The Irish Bakery

Cherie Denham · The Irish Bakery

My Granny Neill would mix together the humble ingredients for her farls with an old bone-handled knife. The soft dough was then turned out onto her floured wooden baking board, gently shaped into a flat round and cut into farls (the Ulster Scots word for quarters). She would hang her cast-iron griddle over the turf fire and brush it clean with a goose wing, before scattering flour onto the hot surface and baking the farls on each side until they had a scorched, dusty crust and a pillowy centre. Once baked, she would wrap them in an old (but clean) pillowcase to keep the farls soft, which filled her home with the aroma of comfort and warmth. Granda Neill cut his into fingers, spread them with butter and dipped them into a soft-boiled goose egg. My favourite way to eat them is to open them up and fill them with fried eggs and bacon. They were also delicious with Granny's homemade strawberry jam and Cheddar from the breadman.