In preparation for dinner tonight I’ve made a ball of wheatmeal pastry from one of my favourite modern day wartime cookbooks “Feeding the Nation” and now I have to decide what to actually make with it… I just know I had a craving for pastry and I do have some left over “Lentil & Legume Gravy” so I may well make some potato pasties and fill them with a little of the leftover gravy.
Wheatmeal Pastry
- 8 oz (225 g) of plain wheatmeal flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 oz- 30z (50-75 g) of cooking fat, margarine or dripping (I used 50/50 vegan margarine and shortening)
- water
Method
- Blend the flour with the salt and the baking powder
- Chop up the fat into small pieces and rub into the flour until well distributed
- Add enough water to make a rolling consistency although a little softer than you would normally make with white flour
- Roll out and use.
The 1940's Experiment 
Could you explain to me what pasties are?
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Hi Marina…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasty
And watch out for a vegetable pasty wartime recipe and photo coming later to the blog- I’m cooking 5 of them right now!
C xxx
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Ahhh, thanks for that. I read a lot of books that are based in war time Britain and they often talk about making potato pasties. I always thought it was a type of potato pastry, I guess more of a dumpling. Really, it’s a healthy version of those horrible pizza pockets you can get in the supermarkets now. It is amazing now mass production can take something so wholesome and make it in to something that will clog your arteries just looking at it!
I can’t wait for your recipe, I think these are something my kids will love!
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What would wheatmeal flour be—whole wheat flour?
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Yes… I’d say. I used wholewheat…
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