Bannock

Here's another bit of family tradition I've given up trying to decipher.

This is not your Highlands bannock, which is basically an oatcake made for traveling, that held up nicely in your sporran and required great amounts of mead to assist in the swallowing process.

This is a bannock recipe handed down from my relatives in PEI. It's sort of a sweet shortbread, but it is not a dessert; I guess you could compare it to cornbread, but made with wheat flour instead of corn. My guess is that the original recipe brought over from Ireland met with the breads of the First Nations people in PEI, and this bannock was the hybrid result.

Preheat oven to 325F.
In large mixing bowl, combine 3 cups flour and 3/4 cup of shortening, cutting in the shortening with a pastry knife until the pieces of flour-coated shortening are about the size of a seed bead. To this mixture, add 1/4 cup of white sugar, 3 teaspoons of baking powder, 2 teaspoons of cream of tartar and 1 teaspoon of baking soda. Mix thoroughly. Finally, mix in 1 cup of milk. Blend well! I start out the blending process with a spoon, but after a ball starts to form, I take off my rings, spray my hands with non-stick cooking spray, and get my hands into the gooey mess. Knead dough until well mixed, roll into a ball in your hands, then toss it between your hands until it becomes a rounded circle about an inch and a half thick (think tortillas). Place dough in a non-stick pan and let sit for ten minutes or so. Place pan in preheated oven and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until top springs back from touch. Brush top of the loaf with butter, and return to oven until slightly brown.

The first time I had this bannock was when I was in PEI in 1981. This is the basic recipe, although my cousin used milk fresh from the cows in the barn (whole, unpasteurized milk), fresh butter instead of shortening, and baked it in a wood stove. The version I described is lower in fat. It's always a hit!