A geographical guide to a bread roll …

… or when is a bread roll not a bread roll?

Do you ever come across bakery products and bread that you've never seen before? If you holiday in the UK then that's quite likely.

I grew up and worked in the Midlands and I'd pop to the local bakery to buy my lunch – usually a cheese cob – it could be soft or crusty.

Years later I moved to London to live and work. I followed the same routine for lunch and asked for a cheese cob – they did give me a strange look, clearly thought they'd misheard this funny girl with a weird accent and offered me a large uncut loaf – that they called “a cob”. Having translated my cheese “cob” became a “cheese roll”. I'm sorry to appear picky but – as far as I'm concerned – a roll is a shape that means just that . When in Rome and all that – I conformed and my bread education began.

From London I relocated to the North West, lived in Bolton and worked near Eccles, where they make the cakes – the smell on baking day was divine!

In the North West there's the muffin – not “roll shaped” at all – soft and flat. Then there's the tea cake – please note, not to be confused with a toasted teacake version that contains currents and sultanas – just plain.

The barm cake is from Manchester and the surrounding area. It's not much different to my Midlands “cob” but on reflection I don't think I've ever seen a crusty barm cake.

My favourite from the North West and North Derbyshire too is the oven bottom – flat as can be and so called because it is said they were baked on the bottom of the oven. It's more likely that they were made with the remnants of the dough when the loaves had been baked. I feel I should set the record straight – the oven bottom is a much later name – the original “oven bottom” originated in the North East and is called a “stottie” (or Stotty).

Most of us know the bakery Greggs which began as long ago as 1939. Its first shop opened in 1951 in Newcastle upon Tyne and is now the largest bakery chain in the UK. Greggs baked the best oven bottoms ever and I used to buy them freshly baked in bags of 6. Even when I'd left the North West I'd stock up when I visited and freeze them. Imagine my joy at the thought of an oven bottom when Greggs opened in the South – such joy was short lived. With the exception of the pasties Greggs bakery products are completely different – definitely in Northamptonshire and I now discover in the South generally. What a disappointment - they are missing a trick, as they say!

I can't say I'm up to date with bakery products in London but I wouldn't mind betting they still don't know of an oven bottom or, for that matter, a barm cake.

I felt I should set the record straight and if you're not confused now – my husband is a Lancashire lad. One of his favourite lunches is a currant teacake with cheese. There's nothing better than a fresh currant teacake, buttered and topped with thin slices of Crumbly Lancashire cheese - you can get a Creamy Lancashire version too. If you live in Lancashire or the North West you'll also be able to buy Lancashire Tasty cheese – it's exactly the same as the crumbly version but matured for longer and gives a more mature taste – yum!

I've recommended the currant teacakes with cheese to lots of friends and they love them – I say “them” one never seems enough!

Next, back to more mid week supper ideas

The Daim Road serving idea …

… simplicity itself – use your freezer.

Here's a product you may be interested in – particularly if you are fond of sweet stuff. This Swedish Glace “ice cream” is vegan, dairy free, lactose free and gluten free – I think that just about covers it!

The “ice cream”

raspberry flavour – available in vanilla and chocolate too

There are heaps of Swedish Glace dessert products to choose from – check them out when you're browsing!

The story so far – we have frozen Daim Road and Swedish Glace. The final touch and probably the most important – frozen raspberries – no sprinkle of anything, particularly sugar, there's enough in the Daim Road to sink a battleship!

It's a handful of this and a scoop of that and restraint with the cubes of Daim Road. You could use any sharp fruits of your choice to balance the sweetness.

Here's my “freezer” dessert :

You'd never know the Swedish Glace isn't a traditional ice cream – it's delicious.

The moral of the story … make your freezer work for you, not as a receptacle for ready-meals you've bought!

Coming up – a geographical guide to a bread roll and then back to more mid-week supper ideas.

Daim Road photo guide

The XXL bag – 460g

The saucepan with the tiny Daims, the butter

and the golden syrup

A tray full!

A bowl of the bite sized beauties

As with any of the “Rocky Road” recipes this version freezes well.

A serving idea up next …

Now for the sweet treat!

Are you a fan of Daim bars? If you are you'll probably already know if you are a visitor to IKEA that they sell various Daim bar products. There's Daim vanilla ice cream and a Daim Swedish almond cake – gluten free and frozen. There's a limited edition Strawberry Mousse cake too! Daim bars originated in Sweden and Norway in 1953 – the brand is now owned by Kraft Foods.

