My daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren holidayed on Orkney a couple of years ago. They had a marvellous time exploring Orkney’s rich historical heritage, even the journey on the sleeper train and ferry was exciting!

Barony Mill

They brought me back some beremeal. Bere is the ancient form of barley which has been grown on Orkney since Neolithic times. It is ground at Barony Mill which was restored by the Birsay Heritage Trust in the 1990s. The traditional water powered mill produces stoneground beremeal and oatmeal during the winter and is open to the public from May to September.

They also bought me ‘The Book of Bere’ by Liz Ashworth. This is a fascinating book providing both the story of bere from Neolithic times to the present day and lots of recipes, both old and new.

Ingredients you will need to make Beremeal Date Scones

• 8 ounces / 225 grams / 1 cup medium beremeal
• ½ pint milk or buttermilk
• 8 ounces / 225 grams / 1 cup self raising flour
• 2 generous teaspoons baking powder
• 2 ounces / 55 grams / ¼ cup dark brown sugar
• 4 ounces / 110 grams / ½ cup butter
• 4 – 6 ounces / 110 – 170 grams / ½ – ¾ cup dates (stoned and cut into raisin size pieces)

Directions

1. Put the beremeal into a mixing bowl and stir in the milk or buttermilk.
2. Cover and leave to stand overnight.
3. Next morning sieve the flour and baking powder into a bowl and stir in the sugar.
4. Cut the butter into small pieces and rub into the flour/sugar mixture.
5. Add the dates to this mixture stirring to distribute evenly.
6. Add the rubbed in mixture to the soaked beremeal and stir to combine. It is easiest to do this with your hands. You should have a soft dough.
7. Turn the dough out onto a well floured work surface. Knead lightly until smooth and pat out to about 1 ½ inches / 3.75 cm thick. Cut out using a round metal cutter and place on a well floured or baking parchment lined baking tray. Using a 2 ½ inch / 6 ½ cm cutter you should get approximately 8 scones.
8. Brush the tops of the scones with milk.
9. Bake in a pre-heated oven 220°C / 200°C Fan / 425°F / Gas Mark 7 for around 20 minutes until well risen and golden brown.
10. Cool on a wire rack.

Bere Bannocks

The Orkney bere is used to make traditional bere bannocks which originally were round flat cakes of unleavened bread baked on a griddle. Nowadays flour and raising agents such as baking powder or bicarbonate of soda are added to make a lighter bannock, but they are still cooked on a griddle. The ‘Book of Bere’ contained many recipes for bannocks but only a few for scones, so I thought I would experiment using beremeal for scone making.

Perfecting my Beremeal Date Scones

My first attempt at making scones with beremeal was a disaster. I had simply substituted beremeal for half the flour in my normal Easy Scone Recipe and the mixture was far too wet. The beremeal did not absorb the same amount of liquid as wheat flour. I had noticed that my beremeal felt coarser than flour and on examining the packet it was marked ‘medium’, so there were obviously different grades of beremeal and I did not have the finest.

I decided on my next attempt to treat the beremeal as oatmeal and based my recipe on my Irish Oatmeal Soda Bread recipe where the oatmeal is soaked overnight. I had a much more satisfactory result this time as the beremeal absorbed liquid gradually overnight and when the remaining ingredients were added the next day the consistency was just right.

I added some dates to my scones but these could be omitted entirely or you could add the same amount of another dried fruit, nuts or seeds. I just like dates and found the combination just to my taste.

Beremeal Date Scones

Recipe by Scones Plus More

0.0 from 0 votes

Course: SnacksCuisine: BritishDifficulty: Easy

Servings

Adjust servings

+

–

8

scones

Prep time

20

minutes

Cooking time

20

minutes

Soak overnight

8

hours

Ingredients

• 8 ounces / 225 grams / 1 cup medium beremeal

• ½ pint milk or buttermilk

• 8 ounces / 225 grams / 1 cup self raising flour

• 2 generous teaspoons baking powder

• 2 ounces / 55 grams / ¼ cup dark brown sugar

• 4 ounces / 110 grams / ½ cup butter

• 4 – 6 ounces / 110 – 170 grams / ½ – ¾ cup dates (stoned and cut into raisin size pieces)

Directions

• Put the beremeal into a mixing bowl and stir in the milk or buttermilk.
• Cover and leave to stand overnight.
• Next morning sieve the flour and baking powder into a bowl and stir in the sugar.
• Cut the butter into small pieces and rub into the flour/sugar mixture.
• Add the dates to this mixture stirring to distribute evenly.
• Add the rubbed in mixture to the soaked beremeal and stir to combine. It is easiest to do this with your hands. You should have a soft dough.
• Turn the dough out onto a well floured work surface. Knead lightly until smooth and pat out to about 1 ½ inches / 3.75 cm thick. Cut out using a round metal cutter and place on a well floured or baking parchment lined baking tray. Using a 2 ½ inch / 6 ½ cm cutter you should get approximately 8 scones.
• Brush the tops of the scones with milk.
• Bake in a pre-heated oven 220°C / 200°C Fan / 425°F / Gas Mark 7 for around 20 minutes until well risen and golden brown.
• Cool on a wire rack.

Serving suggestions for Beremeal Date Scones

On Orkney it is recommended to eat a beremeal bannock with plenty of butter, cheese and a glass of beer.

I enjoyed my first successful beremeal scone with plenty of butter and my favourite local cheese ‘Duddleswell’ cheese. This is an organic sheep’s milk cheese produced in Sussex by the High Weald Dairy. I am afraid I had a cup of tea (Earl Grey with Cornflower) rather than a glass of beer.

They are also delicious lavishly buttered and spread generously with honey as a sweet treat and served like this, tea is definitely a better option than beer!

Until next time happy baking!

Tanya