Kimberly Bell’s Grasmere Gingerbread

Kimberley Bell is a baker at Small Food Bakery in Nottingham – an independent bakery working with a strong network of bakers, millers and farmers from all over the UK to build an alternative grain economy. Here she shares her recipe for Grasmere gingerbread – a great option to incorporate diverse UK grains.

I've baked a few versions of Grassmere gingerbread, privileged to access to a diverse choice of the grains & mills of all shapes / sizes at the bakery. Colours, textures, flavours. I hope one day bakers in the UK can choose from a diversity of grains, making their products unique to them, expressions of their ideals and perception of beauty, preferences for flavour and texture. For now, shall we at least question the prevailing dogma that a recipe is an absolute, and that baking should be this way or that? 

I often use this formula for baking with groups of visitors or to include in a workshop; laying out some of the treasure from the grain store (& the spice cupboard), enouraging them to freestyle on the recipe a little. Following their instincts, folks enthusiastically swap out some of the sugar for malt and honey, chose their fabourite (whole) grain, spice them all really differently. It’s really interesting to see how people personalise this simple bake, how their tastes and preferences influenced the final product, and how much they diverge, but are all always all really great.

Grasmere gingerbread is an enjoyable confectionary, and there are not many recipes published. It is often claimed as a 'secret' recipe, and this makes me all the more keen to share this. Secret recipes are not cool. Sharing and celebrating a diversity of minds and approaches is what I love about UK Grain Lab and our global baking community.

INGREDIENTS

  • 125g butter

  • 65g soft brown sugar

  • 60g castor (feel free to swap for other sugars as you prefer)

  • 1 tablespoon of honey or other syrup

  • 170g whole flour (Your choice of grain but keep it whole!)

  • 1 or 2 tablespoons spices (Your choice but be bold!)

METHOD

  1. Preheat oven 165c/330f 

  2. Line a 20cm round cake tin with parchment. Combine the flour, salt and spices in a decent size bowl, add the honey, sugar and butter. Rub together with your fingers until you get an even breadcrumb.

  3. Put 2/3 of the mixture into the tin, pressing down firmly to make an even, solid base. Then sprinkle the remaining 1/3 of the mix over the top, make it even without pressing it down. Bake for 18-20 minutes until it browns a little and turns opaque. score the portions into the top with a big knife before it cools.