A buttery delight – Homemade Rowies

After writing about rowies the other week, I thought I should attempt to make them since it’s been a couple of years since I’ve had one. I first made the basic bread dough from the flour, sugar, salt and yeast and then after kneading, I left it for an hour or so to double in size.

While waiting for the dough to rise, I creamed together the butter and lard. It was shocking to see how much fat goes into butteries, but it is well worth it, because without fat, sugar and salt, food would be dull and tasteless. I had some trouble finding real lard, since the ‘health police’ have all but banned it from modern life, and as far as Gilliam McKeith goes, she can kiss my @rse. I eventually found some at Fiesta, the Mexican supermarket.

Next I rolled out the dough to about 40cm x 30cm x 1cm and took a quarter of the butter and lard mixture and spread it over two thirds of it.

The third of the dough without the lard and butter was folded into the middle and then the other side was folded over the top, forming a ‘sandwich‘ three times the height.

The dough was then rolled out again to the same size as before along its length and the spreading and the folding process was repeated 3 more times. After the butter and lard mixture had been used up, the dough was rolled out once more and cut into 16 equal sized pieces.

The 16 pieces was formed into rough, round circular shapes and left to rise for about 45mins on a greased baking sheet. They were then cooked at 200C (400F) for about 25mins, until golden brown and then left to cool on a wire rack.

They turned out great. They were a wee bit greasier than some I’ve had, but the taste was spot on and it is hard to resist the temptation to eat them all. I gave a few for Ems to take into work for a Scottish colleague and what was left we’ve put into the freezer for a treat in the future.