Recipe: Scottish Baps

Here is one version from “the Bread Book”, written by Linda Collister & Anthony Blake. (Noted: I haven’t tried it myself. But most of the “tried” recipes from this book are very good and reliable.) If you are interested in breads from around the world, this is one of the cookbooks to get. (You can purchase it here through TKL’s link to Amazon.) I also have an excellent soft scone recipe that my families enjoy with tea and clotted cream. (Not from this book, however.) If you like that recipe, I will post it a bit later. I am in the middle of house hunting at the moment. ^__^

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Scottish Baps
“Baps’ shapes and sizes, as well as the crumb, vary from baker to bake in Scotland, but a mixture of milk and water in equal quantities gives a fine, soft crumb, and dusting with flour and covering with a cloth after
baking gives a soft top, rather than a tough or crisp crust. …Baps are wonderful filled with grilled rashers of bacon and a fried egg and them wrapped in foil or greaseproof paper, ready for an open-air breakfast. Baps should be eaten warm on the day they are baked or frozen for one month.”
Make 12
608g (1 lb.) unbleached white bread flour
15g (1/2 oz) sea salt
15g (1/2 oz ) fresh yeast
1 t. sugar
430ml (15 fl. Oz0 milk and water mixed, lukewarm
60g (2 oz.) lard, diced
extra flour for dusting
vegetable oil for greasing bowl
extra milk for glazing
2 baking trays, lightly greased

Put the flour and sat in a large mixing bowl. Crumb the fresh yeast into a small bowl. Cream it to a smooth paste with the sugar and 2 T. of the measured lukewarm milk and water.
Rub the lard into the flour using your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine crumbs. Make a well in the center of the flour. Pour the yeast mixture and remaining milk and water into the well and mix to make a very soft dough. If necessary, add a little more liquid. However, the dough should not stick to your fingers or the sides of the bowl. Turn out the dough on to a lightly floured work surface and knead for 10 minutes, or until it looks and feels smooth and silky. Put the dough back in the washed and lightly greased bowl. Cover with a damp tea-towel and leave to rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour in a lukewarm kitchen, or 1 hours at cool to normal room temperature, or overnight in a cold larder or in the refrigerator.
Knock back the risen dough. Turn out on to a lightly floured work surface and knead for a few seconds. Divide into 12 equal-sized portions. Pat or roll each portion of dough to an 11.25 x 7.5 (4 x 3 in) oval about 3 cm (1 in) thick. Place well apart on the baking trays. Lightly brush the baps with the milk, then sift over a fine layer of flour. Leave to rise at cool to normal room temperature until doubled in size, about 30 minutes, taking care not to let the baps over-rise. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 220C (425F, Gas7)
Sift over a thick layer of flour, then press your thumb into the center of each pap. This technique makes the surface flatfish, rather than domed. Bake immediately for 15 minutes until golden and cooked underneath. Transfer to a wire rack, cover with a dry tea-towel and leave to cool for a few minutes before serving.

To use dry yeast: reconstitute 1 sachet (7g/ oz) with 2 T. lukewarm milk and water and the sugar as above. Proceed with the recipe.