Cabbage Loaf (Du Pain Sus Eune Fielle Dé Chour)
Cabbage Loaf. So important was the grinding of corn to our Jersey ancestors that at one time there were no fewer than twelve windmills and thirty watermills on the island. Windmills would have been more heavily used in the summer when some of the streams that powered the watermills ran dry.
The crusty Jersey Cabbage Loaf is still a popular buy in several local bakeries as well as at the charity markets and fêtes held in the island during the summer months.
Ingredients
- 1 lb strong plain flour
- ½ oz fresh yeast
- ½ pint liquid (half water, half milk)
- 1 tsp. sugar
- 1 oz margarine
- Pinch salt
- 2 large cabbage leaves
Method
Step 1
Sieve the flour into a warmed mixing bowl. Cream the yeast and sugar in a small basin and add a quarter of the liquid. Make a well in the centre of the flour and add the yeast.
Sprinkle over a little flour, cover with a cloth and leave in a warm place until the yeast ferments (bubbles).
Step 2
Then add the remainder of the liquid (warm), fat and salt, and knead into a smooth dough.
Return to the basin, cover with a cloth and leave in a warm place until it has doubled in size. Remove from the bowl and give a further kneading.
Step 3
Then mould into a large round loaf, cover with a cloth and leave in a warm place to ‘prove’ until double in size.
Finally wrap the loaf in the large cabbage leaves which have been lightly greased on the inside, tie lightly, and bake in a hot oven, Gas mark 6, 200°C (400°F) for approximately 15 minutes.