Farls

This weeks bread recipe is for something a little different – it a batch of yeast free farls.

Farls are a super easy bread to make, they are yeast free and only require minimal ingredients, perfect to make as a side for breakfast or along soup. They are aren’t the lightest but they are hearty and perfect to enjoy on these colder mornings/evenings.

As you read the recipe, you may also notice that these farls aren’t like normal bread and that’s because you start with a lactic ferment and theres not yeast at all, theres actually baking powder (there are some people who wouldn’t classify this as bread but believe it or not, it is).

These aren’t commonly called farls anymore as they have taken on different names depending on where you are. The most common places to find these or something similar is in Ireland and Scotland, both use different names for these.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

 

Ingredients:

Lactic Ferment –

160g White bread flour.

160g Wholemeal flour.

325ml Buttermilk, cold.

 

180g White bread flour.

1/2 tsp Salt.

25g Baking powder.

15g Granulated sugar.

 

Method:

As with all of my recipe, before you get started on the recipe, you’ll want to start with some prep work. I recommend you start by weighing up all of your ingredients, grabbing any equipment you may need such as a mixing bowl and spatula (for the time being).

Now you can start on the recipe, well, there is a step you need to do before you consider making the farls. It’s the lactic ferment, once this is made, you will need to let it ferment for a minimum of 2 hours up to a maximum of 24 hours – if you go over the 24 hours, restart. Make sure you leave this ferment at room temperature.

I used my ferment after about 12 hours, that was the perfect time for me. I simply grab myself a mixing bowl (I used my stand mixer bowl but feel free to do this by hand) and add in the white bread flour, baking powder, salt, then give it a brief mix to combine.

Into the bowl, add the lactic ferment and start to mix the ingredients together on a low speed to start with for around 2 minutes, followed by 4 minutes on a medium-high speed. If you’re doing this by hand, get your hands into the bowl and mix together until a dough forms, then knead on a floured surface until a clean and clear dough has formed. Repeat the final part on a floured surface if you’re using a stand mixer.

Make sure you scan the dough at 450g per head of dough.

I like to flatten the dough a little by pressing/tapping it down with my hand, retaining the round shape. Then you can go ahead and roll the dough until it’s roughly 9 inches and/or 3/4 of an inch thick. Loosely cover with clingfilm and leave to rest for 20 minutes.

While your dough is resting, it’s the perfect time to get the frying pan heated. Place the frying pan onto the hob and bring to a medium-high heat (theres no need to oil the pan).

Once your frying pan has come up to heat and the dough has had its rest, you can go straight into getting these baked. Simply take your dough rounds and place directly into the heated frying pan and using a scotch scraper or something similar and cut the dough into a ‘+’ shape, so you have 4 triangular farls. Fry on each side for between 3 and 8 minutes (the time will depend on how thick your dough is) to check, simply flip them over and they should look well baked and puffed up. I found around 6-8 minutes for mine was perfect, but it will vary for you and your farls.

Now that your farls are baked, you can go ahead and allow them to cool a little and enjoy them fresh and warm and allow them to cool down and enjoy them at a later time.

That’s all for today guys, I hope you enjoyed. If you did, don’t forget to share this recipe with your family and friends and enjoy it. I’ll be back soon with another blog post and YouTube video, so join me then. In the meanwhile, don’t forget to check out my other social’s – Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube. The YouTube tutorial will be linked down below.