#which is also like 'but you're such a FUCKED UP PERSON mel you'll NEVER be able to write something soft and cute and straightforward'

[musical-chick-13]

Once again questioning everything re: writing.

[becausegoodheroesdeservekidneys]

Had to look up what a bakestone was, if this is your super secret masterplan to make people knowledegable about Wales via funny tumblr content it's working, now I'm wondering whether people still largely use them and whether there's any difference to pans with the results you're getting? Also do you just put it on the stove like a regular pan? How does this work?

The master plan is working

Oh people very much use them! I wouldn't say every person in Wales has a bakestone, but they are a fair unremarkable thing for someone to own tbh. You own one if you're a baker on the reg. If you're the sort to own fancy cutters and four different types of flour and six different types of sugar and vanilla paste instead of extract, and you have an expensive food processor and Proper Knives, then yeah, you'll have one, most likely. Plus, any bakery that sells Welshcakes uses one. Swansea market has a stall where you can literally watch the nice lady make them - she's got a fucking massive bakestone there, and makes them throughout the day so you buy fresh.

It's very rare for people to make anything other than Welshcakes on them these days. I've made Scotch pancakes on mine before, and I know people who do crepes, and a woman Steff used to work with has three - one for meat, one for fish, one for cake. Oh, and I used to make bara planc on mine sometimes? And bara mel, both of which are bread loaves, but they're denser than most modern breads because they're very much poverty foods from The Past. Tasty tho.

I find there is a difference between a bakestone and a pan-cooked Welshcake - the cooking process is different, and so it does make a small difference in the final product. A bakestone is thick, you see. The generic type most people own these days looks like this:

So, about quarter of an inch of cast iron, which holds an incredibly stable and even temperature. Traditional non-commercial ones are often thicker again. Mine is a family heirloom, really - I inherited it (via competition, I had to make better Welshcakes than my dad lol suck it dad) from my grandmother, and it was originally made for her in 1921 by her brother, who worked at Llanwern Steelworks at the time. It's a full inch thick, and it's the absolute best. Whereas pans are way, way thinner, so while they do work and are absolutely fine, they also don't produce quite the same steady temperature.

Anyway - yes, on the stove like a regular pan. I have to give mine a full hour to heat up before use, so I generally put it on and then make the dough and roll it and cut it, to reduce waiting around. You also have to be very careful with cleaning them - the surface needs to be seasoned (a combination of butter and salt that you apply to a super hot bakestone and smoke fills your kitchen so you have to have the windows open) and you don't want to clean that back off again, nor accidentally rust one. Also, Welsh kids are taught young to never touch the bakestone because it might still be hot so if you walk up to one and touch it you get a row off your nan, that's how it works.

Anyway, I think that's everything! I had a quick look in case anyone is about to ask and apparently John Lewis sell them for £26 these days, which is surprisingly cheap.