Lardy cake, also known as lardy bread, lardy Johns, dough cake and fourses cake, is a traditional rich spiced form of bread found in several southern counties of England: Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire, Berkshire, Wiltshire, Dorset and Gloucestershire each claim to provide the original recipe.
Villages and households would typically fire their ovens for baking only once a week and everything that could be baked would be. In these large batches of bread and dough, the scraps were enriched with sticky sweet lard and sugar, as well as dried fruit and mixed spices. The high-fat content in such cakes would prevent them from drying out as much as ordinary bread.
The dough is rolled and folded several times, in a similar way to puff pastry, which gives a layered texture.
INGREDIENTS
METHOD
The Cake:
450g bread flour
1 tsp salt
1 sachet instant yeast
75g lard (or butter)
300ml oz water
75g butter
225g mixed dried fruit including mixed peel
50g soft brown sugar
extra flour for dusting
TIPS
The relatively high fat content of lardy cakes means they will stay moist for longer than traditional cakes. However, it’s best to keep them stored in airtight containers.
Feel to use anything you like: cherries, cranberries, apricots, pineapple… Chop everything into small bits.
STEP 1
Mix together the flour, salt and yeast in a mixing bowl. Rub in 20g/¾oz of the lard using your fingertips until there are no pieces of lard visible.
Add three-quarters of the water and hand-mix the flour into the water to form a dough. Add as much of the remaining water as you need to get a dough that is soft and leaves the sides of the bowl clean.
Tip the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 5-10 minutes, or until the dough is smooth. Place in a clean bowl, cover and leave to rise until doubled in size. This depends on the temperature of the room, but should take 1-2 hours.
STEP 2
Tip the dough onto a floured work surface and roll into a rectangle about 20x50cm/8x20in and about ½cm thick.
Dot a third of the remaining lard and a third of the butter over the surface of the dough. Scatter over a third of the fruit and a third of the sugar. Fold the top third of the dough down and the bottom third up so that the dough is folded in three and roughly square. Turn the dough a quarter turn. Roll out and repeat the out process twice more, to use up all the lard and fruit.
STEP 3
Line a 23x23cm/9x9in square loose bottomed tin with baking parchment. Roll out the dough to fit the tin and place it inside. Cover with clingfilm, or place inside a large plastic bag, and leave to rise for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas 7.
Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until golden-brown.
Leave to cool slightly before removing from the tin. Cut into squares and serve warm or cold, with butter.