A Brummie institution has been resurrected thanks to bakery lecturers says Richard McComb.

It disappeared off the culinary radar before the Second World War but it’s back from the dead – the original Brummie loaf.

The Birmingham Close Notched Cottage Loaf, based on an ancient Roman-style of bread-making, took off during the Industrial Revolution and boomed in popularity during the early 20th century.

Distinguished from a standard cottage by its multitude of notches, it was famed for its superior crust and flavour. But the Brummie loaf, once part of the fabric of the city, was killed off by the mass production of bread. The intricate notching took too long to complete and the loaf was ditched.

Now the Birmingham loaf has been resurrected thanks to bakery lecturers at UCB, the former College of Food, in Paradise Circus. They will unveil it at next month’s Taste of Birmingham festival in a bid to revive interest in one of the city’s great food traditions. Lecturer Ross Jones, a former college student, will perform bread-making demonstrations at the Heart of England Fine Food’s stand during Taste, which runs from July 9-12 in Cannon Hill Park.

Ross’s colleague, veteran bakery lecturer Cyril Scorse, first came across the original recipe in a book published in the 1890s when he was working as an apprentice. He stumbled across it again recently when he was looking to expand the range of breads produced by the college’s students.

Cyril has a couple of theories as to why the Brummie cottage loaf acquired its trademark close notching.

He says: “One is that it helps you get a far nicer crust, or more crust, because you are increasing the surface area of the crust, which in turn would give a nicer eating feel.

“Also, it is a known fact that the more notches you have on a cottage loaf the more stable it is in the oven. The top is less likely to fall over, so you get a much nicer shaped loaf. The Birmingham cottage loaf would always look much more appealing to the customer and with the amount of crust it would be much more appetising.

“You get a crustier crust that gets your teeth working better and a loaf that is more pleasing to the eye. I always maintain that the customer buys first with their eye and then with the tongue.”

The cottage loaf was traditionally favoured by farming communities as a “space-saving” bread. Their rudimentary ovens tended to have limited width and the cottage loaf was effectively two loaves, one sitting on top of the other, taking full advantage of the relative height of the ovens.

Cyril recounts references to cottage loaves in Roman times and the adoption of the style by English farmers’ wives and housewives. The introduction of the close notch technique was a successful marketing ploy. Cyril adds: “With the advent of commercial bakeries at the time of the Industrial Revolution, we think that the bakers of Birmingham must have thought that it was a plus factor to add extra crust to the loaf, so they adopted it over the years.

“The dough would have been made using locally sourced flour, perhaps from Sarehole Mill in Hall Green or Berkswell windmill or even Avoncroft near Bromsgrove. And of course you had the salt, water and fat. Years ago, the fat would have been lard and of course just down the road in the Black Country they had a ready supply from the pig farmers.”

The addition of salt, water and yeast made the recipe complete and bakers in the loaf’s heyday, in the 1920s and 30s, tended to use the bulk fermentation process. Cyril explains: “They would bring all the ingredients together and mix them and leave it covered for about 40 minutes. They then expelled the gas that had built up from the yeast and let it rest for a further 20 minutes before making it into the cottage loaf shape.

“Nowadays, of course, we don’t use lard. The industry tends to use vegetable fats and we use activated dough developer. This speeds the process up so the bakers are able to mix it and make the cottage loaves straight away. It’s now also common to mix Canadian wheat with local flour to add strength.”

The good news for lovers of great baking is that you don’t have to wait until July to get a taste of the city’s revived loaf. The Birmingham Close Notched Cottage Loaf is sold regularly in the refurbished bakery shop at UCB, which is open to the public. The loaves and cakes on offer vary depending on what the students are working on, so if the Brummie loaf isn’t on the shelves there is likely to be a choice of other tasty breads, from bloomers and spiky “hedgehog” loaves to focaccia.

* Ross Jones will be demonstrating how to make the Birmingham Close Notched Cottage Loaf at Taste of Birmingham at 8pm on July 10 and 3pm on July 11.

* For tickets for Taste of Birmingham, and further details, go to http://taste.visitbirmingham.com