A history of the Selkirk Bannock, including recipe for making your own | Scotsman Food and Drink (2024)

The Selkirk bannock is different to a traditional bannock for it is a rich and buttery leavenedtea bread, a far cry from the bere bannocks you find in Orkney.

The fame of Selkirk bannock is often attributed to Queen Victoria, who according to John Hope-Scott, tasted it in 1867 when visiting Abbotsford house (home of Sir Walter Scott). Considering shedoesn’t mention it once in her diaries, apart from a brief note of taking tea, I would like to think thefame of the Selkirk bannock is down to the dedication and skill of the bakers who have made thisbread for generations.

It is still made in the borders by many bakeries, most famously by Alex Dalgetty & Sons, who pridethemselves on the quality of their Selkirk bannock. It is the slow fermentation of the dough thatgives their bannock its rich flavour and it turns out to be quite a sophisticated process. Thebannock is started with a ‘sponge dough’ (like a sourdough bread starter) and over the course ofapproximately twenty hours they add other ingredients such as butter. It then goes through anothertwo fermentation stages prior to baking. Alex Dalgetty (great great Grandfather of the currentowner) worked for Robert Douglas in the late nineteenth century, who is said to have invented theSelkirk bannock. Robert Douglas was the first to make it on a commercial scale at any rate.

It seems the Selkirk bannock has long been admired. The first time we find the Selkirk bannock inprint is in the Bride of Lammermoor by Sir Walter Scott (1819), in amongst the petticoat-tailshortbread and sweet scones is the Selkirk bannock, ‘delicacies little known to the presentgeneration’. Robert Chambers, a Scottish publisher, took the trouble to note in The Picture ofScotland (1827):

‘Before quitting Selkirk, it ought to be mentioned that it is famous for the manufacture of apeculiarly light and agreeable species of bread, called “Selkirk Bannocks”. The loaves wereoriginally made of barley-meal, but are now composed of the finest flour.’

Selkirk bannock is the ideal thing to make when the weather is getting colder and the nights areclosing in. It is a shame the Selkirk bannock is not more appreciated when things like the Italianpannetonne are everywhere at Christmas time. What chance could the shy Selkirk bannock haveagainst all that big and bright packaging the Italians are so good at. The Selkirk bannock is everybit as good and it is this we should enjoy as a teatime treat, toasted or un-toasted, spread lavishlywith salted butter.

Many recipes that resemble the Selkirk bannock can be found in old Scottish cookery books underthe guise of a bun loaf. For instance the The Practice of Cookery, Pastry, and Confectionary by aMrs. Frazer (1820) offers a recipe called a ‘rich half-peck Bun’. You can buy the Selkirk bannockonline, however, if you would like to try making it yourself then the recipe below producessomething fairly similar. This recipe has been adapted from F. Marian McNeill’s book Recipes fromScotland (1947). In this quicker recipe below the butter is added right at the beginning, which is nottraditional. At any rate it still makes a rich and soft tea bread.

Recipe for making your own Selkirk Bannock:

Ingredients

• 500g strong white bread flour

• 300g whole milk

• 50g unsalted butter

• 50g lard (you could replace this with 50g butter)

• 100g sugar

• 150g sultanas

• 7g fast action yeast (or 15g fresh yeast rubbed into the flour)

• 10g salt

Method:

1 Mix the flour, sugar, salt, yeast and sultanas in a large bowl. Melt the butter and lard over a gentleheat in a small saucepan, take off the heat and whisk in the milk.

2 Pour this over the dry ingredientsand combine. Knead gently for three to five minutes.

3 Cover with a damp cloth and leave to provefor 1 hour or until 1.5 times its original volume. Alternatively you can add the raisins after thisproving time when you shape the dough.

4 Shape the dough to make it round, and transfer to a greased baking sheet. Leave to rise for 30minutes to 1 hour.

5 When doubled in size bake in the centre shelf of a preheated oven (180˚C) for30 minutes.

• See more of Fraser's recipes atwww.redbookrecipes.com/

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