The last time I visited IKEA I came away with two large bags of the mini Daims. I'm always messing around with variations on a theme of Rocky Road – it seemed appropriate to produce a Daim version – here's the recipe :

Daim Rocky Road

450g of Daim minis

175g of unsalted butter - cubed

4x15ml tablespoons of golden syrup

150g of almonds – blitzed finely

150g of glacé cherries

300g of shortbread fingers

125g mini marshmallows - optional

Place the Daim bars, butter and golden syrup into a large saucepan. Melt on a low heat. Place the shortbread in a strong food bag, seal and crush to a rough crumb. When the Daim bars, butter and syrup have melted add the biscuits, almonds and cherries and fold through until they are all coated in the melted ingredients. Finally, add the marshmallows and tip into a foil tray-bake. Fridge it for at least four hours – it won't hurt if it's left longer.

When you're ready cut the slab in half and set aside one of the halves. Lay the half sideways and cut into strips then turn and cut again into cubes – the cubes can be as small or large as you like. Repeat with the remaining half. As a guide you can expect to get 120 cubes approximately depending of course on the size of the cube – in this case 2cms/¾”.

Fridge in bags or boxes to suit and freeze some too!

Coming up … a photo guide and a serving idea

A hug but the dumpling doesn't fit in a mug …

We had the soup and a dumpling each with the fresh bread and butter for supper. I packed up boxes of the soup and took a risk – I divided the remaining dumplings into quarters and packed into a microwave box – it matters not that they have been lifted from the soup and have soggy bottoms!

My friend called in to collect … I explained that the dumplings were a risk but hey, it was worth a shot.

What did my friend and her husband think?

They loved their lunch – the bread in particular and made it last two days. An unexpected bonus – the tiny leftover dumplings were microwaved on high for 10/15 seconds – light as a feather – note to self – in future make enough dumplings for second helpings to microwave.

It's hard for me to critique my own food but I loved all of it, the bread in particular – it does exactly what it says in the recipe albeit tweaked sensibly and it looks amazing – the Food Stylist did a good job!

Now for the sweet treat …

The soda bread verdict continued …

Where did I send the bread for taste testing? Remember my friend whose husband has been very ill and the get well gift? A perfect mid week treat me thinks. Hmm, I can't just send bread - I decided to make some soup – what better vehicle for a freshly baked loaf.

I chose my favourite veggie soup – carrot, coriander and chick pea except that I decided to ring the changes and added cannellini beans instead of the chick peas. If you're interested in the recipe then check out the soup label.

Then I thought how wonderful would a dumpling be too. Veggie suet is a truly wonderful product.

100g/4oz of self-raising flour

50g/2oz of vegetable suet

large pinch of salt

80ml cold water

Mix the flour, suet and salt with the water

I divided into four and shaped into balls

Drop into simmering soup and cook for 20 minutes

Here's the thing … traditionally dumplings are placed on top of a casserole with a tightly fitting lid. Casseroles have a thicker consistency than soup and obviously, usually, slow cooked in the oven. Soup simmers on top of the hob and saucepan lids “sit” on top of the pan and are not what I'd describe as “tightly fitting”. Here's my tip - tear off a sheet of foil large enough to overlap the pan, push down slightly and then secure with the lid. Make sure your soup is simmering gently before you add the dumplings and seal with foil. 20 minutes later you'll have dumplings the size of which you wouldn't believe!

Soup, dumplings with freshly baked bread and butter for supper.

Sounds like a plan … what happened next

The Guinness and Treacle Soda Bread … the verdict

Before I begin I should say that recipes are meant to be a guide, though it does say “it's wonderfully simple”.

Here's the verdict.

Omit the greasing and lining of the baking tray – as I said I've never done either when baking bread.

The instructions given in the final paragraph of 1 - “... In a jug or second mixing bowl … this will take a little while, but stir patiently ...” are, I think, poor. Taken in the recipe order – Guinness, yogurt and treacle – the Guinness and the yogurt are easy enough, now try measuring the treacle and adding it to the other two ingredients - black treacle is dense, sticky stuff and quite difficult to weigh - you can't retrieve it if you've added too much if it's already submerged in Guinness and yogurt!

By the time you've managed to combine the three “wet” ingredients – always providing you've not jettisoned the mixing bowl and its contents all over the kitchen floor and you've lost the will - any anticipation of a glorious loaf of soda bread has evaporated.

In certain cooking circumstances you can wing it or fly by the seat of your pants. With baking this is not the case – it's important to be accurate and weigh ingredients - your end product will sink – sorry about the pun - if you don't.

I'm not sure whether it's an incomplete recipe or badly written. Is it deliberately vague - surely you want your readers to succeed in their efforts? It's such a pity - with a little more care in the explanation of the method for the “wet stuff” it would make life so much clearer for devoted readers and bakers!

If you glance at my photo guide – separate jugs makes life easy – weighing the black treacle directly into a mixing bowl means you're ready to go - it might not be hands free but you have control of the mixing bowl. By trickling the Guinness into the treacle it loosens quickly. The rest, as they say, is history – or easy peasy!

Next … the taste testing