Sunday 13 September 2020

The Plain Loaf

I happened to be entering a major supermarket one morning when I was accosted by Hazel, a reader of the blog, from Portaferry, County Down.

Hazel was quite effusive about my alter ego, Lord Belmont, reminding me of past articles including the one about Irwin's Nutty Krust high-fibre wholemeal plain loaf, which was made until March, 2020.

Mark Thompson the wrapper, in fact.


Here was a loaf of bread which was a perennial favourite of mine: Irwin’s Nutty Krust high-fibre plain loaf.

It toasted very well indeed.

Some batches had a tendency occasionally to be slightly misshapen upon purchase, which necessitated trimming the edges a little for insertion into the toaster.

No matter.

The lucky birds used to get the crumbs.

The standard white Nutty Krust loaf remains on the shelves and continues to be popular.


THE PLAIN LOAF  is a traditional Ulster-Scots style of loaf.

It has a dark, well-fired crust on the top and bottom of the bread.

There is no crust on the sides due to the unbaked loaves being stuck together in batches, baked together then torn into individual loaves afterwards.

This style of bread does not fit well in most modern toasters due to the greater height of the loaf.

This was once the more widely available style of loaf in comparison to the now more common pan loaf.

Irwin's bakery is based in Portadown, County Armagh.

First published in November, 2012.

6 comments :

Anonymous said...

A former and rather eccentric colleague who used to enjoy last minute Caribbean cruises told of a ‘conquest’ who, when she learned he was from Northern Ireland, pointed at a fellow cruiser and said ‘oh you must know Nutty Crust’. ( story from 80s)

Mark Thompson said...

Lord Belmont - you might be impressed to know that I designed the packaging for Nutty Krust some years ago! http://markthompsondesign.blogspot.co.uk/2008/07/irwin-bakery-nutty-krust-plain-batch.html

Timothy Belmont said...

Anon, Must add it to the grocery list!

Mark, Wonderful and I always found the packaging most distinctive. BTW, I had a slice of high-fibre Nutty Krust 5 mins ago, with butter and marmalade!

Tim

carolwazir@gmail.com said...

reThe plain loaf takes me back to my chlldhood. Coming home from school and toasting a slice in front of a red hot aga. no toaster can compete.

Northern Scrivener said...

Some years ago maybe seven or so Irwins employed a rather retro type wrapper for one of their loaves. It featured an early twentieth century photograph of a bakery at work. The photograph was supplied by my father. It was however not of Irwins' Bakery!

Andrew said...

In Tipperary I enjoyed Grinder, especially when buttered and eaten with white and black pudding. Is there an Ulster equivalent?