SC - Long-Period food, bread, etc.

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Decker, Terry D. wrote:
> 
> <deleted>
> > Yes, that last bit sounds insane but I am told there was once a
> >gentleman in Anteorra (perhaps His Holiness Sir Gunthar could confirm or
> >deny this?) who kneaded gravel into his bread because he felt it would
> >make it more authentic.
> 
> I never came across this one, so if it is more than apocryphal, it
> probably occurred very far to the south.

Austin area, I was told, by Dona Iciar Montalban de Montessino, now
living in the East. She said the same individual also added some dirt to
the salad, for similarly misguided reasons.
 
> Obviously this gentle did not study period practices.  No miller would
> put gravel in the flour.  Very fine sand in small quantities is what was
> used to steal flour.  And the baker that did it would have rocks in
> their head as well as in the bread.

Well, I'm not questioning the part about rocks in the head, but this
wasn't an attempt at adulteration of product to increase profits, rather
an attempt to make a reality of a rather peculiar view of period foods.
I believe the idea was that stone ground flour would have some
microscopic fragments of the mill stone in it. Of course, then the thing
to do is get some stone ground flour, and not be a jerk. What can I tell
you?

> The only period bread recipe I know of is the Manchet recipe I've been
> baking and commenting on to the list.  After working with it, I am of
> the opinion it is a "home" recipe rather than something that would have
> been baked by a professional.

There's a good manchet recipe in Markham, technically OOP but probably
conceived within period, if late. There's also the rastons recipe in, I
believe, one of the Two Fifteenth-Century Cookbooks. Sort of a
breadcrumb pudding in the crust of the loaf, but you have to make the
bread first, and instructions are provided.

> To be a little closer to period, I would use a pinch of sugar in the
> water to help start the yeast and leave out the rest of the sugar.  I'd
> probably also use less yeast, but those are just minor arguments of
> technique.

Yup. The nuts and bolts of the recipe are largely inspired by Paula
Peck's "Art of Fine Baking": you'll have to take up sugar quantities
with her. I believe she's dead, though. I agree that you probably can
get by with half the amount of yeast, but this is something I;d advise a
realtively experienced baker to look into. Most modern recipes call for
two envelopes of yeast for a pound loaf.
> >
> <deleted>
> >
> >Beep. Beep. Certified professional baker's trick alert! Keep handy a
> >clean plant mister filled with plain water. Spray the loaf with a fine
> >mist of water just before putting it into the oven. After five minutes,
> >do it again. After another five minutes, do it a third, and final time.
> >This helps develop a good, baguette-like, crust. (If you miss and hit
> >the back or bottom of the oven, instead of the loaf, it really doesn't
> >seem to make a difference, provided you don't extinguish the oven flame.
> >Electric ovens are shielded from this type of thing, and should pose no
> >problem.)
> 
> For a heavier crust, fill a broiler pan with water and put it on the
> lowest rack position.  Bake on the middle rack position.  This will have
> less cracking than a baguette crust.

I've found that a bit of water works well, but too much will produce a
soggy, steamed crust. Again, this is probably more a matter of personal
preference than empirical superiority.

> That's a good set of instructions.  Thanks for the post.
> 
> Bear

My pleasure. I usually don't have time to sit and do something like
that, but today I did...

Adamantius
______________________________________
Phil & Susan Troy
troy at asan.com
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