewhere warm for an hour until it has risen to about twice its original size.

Then turn out the risen dough onto a floured surface and roll it out into a rectangle about 1/2 cm thick, a bit like this:



Dot the dough with a third of the butter & lard and then sprinkle it with a third of the dried fruit (and peel if you're using it) and sugar:



Now fold it into thirds: fold the bottom third into the middle and the top third over the bottom third and you end up with something like this:



Turn the dough through 90 degrees and sprinkle it with another third of everything:



And then fold it into thirds again. Rotate once more, repeat the sprinkling and folding and then squish the parcel down gently with the rolling pin until it's the right size for your tin:



Now cover it loosely with a polythene bag and leave it to prove in a warm place for about 30 minutes. Halfway through this period pre-heat your oven to 220C (Gas Mark 7). The cake should puff up like this:



Score the top with a sharp knife in a criss-cross pattern and bake for about 30 minutes until it's golden on top. Check it after 20 minutes and if the top is browning too quickly, cover it with some foil for the rest of the time. Take it out of the oven to cool:



It's especially delicious sliced while still warm, or cool it on a wire rack and wrap it up to last for a couple of days. The book suggests spreading it with butter! That seems a little excessive...