Barm cake: Difference between revisions

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| caption = Barm cake with melted butter and [[black pudding]]

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| country = [[England]]

| region = [[Durham]],Historical [[Lancashire|West Lancashire]]

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| type = [[Bread]]

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| main_ingredient = [[Barm]]

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A '''barm cake''' {{Citation needed|date=December 2023}} is a soft, round, flattish [[bread roll]]item from [[North EastWest England]], traditionally [[leaven]]ed with [[barm]].<ref name="Ayto2012">{{cite book|author=John Ayto|title=The Diner's Dictionary: Word Origins of Food and Drink|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NoicAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA21|date=18 October 2012|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-964024-9|page=21}}</ref><ref name="Stevenson2010">{{cite book|author=Angus Stevenson|title=Oxford Dictionary of English|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=anecAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA133|date=19 August 2010|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-957112-3|page=133}}</ref><ref name="Chambers1998">{{cite book|author=Allied Chambers|title=The Chambers Dictionary|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pz2ORay2HWoC&pg=PA129|year=1998|publisher=Allied Publishers|isbn=978-81-86062-25-8|page=129}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| last= Downes| first= John| url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/food/2011/07/the-ale-barm-method-worthy-of.shtml | title= BBC Food blog: The ale-barm method: Worthy of revival or just barmy bread?|website= BBC Online| date= 28 July 2011| accessdate= 14 June 2019|

quote= "...the original method of making yeast bread in Britain was a by-product of ale-making. When traditional ale is made, a yeasty froth appears on top of the fermenting liquid, the [[wort]]. This used to be scooped off, washed and added to bread dough in order to leaven it. Bread made this way is sweeter tasting than [[sourdough]], and the leavening yeast used to be called '[[barm]]'. Its unpredictability created the word 'barmy'. In the 19th century, the process was refined and industrialized, manufacturing it on a large scale with what is known today as '[[baker's yeast]]', and used worldwide as the primary method of leavening bread. The barm method appears to be an ancient method developed by Gaelic peoples, and was quite different tofrom that used in Europe, which is to leaven bread with a sourdough or leaven (the French call ita similar product 'levain'). When the Romans first conquered Gaul, modern day France, they were astonished by the light sweet bread made by the Celtic inhabitants. Barm bread survived with the Celtic peoples in Britain, Scotland and Ireland, but was not common in Europe, being condemned during the [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]] as 'unwholesome'. In England, noblemen's bread, [[manchet]], was always made with the barm method, whereas the commoners' bread, [[maslin]], was a sourdough. Barm bread survived until World War Two, and even later in the North of England, largely as barm cakes. Curiously, the old method of making a sponge, or thick batter of flour and water with the barm was still used with the new industrially produced yeast, and was re-introduced to Europe from Vienna where the first yeast factories were established. This became popular in France as a '[[poolish]]', the favoured method of making crusty bread such as a baguette."}}</ref>