Roll with it

Yesterday we had tea, so today is a delicacy from Aberdeen that is the perfect accompaniment to a cuppa. The renowned Buttery. AKA The Rowie. Or for the unknowing, an Aberdeen Roll.
This delicious piece of bakery product hearkens back to more austere times and have become a favoured breakfast food for all classes now.

They are noted for their flaky texture and buttery taste (hence the name), similar to a flattened, round croissant, with a very salty taste. They are often eaten toasted with jam or butter, although the high fat content makes them extremely hot when toasted. The fat content is partly lard. In practice commercial production uses vegetable oils instead of butter.
As the alternate name of Aberdeen roll suggests, butteries are a speciality of Aberdeen but they are common throughout the North East of Scotland.
Although many believe they were created in the 1880s, to provide the growing Aberdeen fishing industry a type of high-fat roll which would keep for longer periods at sea than conventional rolls, there are articles in the Aberdeen Journal from much earlier in the 19th century bemoaning the increased use of lard in place of butter in the traditional "butter rolls". Obviously, rowies existed much earlier than suggested.

If you fancy trying to make your own here is a recipe.
Ingredients For Aberdeen Butteries:

250g butter
125g lard
1 tablespoon soft brown sugar
500g flour
2 teaspoons of dried yeast
450ml warm water
Pinch of salt
1. Make a paste from the yeast, sugar and a wee bit of the warm water and set aside.

2. Mix the flour and the salt together. Once the yeast has bubbled up add this and mix well to a dough and leave to rise.

3. Cream the butter and lard and divide into three portions.

4. Once the dough has doubled in size give it a good knead then roll into a rectangle about 1cm thick.

5. Then spread one portion of the butter mixture over two thirds of the dough.

6. Fold the remining third of the dough over onto the butter mixture and fold the other bit over - giving three layers. Roll this back to the original size.

7. Allow to cool for 40 minutes.

8. Repeat stages 5-7 twice more.

9. Cut the dough into 16 pieces and shape each to a rough circle and place on baking trays.

10. Set aside to rise for about 45 minutes then bake at 200c for 15 minutes.
They are delicious, but like a lot of things nice, they are not necessarily good for you.