Stephanie Elizabeth Harrison’s
Devon Yeast Cakes

by Stephanie & Stuart Harrison of Devon, UK

Makes 8 cakes, sufficient for 8 people or one farmer at two sittings!

Ample nourishment and sufficient calorific sustenance is, and always has been, an important part of an outdoor farming existence. In fact one of the things I like about the lifestyle is that I can pretty much eat whatever I want, whenever I want, in indecently large quantities. Fortunate then am I, to have married a woman who bakes. As a Mennonite farmer’s wife once said to her daughter who was engaged in a baking project when I turned up hoping to escort the young lady to choir practice, “Kissing wears out, baking don’t!”

I first discovered “Devon Yeast Cakes” at South Molton Pannier Market, on the Women’s Institute baked goods stall. They were made for sale by a venerable old lady who had been taught to make them by her mother many years before. On the one occasion I met her before she passed away, she told me that they were standard breakfast fare on farms in the area at harvest time when she was a girl. They were made to fill up the farm workers before the start of the working day, and then again with their mid afternoon tea. Cheap and easy to make, she said some of the “boys” could almost eat their own body weight in them!

The recipe here is mostly of my own dear wife’s creation, made up from her observations of the yeast cakes purchased from that stall and her considerable experience in bread making and baking. I can thoroughly recommend them at any time of the day, but with a mug of good strong black coffee, they make a great breakfast and a nourishing start to the day.

Ingredients

• Strong White bread Flour (organic stoneground is best) 500g
• Dried yeast 10g
• Salt 12g
• Full fat milk 250ml, topped up to 300ml with recently boiled water to make the milky liquid tepid
• Honey 4 tablespoons

Method

Place all ingredients into a mixing bowl. Knead the whole mixture by hand or with a dough hook in a food mixer until it passes the “window pane test” (so you can see through it but it does not break or get a hole, at least that is what my wife tells me). If it seems too dry, add drops of milk during mixing.

Tip the dough out and place in a lightly oiled bowl covered with a cloth. Prove for one hour in the a warm place or until the dough doubles in size.

Tip out, flatten to half an inch thickness and pour as many sultanas onto the dough as you wish, or think adequate. Roll the dough into a thick sausage shape and divide into eight equal pieces. Shape into buns and prove on a baking parchment lined baking tray for 25 minutes.

Once proved, brush with milk and place in an oven at 210 degrees Celsius/410 Fahrenheit for 15 minutes or until the tops are lightly golden brown.

Remove and try to stop your husband eating them until they have cooled!