Bere is a type of barley particularly adapted to growing in Orkney, and Barony Mill is still milling beremeal with it to this day. I've been wanting to play with this for a while, but of course the problem with barley (and rye, and crops that grow better in northern climates in general) is that they are lower in gluten and thus harder to bake with. (This is also why people in northern climates traditionally ate flatbreads and "fluffy" breads tended to be eaten more in southern climates where wheat grew better, but of course now everybody eats the same thing everywhere... I digress...)
As it's Passover, I decided to finally do the thing I've been thinking about for years and make my own matzo. I decided to make it with beremeal -- I mean, if you are making a bread that's not supposed to rise, no point wasting all that gluten... :) Is beremeal matzo a world first? :)
It's not bad. Could do with being a bit crispier, but maybe this is par for the course with handmade matzo? The only thing I have to compare it to in my mind is Manischewitz in a box so...
As a random aside, I timed myself, and it took me 24 minutes, so not Kosher for Passover, but a large part of that was down to oven space and number of baking sheets in my possession. With a helper and an industrial oven, I could have done it in 18.
And then of course I had to make more Hot Cross Buns, completely not Kosher for Passover! :) This dough was much stickier than the last batch I made (same recipe -- no idea why) so the crosses didn't come out as well but still delicious!
On the random weather front, it was unusually foggy today -- these pictures are about 6:30 in the evening and we can't even see halfway across our fields!
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