By Keighley’s Mike Armstrong, an award-winning master baker with a big passion for baking. See facebook.com/bakermike001

NOTHING says summer like cream teas and traditional Devonshire splits crammed with homemade jam and clotted cream – it knocks the boring scone into a cocked hat!

This week's recipe is a rare treat these days. The dough is easy to make, it is little more than a bread dough but enriched with butter and a little sugar. The Devonshire split texture is so light, with a crust colour more golden brown than David Dickinson! And they do keep well, so you could probably freeze some for another day.

There will be much fruit ripening over the coming months, with the summer fruits going in the boiling pot with equal amounts of sugar to fruit and a little water to keep us in jam for immediate eating or to last us over the winter months – something which will also provide contrast for the clotted cream that seems to appear this time of year in tiny shops, tearooms and post offices. And there are scones of course – few of us will turn up our noses at a true cream tea.

Devonshire splits are no stranger to me, having made them at their popular height in the seventies – the ones lightly dusted with icing sugar, split and filled with homemade jam and crammed full of clotted cream. They became true to their name only when splitting them on the bread board on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Most people will find enriched doughs can be a bit of a chore, beating in copious amounts of butter to make Brioche dough. These little buns are easy and immense fun to make with a bit of a cheeky character. They rise, dreamlike, within an hour, and judging from the lack of splits today, we may as well make them ourselves – but not a tennis ball sized one!

Over one hundred years ago the Devonshire split had an alternative name, Chudleighs, connected to a small market town in Devon. In the bread world the term 'split' can refer to a loaf or roll that has been encouraged to tear open by a single knife slash running down the middle of the loaf. The Devonshire split features a horizontal cut yielding a bottom half and a top half as it is split in two. If you do decide to make some, heap on the jam and cream, and enjoy with lashings of tea. After all, afternoon tea is not about skimping on our Yorkshire tea!

RECIPE

DEVONSHIRE SPLITS

Makes 12 (or half the recipe for less)

Ingredients:

500g strong bread flour

Half teaspoon salt

25g/1oz caster sugar

20g/3/4oz fresh yeast, or 10g fast action

25g/1oz butter

320ml/10.5fl oz lukewarm milk

1 egg for washing

To serve:

300ml/10fl oz whipped cream

Strawberry or raspberry jam

Icing sugar, for dusting

Method:

1. Place the flour, salt, sugar and dried yeast if you are using it into a large mixing bowl and rub in the butter to fine breadcrumbs.

2. Dissolve the fresh yeast into the milk and add to the mixing bowl to form a rough dough.

3. Knead the dough well for around 8 minutes till smooth and silky and return to the bowl and cover with a tea towel, allowing an hour to rise.

4. Divide the dough into 12 balls and place onto buttered baking trays and leave to rise again for 20 minutes.

5. Preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan, Gas Mark 5 and bake the bread buns for around 15-20 minutes until golden brown.

6. Transfer onto a cooling wire before cutting a diagonal split through each bun, filling with jam and cream and serving with a dusting of icing sugar.