Crackling bread

Method

1. Heat the oven to 220°C/fan200°C/gas 7. Dry the pork skin with kitchen roll, then sprinkle both sides generously with sea salt. Lay the pork skin on a metal rack set over a deep baking tray and cook in the oven for 30-40 minutes until crisp and dark golden. When a decent layer of fat has collected in the bottom of the tin, pour it off and reserve. When the crackling is done, leave to cool completely, then break off 50g and crush into very small pieces using a rolling pin or hammer (put the crackling into a plastic bag first).
2. Heat the oven to 190°C/fan170°C/gas 5. Generously grease a 20cm round by 4cm deep, heavy iron skillet or 20cm cake tin with 2 tbsp of the reserved melted pork fat and put it in the oven to heat. Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl with the crushed crackling. In a jug, mix the buttermilk with the egg and egg yolk, melted butter and 30g of the reserved fat, then stir this into the dry ingredients to form a thick batter.
3. Pour the batter into the heated skillet or tin and bake in the oven for 20 minutes, then reduce the heat to 170°C/fan150°C/gas 3½ and cook for another 10 minutes until the edges are golden and crisp, and a skewer pushed into the middle comes out with only a few crumbs. Rest the bread in the pan for 30-40 minutes, then cut into wedges and serve.
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