Sourdough Traditional Cottage Loaf

My latest bread recipe for Sourdough Traditional Cottage Loaf, is a classic British loaf, beloved of all small bakeries. It also makes a great addition to that quintessential of pub meals, The Ploughman’s Lunch.

A Ploughman’s Lunch for Plough Monday

My latest bread recipe for Sourdough Traditional Cottage Loaf, is a classic British loaf, beloved of all small bakeries.

This Sourdough Traditional Cottage Loaf also makes a great addition to that quintessential of pub meals, The Ploughman’s Lunch.

Just the words Ploughman’s Lunch conjures up images of lazy lunches sat outside with friends, in the Beer Garden of an old Country Pub.

However, even during the winter months this is fabulous when enjoyed by the fire for an indoor picnic, and especially for Plough Monday, which this year falls on the 10th January 2022.

And, a Sourdough Traditional Cottage Loaf is just the right vehicle for transporting all that cheese and pickle to hungry mouths!

My recipe today is made from my Classic Sourdough Bread made Easy, but is proved overnight in the mixing bowl and not a banetton, and is shaped next day.

Although I have always made my Cottage Loaves in the past with fresh (or dry) yeast, this recipe really does work so well with sourdough starter.

A Cottage Loaf is a hearty and unusual shaped bread that epitomises the rustic lunch and farmhouse tea time, and we love it in our house.

Back to a Ploughman’s Lunch; this is one of the most famous of pub lunches, so simple and yet so satisfying, especially if taken with a pint of real ale or cider.

Although the term “Ploughman’s Lunch” was first coined in the 1930’s, as part of a very successful marketing campaign, the concept behind it goes back much further.

Throughout the centuries, agricultural workers would take their lunch out to the fields with them.

This usually consisted of bread and cheese with ale or cider, the perfect combination when working outdoors, as in carbs and protein to keep them going.

Plus, it’s easy to prepare and should consist of at least the following: crusty bread and butter; a selection of English cheeses; pickled onions; chutney and pickles.

It also makes excellent picnic food, which is easy to pack and transport. Ham is often added to modern day Ploughman’s lunches.

Plough Monday

More about Plough Monday: Plough Monday falls on the first Monday after Twelfth Night and Epiphany, and used to be an important date in the agricultural calendar.

Traditionally it was the day on which farm workers returned to their duties after the Christmas and New Year break.

A plough would be taken to the local church to be blessed in order to “speed the plough” and ensure a bountiful harvest later in the year.

It was a difficult time of year for ploughman, as the ground was hard and difficult to work on, so the ploughmen would decorate their ploughs and take them around the local villages where they would ask for money from the wealthy landowners.

In Norfolk “Molly Dances” were performed by the young plough boys, whilst in the Midlands “Mummers Plays” were put on for entertainment.

The Plough Boys were known as Plough Jacks, Plough Bullocks or Plough Stots and they many of them blackened their faces, a tradition still practised today.

In the Cambridgeshire Fens, children would collect money before they went to school, which was called “Ploughwitching”.

My recipe for Sourdough Traditional Cottage Loaf is shared below, and I hope you enjoy baking and eating this classic British bread if you make it. Karen

How to assemble a Ploughman’s Lunch

• You need cheese, sometimes two or three types of cheese is nice. I’ve used all BRITISH cheeses: Harrogate Blue and Buffalo Blue from Shepherd’s Purse in Yorkshire. (I also served their Olde York cheese too) Cote Hill Lindum Cheese from Lincolnshire, and Tunworth Cheese from Hampshire.
• You need crusty bread, such as my recipe today for Sourdough Traditional Cottage Loaf.
• You need chutney, as it is Winter and rhubarb is in season, I used Rhubarb & Gin Chutney from Snowdonia Cheese Company in North Wales.
• You need pickles or pickled onions too, I used my own Traditional Homemade Pickled Onions.
• Salad is sometimes used, mainly tomatoes and colelsaw.
• You can add meat, as in sliced ham or even pork pies or scotch eggs.
• Fruit is often added, such as apples and pears.
• Butter is essential too!

Step-by-Step Shaping & Scoring for the COTTAGE LOAF

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Baking Notes

• Can be divided into 2, to make 2 smaller Cottage Loaves.
• Freezes well, either whole or in slices. Wrap in greaseproof paper. Defrost overnight.
• Ancient grains can be used in place of 100% strong white flour.
• You can also make small Cottage Loaf bread rolls, just divide into 8 pieces and then cut each piece into 2/3 and 1/3 to shape.

More Bread Recipes

• Easy Sourdough Sandwich Bread
• Milk Fadge: Emergency Bread (No Yeast) Recipe
• Mum’s Scottish Morning Rolls – Baps
• Cheese and Garlic Sourdough Bread

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Recipe for Sourdough Traditional Cottage Loaf