Aberdeen Rowies

Ingredients

Can be made in a bread machine on dough setting, or by hand. But you have to bake in the oven.

10oz (275g) butter

3oz (100g) lard or dripping

1 tablespoon soft brown sugar or caster sugar

16oz (500g) plain all purpose flour (or better with strong white bread flour - that's what I tend to use for better results)

2 teaspoons of dried yeast or if making by hand then add some of the water to the yeast and make into a paste.

450ml warm water

1/2 tsp of salt

How to make it

Make a paste from the yeast, sugar and a wee bit of the warm water and set aside or add dry yeast to bread machine in the correct order your machine instructs you to do, then followed by 2. below.

Mix the flour and the salt together.

If making by hand - Once the yeast has bubbled up add this and mix well to a dough and leave to rise in a warm location for 45 minutes, or add ingredients in 2. to the bread machine and use the dough or pizza setting for 45 minutes appx.

(a) Leave the butter and lard out to warm, then cream the butter and lard together and either divide into three portions,

at the side of your mixing bowl or onto your floured surface.

Once the dough has at least doubled in size roll it gentle into a rectangle about 1/4 - 1/2" (1-2 cm) thick. Try not to overwork it

at this stage so you are keeping the air still trapped inside the dough and it remains spongy and fluffy. Leave to rest again for 20 minutes

Spread one portion of the butter mixture over two thirds of the dough and if your butter mix is soft enough, use your fingers (held tight together) to smooth the butter over the area. Your hands melt the butter and it slowly but gently sinks into the dough.

Fold the remaining third of the dough over onto the butter mixture and fold the other bit over - giving three layers.

Now the following instructions is the trick to getting Butteries look and taste like the shop bought ones. Firstly, seal the two edges

to stop the butter escaping, then use the points of your fingers to gently press into the top of the dough all over the surface. It will look pock marked with your fingers. Work at this for 4 or 5 minutes. Don't rush this part.

You will see the butter gradually merging into the dough. If you had attempted to use a rolling pin, you would see waves of the butter under the surface layer which would eventually break through and make a real clart (mess) and which is hard to rectify once this seal is broken.

Once you feel the butter has been absorbed gently use a rolling pin to push the dough out the the same size as it was at the start.

Allow to rest for between 40 - 60 minutes depending on how much time you have available.

Repeat stages 8-14 twice more.

Cut the dough into 16 pieces and shape each to a rough circle and place on baking trays. To make the top of the Buttery look right, you can start the shaping and forming a round ball then pressing it out to form a circle with your palm and fingers. Do not use a rolling pin as your finger impression creates the right surface texture.

Place on very heavily floured baking tray, set aside to rest for about 45 minutes then bake at 200c for 15 minutes in a pre-heated oven. If you don't use flour on your tray, excess fat will run from the rolls and soak the bases. But even then don't worry if this does happen, as it crispens the base of the Buttery.

Optional, before baking the roll, sprinkle a lot of flour on the surface of the roll for a strange but tasty effect.

There are two finished you can hope to achieve. (i) baked for 15 - 16 minutes on the top shelf of the oven or (ii) for a crispier finish, bake for 17 - 19 minutes.

Lastly, some Butteries from baker shops are salty but you can experiment between the quantities of salt and sugar used.

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Though most Aberdonians or people from the North East love their butteries there have been some famous people who have publically been negative about rowies:

Gillian McKeith and the Buttery......

Doctor Gillian McKeith the television health guru who presents the TV programme You Are What You Eat on channel 4 and a Scot thinks they should be banned because of their high salt and lard content. "On a visit to Aberdeen in 2006 Gilliam McKeith declared that the Aberdeen Rowie should be banned. "

Then on the 6 February 2007 Gillian McKeith had another go at the fat content of the Rowie in her new TV programme You Are What You Eat: Gillian Moves In. She was helping Edinburgh lass Lynsey who ate Rowies most days to lose weight and lead a healthier life. Now Gillian if you are reading - Gonnae no dae that! We love the Rowie and life's too short! Besides I eat mine with strawberry jam and that counts as a fruit portion - aye?! I wonder what Gillian did with that sack of rowies - I'd have loved to have filled my freezer with them!

On a serious note Strawberry jam does not count as a fruit portion and Aberdeen Rowies, on average and depending on the ingredients used by the baker, contain 10 grams of saturated fat per 500g of fat. So do please only eat Aberdeen Rowies as an occasional treat, lead an active lifestyle and eat at least 5 portions of fresh fruit and vegetables a day - otherwise Dr Gillian McKeith will invite you to her house in London!

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Terry Wogan and the Rowie.....

Terry Wogan came to Aberdeen in 2005 as part of the Radio 2 Roadshow and was inundated with samples of rowies from bakers throughout Aberdeenshire. He didn't like them and likened the taste to "seaweed and sea water"!

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