[Ansteorra] folklore and wive's tales: fact or fallacy

[Stefan li Rous]

On Jan 20, 2005, at 10:06 AM, Michael Gunter wrote:
>> Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom 
>> of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or 
>> "upper
>>> crust."
> Sort of. Although a decent bread was not burnt on the bottom. The top
> portion of a loaf was usually given to the highest ranking person. I 
> think this
> was probably more ceremonial than practical. But the upper part of a 
> loaf
> of even well-baked bread would be more delicate than the bottom.

In a medieval, single chamber oven, you build a fire in the chamber to 
heat the stonework of the oven. You then rake out the coals and the 
ash, place your loaves in the oven and close the oven up for baking. 
The bread was not cooked in pans. Thus the bottom of the bread loaf may 
have been slightly more soiled than the top. It would seem to be 
difficult to get out *all* ash. However, while different classes got 
different qualities of bread, this appears to have been done by the 
quality of the wheat or other grain used in the loaves, not by dividing 
a particular loaf.

Stefan

PS: See the breads-msg and ovens-msg files in the Florilegium for more 
details.
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas          
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****