Sunday 26 July 2020

Baking for Lammas + Extra Ideas!


It's nearly August which means it's almost time for Lammas, one of my favourite sabbats! This year it's on Saturday 1st August, although some people celebrate on 31st July. (Some people may celebrate from sundown to sundown). The scientific time is 8.04pm CST on 6th August/2.04am BST on 7th Aug this year, so others may have their celebrations then.

For the past few years, I've written posts with ideas for things to do for Lammas. You can see them below:




Note: If you're in the Southern Hemisphere it's almost Imbolg/Imbolc! Check out my Imbolg celebration ideas here:

Imbolg Celebration Ideas: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2018/01/imbolg-celebration-ideas.html

Imbolg Inspiration: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2019/01/imbolg-inspiration.html

This year I thought I would do a baking post, since that's my main activity for Lammas. Lammas to Samhain is like "baking season" for me, although I do enjoy baking year-round! I'll also include a small section with extra ideas if you're not into baking. First here is some info on the sabbat. :)

 


Lammas, also known as Lughnasadh, is the first harvest festival on the Wheel of the Year, the others being Madron/Mabon and Samhain (the precursor to Hallowe'en).  It is also the festival of the Celtic Sun God Lugh (pronounced Loo), who dies at Lammas and is resurrected at Yule aka the Winter Solstice.

While it is in summer, Lammas also marks the start of the transition to autumn, as Imbolg marks the transition to spring in February. (Or in reverse in the Southern Hemisphere). Lammas is a cross-quarter day halfway between Litha/the Summer Solstice and Madron/Mabon aka the Autumn Equinox

The main themes are harvest/grain, abundance, gratitude and sacrifice. In Wiccan belief, the God will be sacrificed for the land and then later reborn at Yule.  The Goddess has now become the Mother and is pregnant with the new God.

Here are a few links with info and celebration ideas: 

Update 26/8/24: I've updated/replaced some links.



 

Lammas is my favourite sabbat apart from Samhain (Hallowe'en). I think it's because it was the first one I celebrated. It is actually almost 10 years now since I started celebrating the sabbats! I did a bread spell in the book Spells for the Witch in You by Marina Baker in 2010 (I'd had the book since I was a teenager, I think). The dough didn't rise properly, so I tried again few days later (31st July) with a recipe from the flour packet. I baked a loaf and a roll. It worked this time! And the next day on 1st August I made a Cornish style pasty and a sweet pasty, using recipes from The Real Witches' Kitchen by Kate West, which is the book that inspired me to start celebrating the sabbats. I also ate my bread on that day.

I also like Lammas because it's in the middle of the summer (by the modern definition of it, as I said last year) and summer is my favourite season.

My favourite thing to bake for Lammas is gingerbread and I also sometimes make Cornish style pasties for lunch. I occasionally bake bread too. I don't do it that often because it can be quite complicated, but last year I made 90 Minute Man Bread which is quite easy. I also baked beer bread for Madron. Both recipes are from Don't Waste the Crumbs. I'll provide the links below. :)


Baking Inspiration

Now here are some ideas for things you can bake for Lammas. :)

In last year's July Update + Lammas Inspiration post I had a section about baking if you'd like to read that: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2019/07/july-update-lammas-inpiration.html


Gingerbread

My favourite thing to make for this sabbat! I was inspired by The Real Witches' Kitchen book to start baking gingerbread. I would use the recipe from the back of the Tesco light brown soft sugar packet, but last year they had stopped putting it on the packet, so I used this recipe for the method: https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/gingerbread_men_99096

I'd previously written the ingredients and measurements on the blog in my first Lammas post, but legally I couldn't copy out the whole method. You can see that post here: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2014/08/lammas.html

And here are a couple of recipes for ginger cookies/biscuits that I've made for Yule 2017 and this New Year. They would also be good for Lammas.

https://www.sixsistersstuff.com/recipe/soft-and-chewy-ginger-cookies/

https://www.handletheheat.com/gingerbread-cookies/


Cornish style pasties

I sometimes make a Cornish style pasty (also inspired by The Real Witches' Kitchen) and have it for lunch on Lammas. I'm not actually supposed to call it a Cornish pasty because I'm not from Cornwall!  I use the recipe from the Kate West book but here are some more Cornish (style) pasty recipes:





Bread

As I mentioned I don't bake bread very often. I made some in 2010 and then I think the next time was 7 years later, when I baked a loaf for Lammas 2017! You can see that here: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2017/08/lammas-2017.html

It was a recipe from Tesco magazine. I think it was this one, but if not, it was very similar: https://realfood.tesco.com/recipes/fresh-white-loaf.html

I shared these links in the Lammas Celebration Ideas post in 2017, and thought it would be good to share them again this year:


 
Update 28/7/22: The above link now redirects to another article, but here is another one with Lamas recipes that suggests a gluten free option (Lammas fry bread): https://www.learnreligions.com/recipes-for-the-lammas-sabbat-4140665
 
And here are a couple more recipes for gluten free bread: 
 



Last Lammas I made this 90 Minute Man Bread (DWTC): https://dontwastethecrumbs.com/90-minute-man-bread/

It was nice and quite easy. You can see a pic of mine here: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2019/08/lammas-2019.html

If you don't fancy baking with yeast (or can't get hold of it!), here some's quick dinner bread that you could make instead: http://atreatsaffair.com/1-hour-dinner-bread-recipe/


I was inspired by how simple the man bread was to make, so for Madron last year I baked this beer bread using this recipe from Don't Waste the Crumbs: https://dontwastethecrumbs.com/yummy-recipe-beer-bread/

That was quite an easy recipe too. You can see my beer bread here: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2019/09/madron-2019.html


I think I'll try this No Knead Overnight Artisan Bread this year: https://dontwastethecrumbs.com/no-knead-overnight-artisan-bread/

Lammas spiral pesto and garlic bread (Moody Moons): https://moodymoons.com/2020/07/25/lammas-spiral-bread-with-pesto-garlic/


You could always use a bread mix if you don't want to make bread from scratch. I did that just after Lammas 2018.

Also, if you'd like to have a go at making your own Yorkshire pudding check out this post:


Hope that gave you plenty of baking inspiration for Lammas! :) If you'd like more check out this post: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2020/05/marchapril-update-baking-inspiration.html

This year I'm planning to make my usual gingerbread and a Cornish style pasty for lunch. I thought I would bake the artisan bread too, but maybe the day before because it's overnight. Also, I found it stressful last year baking gingerbread and bread in one day! lol. I like to drink cider, the only time when I have it really! See below for a few non-baking related ideas. :)


Extra Ideas

Other things I like to do for this sabbat are light a candle ("sun colours" such as orange and yellow, or white if I can't get coloured candles), and go for a walk at sunset at my local nature reserve, and take pictures. I haven't been up there much lately due to family car problems and lockdown. Although past sabbats have looked different this year due to the coronavirus, things are hopefully easing up in some places and we have a bit more freedom. We should still follow our country's guidelines (I know some places are in lockdown/quarantine again) and practise social distancing though! :)

If baking isn't your thing but you'd still like to make some food, here's a popcon recipe from Moody Moons: https://moodymoons.com/2020/07/17/lammas-popcorn-herbal-kitchen-witch-recipe/





Hope you enjoyed the post! I'll do another one next week about my celebrations. How do you celebrate? Happy Lammas! :)


Photo is bread from last Lammas.



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