Oui, c’est ooh la blaa!
QUESTION
Why is blaa bread so called? THE soft, white floury and very tasty roll known as a blaa, which has its origins in Waterford, probably derives its name from the French.
It’s said that French Huguenots who settled in Waterford in 1693 brought a particular style of bread roll with them from France, called pain blanc.
It soon proved popular in Waterford and has remained so ever since, but local people in the city quickly corrupted the name to ‘blaa’ .
There’s another possible explanation: in present day French, the word ‘blé’ means corn, but to any baker in France, it specifically means ‘wheat’.
So the word blaa could equally have been derived from the word blé. It has Latin origins and in Spanish, the word means ‘soft’ , which is precisely what blaa rolls are.
When the Huguenots brought their white bread rolls to Waterford, they created a taste sensation, because most of the bread baked in Ireland at the time was dark- coloured crumb. The original blaa rolls were oval, but these days, they are usually round. During the baking process, the round pieces of dough are put close together on the baking tray and during fermentation, the round pieces batch together so that they bake out in a square shape.
Before the dough is baked, it is dusted with lots of white flour, which doesn’t lose its colour during baking. Blaas have a lengthy proving process before baking, which creates the unique flavour. A traditional blaa should contain no preservatives or other artificial ingredients, but some bakers are using modern highspeed no-time systems, which means that there is no natural dough fermentation. The end result is an absence of the traditional flavour.
About 12,000 blaas are baked daily in Waterford, with production sold out by the end of lunchtime. Originally, these rolls were eaten at breakfast time, just as many French people eat baguettes for breakfast. These unique rolls are made by several bakeries in and around Waterford city, as well as by such renowned bakeries in Co. Waterford as Barron’s in Cappoquin, where they are baked in traditional Scotch brick ovens. They are also replicated in Kilkenny and Clonmel.
Towards the end of 2013, the European Commission awarded the terms ‘ Waterford blaa’ and ‘blaa’ protected designation of origin status. The campaign to protect the floury rolls had been going on for nearly two years previously and the status means that bakers can only use the term ‘blaa’ if it is baked in Waterford.
These days, the breakfast blaa, eaten with butter, is still more popular in Waterford than the breakf ast roll. It’s also used during mid-morning and lunch breaks, with a wide variety of fillings. Rashers of bacon, another Waterford creation, invented by Henry Denny about 1820, are popular, along with a type of luncheon sausage called ‘Red Lead’.
Another popular filling is sliced ham and it has long been popular for local people to eat ham blaas by the side of the road before a GAA match in the county.
By their very nature, these rolls have to be eaten very fresh, not long after they are baked, because they don’t keep for long.
Despite the industrialisation of so much modern food production, the traditional Waterford blaa has managed to retain its popularity. Seán Lynch, by email.
QUESTION Did the Germans develop any helicopters during World War II? THE Germans developed several helicopters and autogyros before and during World War II but only two genuine helicopters (machines with powered blades) went into production during the war.
On February 19, 1938, German avi- atrix Hanna Reitsch demonstrated the capabilities of the helicopter to a packed audience at Berlin’s vast Deutschlandhalle arena. This was the public debut of the FockeAchgelis Fa 61, the world’s first practical, controllable helicopter.
It was an unusual-looking machine – a single radial engine drove twin rotors set on wing-like tubular steel outriggers. Each main rotor consisted of three articulated, tapered blades, driven by the engine though gears and shafts. Reitsch repeated the performance on 14 successive evenings and newsreel footage was widely disseminated for propaganda purposes.
Only two prototypes of the experimental Fa 61 were built, though it set several records for altitude, speed and flight duration. Neither prototype survived the war but there is a full-size replica of one at the German Helicopter Museum in Bückeburg.
Its successor was the big two-rotor Focke-Achgelis Fa 223 Drache (kite) transport helicopter, the Fa 223, designed to carry four passengers or lift 900kg. It was the first helicopter to carry a gun armament, a nosemounted 7.9mm MG15 machine gun. It was intended to be used for potentially hazardous tasks such as rescuing downed pilots or inserting special forces.
Flight tests began in August 1940 and revealed problems, including poor low-speed controllability, which took two years to correct. The Luft- waffe had planned to build up to 400 a month but Allied bombing disrupted production and only 37 were built, of which 11 were flown.
However, they were so highly regarded that a Drache was Otto Skorzeny’s first choice for the mission to rescue Mussolini from a mountaintop hotel in September 1943. In the event, the machine broke down and a plane was used instead.
As the German Kriegsmarine had no aircraft carriers, the helicopter seemed a good option as an antisubmarine weapon carrier that could be launched from a small vessel, and as an observation craft.
The Kriegsmarine backed helicopter engineer Anton Flattener, placing an order in 1940 for the Fl 265 – a small, versatile machine with two intermeshing rotors.
This never got past the experimental stage and was succeeded by the two-seat Fl 282 Kolibri (hummingbird), which was used operationally in the war, both for general liaison purposes and from various ships for scouting and anti-submarine reconnaissance i n the North, Baltic, Aegean and Mediterranean Seas.
Although 1,000 were ordered in 1944, Allied bombing and a lack of skilled labour meant that only 24 were completed by the end of the war. Three survived: one is on display at the Midland Air Museum in Coventry. Adrian Bennett, Falmouth,
Cornwall.
QUESTION
Is ‘the Empty Quarter’ still empty? THE Rub al-Khali or Empty Quarter, three times the size of Britain, covers 250,000 square miles of uninterrupted sand. The Sahara is larger but only 20 per cent sand, the rest being mostly bare rock.
Most of the Rub al-Khali lies in Saudi Arabia, with the rest spread through Yemen, Oman and the UAE. It is one of the most extreme environments on the planet. On an average summer day the temperature can reach 55C and the sand dunes rise to 1,000ft. Very few modern explorers have crossed it.
This desert is probably now more ‘empty’ than when it acquired the name. Satellite images show ancient traces of camel tracks crossing it, possibly transporting frankincense or other goods to the lost desert city of Ubar.
These are thought to date from about 300BC, when conditions were probably more benign.
There are no permanent human settlements in the Rub al-Khali. Nomads such as the Al Murrah exist on the fringes but are gradually disappearing into cities.
There is other life on the desert fringes. Recent scientific expeditions have identified 31 new plant species and varieties and 24 species of bird. Gazelles, oryx, sand cats and spinytailed lizards are some species that survive in this extreme environment.
Several rich oil fields lie in the eastern extreme of the Rub al-Khali, and tour operators, some Bedouinowned, run camping trips into the desert fringes.
Mr G. Angel, Edinburgh.