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Barm Bap Roll

(29 Posts)
Baggy Thu 18-Aug-11 06:47:19

Talk of oatcakes on another thread made me think of this.

Where I grew up in Lancashire, a soft, flat roll of bread was called a Barm Cake and it had a mark in the middle top where the baker will have imprinted his/her thumb.
Similar bits of bread, with soft or harder crust, sometimes dusted with flour, are called simply Rolls in Scotland.
Elsewhere people call them Baps.

I'd like to draw a "bap map" of Britain and look up the linguistic derivations.

Any others?

Similarly, Cob, Pan Loaf, etc.
What other names do people know/use for pieces of bread? (A Piece is a sandwich in Scotland).

susiecb Thu 18-Aug-11 07:48:34

Its a cob here in the East Midlands I know it as a roll as I'm from London.
you've made me hungry nowsmile

glassortwo Thu 18-Aug-11 08:14:29

Stottie cakes are large approx 9in flat with a finger print in the centre (think they have shrunk and were 12in) here in Newcastle, cant beat them with good ham and pease pudding.

Zephrine Thu 18-Aug-11 08:16:17

I'm new to the culinary delights of this area, I'll ask the ladies at the gym this morning.

Annobel Thu 18-Aug-11 08:54:02

baggy, when I was a child in Scotland, a morning roll was one that was dusted with flour and a bap was a flatter and rounder roll, more like a barm, but a bit smaller. A pan loaf was just that and someone with a 'pan loaf accent' was a bit posher than average. A plain loaf had black crusts top and bottom and no crusts anywhere else. I thought these were tastier than the pan loaves.
And while we're at it, what about pikelets and crumpets? A Scottish crumpet was, in my youth, a large, flat, pancake-like cake, holey on top and smooth underneath, which you spread with butter and jam and then rolled up to eat it. I could also mention cookies which were shiny, sweet buns which were spread with butter and jam, and cream cookies which were the same, but split with cream inserted, or, more likely, mock cream. Such were the tea-time treats when we went to stay with granny.

em Thu 18-Aug-11 09:43:40

Spot on Annobel - your memory serves you well. May I add another I loved as a child? A fairly large, flattish, shiny roll pricked with holes on top and rather sweeter than most. Known as a butter biscuit. Just thought of another! Flat, rather rough in texture - called an Aberdeen buttery and very high in calories due to the butter content!

lucid Thu 18-Aug-11 11:08:40

To me a Bap was a large, flat roll, about the size of a tea plate....and a floury bap was dusted with flour.
When I visited my friend's house her mother asked me if I'd like a piece and I asked 'a piece of what?' She meant a slice of bread and butter.
When I got married and moved to the Potteries I learnt that a sandwich was a 'buttie' which made my Mum laugh (she grew up in Derby) as to her a 'buttie' was a coal boat on the canal. grin

Libradi Thu 18-Aug-11 12:50:52

Here in Devon we have the cutround which is a soft roll sometimes used for making cream teas in place of scones.

Annobel Thu 18-Aug-11 16:42:19

Yes,*em*, I keep my memory in my stomach. And a playpiece was a snack to eat at playtime; a jeely piece was a jam sandwich.

greenmossgiel Thu 18-Aug-11 17:03:14

em - the roll you're talking about is called a 'cabin' (pronounced 'caybin') here in Fife. I've even heard folk calling it a 'cayvin'! Also here a 'plain' loaf which is taller and narrower than a pan loaf (OOH, she wis awfy pan-loaf, her frae Morningside...!) is also known as a half-loaf. This goes back to when a loaf such as this was made longer and was cut into two sections so it could be bought singly. In Nottingham where I was born and brought up a roll was a cob. smile

nanachrissy Thu 18-Aug-11 17:21:50

A flat round about 8-10 inches, with finger print in the middle was always an oven-bottom in Lancashire when I was younger.

glammanana Thu 18-Aug-11 17:22:23

A large round floured bap is called a Bin Lid here and a small one a batch
and bread and butter is a Butty

em Thu 18-Aug-11 19:57:00

Maybe slightly off-topic but does anyone know about Sally Lunns? They don't exist here but as a child I was very taken by a story about a Sally Lunn (perhaps a fruited teacake) which came to life as a chubby little lady with little dark eyes like raisins. The book was lost and I've never come across the story again - or the bun!!

artygran Thu 18-Aug-11 20:03:44

Here in South Yorkshire barm cakes are just called bread cakes. My mother used to bake a batch of bread cakes and loaves every Friday night - she would send me to the grocers for the "barm" (yeast). When I was a child, a chap with a large square basket covered with a chequered cloth used to come round selling oatcakes and pikelets. What Annobel describes as a Scottish crumpet sounds like what we would call an oatcake (although I know that Scottish oatcakes are something entirely different! God, this is getting complicated!). We had them for breakfast with bacon eggs and tomatoes, but they had to be fried in the bacon fat. Pikelets were toasted and served with butter, jam, honey, whatever. Next time I buy oatcakes, I'll try them your way Annobel!

artygran Thu 18-Aug-11 20:06:10

In Wales, a buttie is a term for friend. Typical greeting "how are you, but?"

nanachrissy Thu 18-Aug-11 20:19:11

Em, I remember Sally Lunns. I think they were fruity and maybe had icing on the top, and were finger shaped? I could be wrong, it was a long time ago! Also does anyone remember vanilla slices being called "wet nellies"?

glammanana Thu 18-Aug-11 23:18:12

The Sally Lunns we had where an oblong shape with currants and thick icing on the top delicious

Baggy Fri 19-Aug-11 06:35:51

arty, thank you for the 'barm' story! That's just the kind of linguistic info that I find fascinating. Presumably the frothy, fermenting nature of yeast mixes gave us "barmy" as applied to people as well.

Baggy Fri 19-Aug-11 06:37:46

nanachrissy, which part of Lancashire were you in with your oven bottoms?

Zephrine Fri 19-Aug-11 07:55:29

Asked ladies in gym yesterday "what do you call bread rolls here" with one voice they said "bread rolls". Did go on to say large flat ones were called baps. We also have oven bottoms, largish, flat topped, soft white. They then went on to the joys of Staffordshire oatcakes which are the aforementioned rubber frisbees. Apparently you take a healthy oatcake and fill it with fried egg, fried bacon and maybe cheese - heart attack on a plate! I'm in south Cheshire.

Baggy Fri 19-Aug-11 09:53:40

Thanks, zeph. I was in the northern part of Lancs so maybe the oven bottoms are a more southern Lancs/Cheshire/Staffs thing.

All that good food (bacon, eggs, cheese) sounds yummy and healthy to me. My other name, by the way, is KnownForOutlandishIdeasAboutFood wink, but I'm not the only one. smile

Libradi Fri 19-Aug-11 10:32:41

Em when I visited Bath there was a tea shop called 'Sally Lunns . Sally Lunns buns were the original Bath bun. I googled this www.sallylunns.co.uk/home,intro.htm quite interesting.

em Fri 19-Aug-11 10:49:05

Libradi after last night's chat I googled Sally Lunn and found the very tea-shop you mentioned. Actually went as far as emailing their link to see if they know this story. Don't know why it appealed to me so much but I've never forgotten it.

Libradi Fri 19-Aug-11 10:54:29

It is interesting Em. I didn't actually go in there, wish I had now but so much to do and see in Bath I didn't around to it.

nanachrissy Fri 19-Aug-11 11:30:03

Baggy I was in Middleton, north Manchester. It was a mill town, lots of clogs and shawls!! smile