Barm

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Barm, a word derived from the old English for yeast, is the foam, or scum, formed on the top of liquor when fermenting. It was used to leaven bread, or set up fermentation in a new batch of liquor. Barm, as a leaven, has also been made from ground millet combined with must out of wine-tubs [1] and is sometimes used in British baking as a synonym for a natural leaven.[2]

Barm or barm cake is also the preferred terminology for a bread roll that resembles (but is by no means the same as) a hamburger bun.

"Barmy" is also British slang for "crazy", comparing the foamy texture of barm to the perceived emptiness of such a person's head.

[edit] Notes and references

  1. ^ Botham's of Whitby The story behind a loaf of bread
  2. ^ Reinhart, Peter. Crust and Crumb. Berkeley, CA: Ten Speed Press, 1998, ISBN 1580088023.