Make your own traditional Scottish bannocks then transform them into epic breakfast sandwiches with this recipe from baker Anna Higham, owner of London’s Quince Bakery.
Traditional bake: “Bannocks are in the family of griddle cakes. The dough is similar to a scone dough but they’re cooked on the hob rather than in the oven,” says Anna.
Scottish heritage: “I come over all patriotic when I start talking about barley and bannocks, ” says Scotland-born Anna. “Barley and oats are well suited to Scotland’s wet climate (much more so than wheat) so are peppered throughout our traditional baking.”
Epic breakfast sandwiches: “My friends at Bake Street in north London have been making breakfast biscuit sandwiches for a while now (an American biscuit filled with hot honey, cheese and a runny egg) and they are supremely delicious. When I made the bannocks I couldn’t help but think about a Scottish breakfast sandwich in the same vein: black pudding and a cheesy folded egg filling the well buttered, toasty tasting bannocks.”
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Ingredients
- 200g barley flour
- 100g plain flour, plus extra to dust
- 2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- Pinch ground white pepper
- 60g salted butter, chilled, plus extra to fry
- 300ml buttermilk
To serve
- 12 slices black pudding
- 12 medium eggs
- 300g mature cheddar, coarsely grated
- Butter for spreading
Method
- Combine all the dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix well to combine. Coarsely grate the chilled butter into the flour mixture and toss it through to coat the butter in the flour. Add the buttermilk, but hold back around 50ml in case your flour doesn’t need all of it. Mix gently to form a soft dough, adding the remaining buttermilk if it feels too dry.
- Divide the dough into 3 portions then, on a lightly flour-dusted surface, roll each portion into a disc around 3.5cm thick. Cut each disc into quarters.
- Heat a heavy skillet or griddle pan over a medium heat. Once hot, add 4 quarters of the dough and cook for 5 minutes on each side. Wrap the cooked bannocks in a tea towel and leave in a warm oven while you cook the next batch.
- To serve, bake or fry the black pudding, depending on how you like it. Whisk the eggs, cheddar and a pinch of salt and pepper together in a bowl. Add a knob of butter to a frying pan over a low-medium heat. Once foaming, add the egg mixture and leave to cook undisturbed until the base sets. Use a spatula to push the set egg into the middle of the pan until around three quarters of the egg is cooked, then fold the whole thing over.
- Split open each bannock, spread liberally with butter, then add a slice of black pudding and a portion of the folded cheesy eggs.
Nutrition
- 405kcals Calories
- 25g (12g saturated) Fat
- 20g Protein
- 24g (1.6g sugars) Carbs
- 3.7g Fibre
- 1.4g Salt
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