Happy Bonfire Night! Here comes a recipe for Pinnebrød, a slightly sweet Scandinavian twist bread cooked on a stick over the fire.

On Saturday, I ran a Bonfire Family Firelighting day at the Wild Place Project in Bristol. Ten families came to the woods to learn all about lighting fires and how to involve children safely. The afternoon was spent toasting and roasting various foods over the fire. Pinnebrød was a favourite for both adults and children alike.

The recipe I used was from Signe Johansen's

Scandilicious Baking

(warning: that book is full of tasty treats). I've simplified it slightly and my method is a little more slapdash than the original!

Pinnebrød

Ingredients:

290ml whole milk

50g butter

1 tbsp treacle

500g plain flour* 

1 ½ tsp sea salt

7g fast action dried yeast

1 medium egg, beaten

(*the original recipe calls for 400g spelt flour and 100g rye flour ... but those aren't usually kicking around in the kitchen!) 

Method:

• Melt the butter and treacle then add enough milk to make it 'blood temperature' (stick your finger in it until it feels neither hot nor cold. Don't scald yourself).

• Add the beaten egg.

• Sieve all the dry ingredients together in a bowl and make a well in the centre.

• Mix in the warm wet ingredients and add as much of the remaining cold milk as you need to make a slightly sticky dough.

• Knead for five minutes.

• Either leave somewhere warm to rise for about an hour, or shove it in a big food bag and pop it in your rucksack while you go out to the woods (or garden) and get your fire sorted.

• To cook, find a suitable stick and then make long thin sausages from the dough and wrap them in a spiral along one half of the stick, pinching the ends to secure them.

• Hold your stick above the embers of the fire and cook until the dough is light brown and feels firm to the touch.

• Eat it as it is, dipped in jam or rolled in sugar.

Happy Bonfire Night!