Baking Delightes: Bara Planc: Bakestone Bread

Introduction

In English, bara planc translates as bakestone bread (bara = bread and planc = bakestone). Bara planc is a round flat loaf with a crusty top and base with soft sides. However, it can be notoriously tricky to get it to rise evenly. It is a traditional Welsh yeasted griddle bread. Historically, Welsh breads were commonly cooked on a griddle wherever bread ovens were not available. The bara planc, or griddle bread, was baked on an iron plate over a fire. It was part of the everyday diet in Wales until the 19^th century.

The Source Recipe

Planc Bread with Yeast: Bara planc

2 lbs. four

1 oz yeast

1 oz lard

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

1 breakfast cupful milk and water

Warm the flour and put into a large bowl, which should have been warmed. Rub the lard into the flour. Put the yeast into a jug with the sugar, and mix with the milk and water, which must be just tepid.

Make a well in the center of the flour and pour in the liquid. Make a soft dough, cover with a warm cloth and leave it to rise for 1 hour in a warm place, out of the draught. Mould into a large flat cake, kneading and pressing with the hands towards the sides. When shaped it should not be more than 1 inch or 1 ¼ inches thick. Leave to rise for 15 minutes.

Place carefully on the planc, which should not be too hot. Bake for 20 minutes on one side, then turn over and bake for another 20 minutes on the other side.

(Freeman)

Related Recipes

** From Mistress Charis Accipiter, a 12^th Century Welsh noble woman of the East Kingdom

To try to approximate a more period bread I substituted out honey for sugar as sugar would have only been used for more elaborate dishes, and I added oat flour and oat bran. The oat flour was the more common flour and the oat bran to give the bread more texture as modern flour is more finely ground than that of stone milled four. This recipe went through several iterations before it was both flavorful and workable. Though I started with straight oat flours in the end I added spelt flour, a period wheat four which would have been available in a noble household or manor, for cohesion.

Redaction of Freeman’s recipe:

½ cup Oat bran

1 ½ cup oat flour

2 cups spelt flour

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons yeast

¾ cup milk

¾ cup water

2 tablespoon honey

2 tablespoons butter

Mix dry ingredients. In a small pot warm milk, water, honey and butter until tepid.

Add liquids to dry mix and knead until dough is slightly sticky and elastic. Place dough in a large bowl coated with oil, roll dough so that all sides are oiled, cover with damp cloth and put in a warm place to rise for one hour. When dough has doubled in size, knead dough gently and shape into two flat disks about 1 inch thick. Cook on warmed bakestone or griddle over a low flame for 20 minutes, flip over and cook second side an additional 20 minutes.

(Freeman)

Materials

4 ½ cup Einkorn flour

1 tsp salt

yeast

¾ cup milk

¾ cup water

2 Tbsp honey

2 Tbsp butter

I did not specifically have spelt or oat flour on hand, as recommended by Mistress Charis’s recipe. However, I did have Einkorn flour available, which was also a historically used flour.

“Medieval wheat was a winter crop, and was bred from ancestral wheats such as einkorn, emmer, and spelt.” (Piebakere) Einkorn wheat “is known in taxonomy as either Triticum boeoticum (wild wheat)” and “is the oldest wheat known to scientists…the first domestication of wild einkorn was recorded approximately around 7500 BC.”. (“The History of Einkorn”)

Procedure

Combine dry ingredients together with instant yeast in a large bowl. In a small pot, combine milk, water, honey, and butter until tepid. Add liquid mixture to dry mixture. Knead until the dough is slightly sticky and elastic. Cover the bowl with a cloth for 1 hour. When the dough has doubled in size, knead the dough gently on a floured board. Shape the dough into 2 flat disks about 1 inch thick each. Cook on a warmed bakestone or griddle on low heat for about 20 minutes. Then, flip the bread over and bake the other side for an additional 20 minutes.

Results

My house smelled wonderful of fresh baked bread! Two sides of one loaf are a golden brown. However, the 2^nd flip side (originally the top, but now the bottom side) of the other loaf started to burn as it hit the 20-minute mark. I immediately removed both from the heat to plate and let them cool overnight. I tested both with a toothpick to make sure that no dough came up. So, fingers crossed that it’s baked all the way through! This bread will be cut into at a friend’s vigil.