Barm Cakes

If you have a half decent bakers in your area they may supply some, our local one does , as well as useing stone ground flower from our local water mill

Have you had a look at Paul Hollywood's Bread recipes, you might find it there. No bam cakes down this way, usuallly call them baps but they're made with ordinary yeast.

My OH's grandmother used to make and sell Muffins, if only she'd  handed down the recipe! All we know is they were made with rosemary lard, which must have been unusual. 

Technically it won’t be ‘Barm Bread’ unless you use ‘Barm‘ as the ‘Leavening Agent’

As you have access to a small quantity of ‘Barm’  why not try this:

1).Make-up a 'Batter' seeded with the 'Barm'.

2) Make- up a ‘Sour Dough’ seeded with the 'Batter'.

 3) Make-up a 'Final Dough' to your required recipe seeded with the ’Sour Dough.

4) Keep back a portion of the 'Final Dough' (as a 'Sour Dough' to seed your next Batch.

Yes!!  this will take a little time but if enjoy making bread in the first place you will see this as a bit of a challenge.  Under the circumstances I think this is probably the nearest you will get to producing true ‘Barm Cakes’

If you try this please let me know how things work out.

Thanks again JCB   Are you a professional baker? 

 

That was in another life many many years ago!   !

Not for the last 50years but you don't forget things you were taught during a 'Proper Apprenticeship' they should try bringing them back IMO.

I have made my own bread for years and years, by hand not by machine, and now my eldest son (who teaches four days for a living) makes and sells bread in his 'spare time'.  He uses sourdough, and his bread was second in the World Bread Awards 2016.  He also
makes pastries (croissants, pain au raisin, pain au chocolat) and specialist  breads using a different recipe each week.  When he comes home he uses my home grown fruit to make amazing fruit tarts!

He'd be interested to know how your 'Barm cakes' turn out if you do use the traditional 'barm' as a leven.  

Just worked out, I started making bread in late 1988 when my ex-husband left me, and I had very little money.  I worked out that one two kilo bag of flour would make bread for us for a week, for just a few pence, so made four loaves and froze them.  I've
been doing it ever since except when we're in France, because some of the bread is so much nicer there!!!)

Somewhere on the BBC Victorian Bakers series they showed barm being used, I saw it recently so it's probably on i player.

Thanks JCB and Val   I did have a go at the sourdough method some years ago, but it seemed an awful faff at the time.  Now I have a bit
more time, I should give it another try.  

I just need OH to make some beer (goodness knows when that will be) to try making 'proper' barm cakes.  In the meantime, having now been able to find fresh yeast I'll try the old recipe I found.

I agree with your comment about sourdough.  I just couldn't be bothered with keeping the starter going by feeding it, but my son is a scientist, who teaches Chemistry to A level, and is fascinated by the science behind it, and measures and checks everything.
 He also uses a particular type of flour, and when making pastries mixes three different types of flour to get the right mix.

I use Lidl bread flour.  It was unavailable for a time, but is now back on the shelves (but may not be over the Christmas period).  To me it makes the nicest, tastiest bread of any I've tried.  It's also cheaper than very many we've tried.    I use ASDA
when I run out because we have a local one, and it's easy to pop down for a packet if I've none in the pantry.

Try the Lidl when you next go in and see what you think.

I've enjoyed those programmes but the flour must have been quite different, bits of millstone in it too no doubt. I expect local flours are quite different.