SC - Long-Period food, bread, etc.

[Decker, Terry D.]

>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?

A rotary mill with hard stones leaves microscopic fragments, but that is
what they are--microscopic.  A saddle quern, which operates like a
mortar and pestle, is often made from a soft stone with a harder stone
to do the grinding and does leave grit in the flour, but they were
replaced in Europe by the rotary quern during Roman times and mechanized
milling with hard stones was common by the Medieval period.  Even if the
process did leave a heavy grit, most of that would be removed in the
bolting. 
>
>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.

I've got Markham's recipe and I was planning to experiment with it.  I
do not have the recipe for the rastons and would appreciate it if you
could post it when opportunity permits or if you know where it can be
found online, point me in the right direction.
>
>> 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.

It is two envelopes primarily to get a good rise quickly.  I'd use two
packages if I were going to do the second rise in the refrigerator,
which lets you delay baking for up to twenty-four hours, and one
package, if I were going to do the rise on the counter.  As near as I
can tell, bakers prior to this century used about 1 package of yeast to
2 pounds of flour and made extensive use of sponges and extended rising
times.  Interestingly, the idea of the proper yeast to flour ratio seems
to have differed between regions.  


>> 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.

Most of what I do is heavy yeast breads with fine aeration.  A baguette
is a fairly light bread with extreme aeration and a thin crackly crust,
being heavy handed with the water on baguettes might cause a soggy
crust.  I haven't done a baguette in so many years (having a local
French bakery that makes superb baguettes), perhaps I should do one and
see how badly I err.

Having answered in haste, I did not give a complete commentary, so now I
get to repent at leisure.  The broiling pan I use for this is not a
standard size.  It is very small and shallow, holding about a quart of
fluid.  I put in a pint to 3 cups, bring the oven to temperature, then
slide in the bread.  The normal result is a solid hard crust on the
bread, occasionally, if you will forgive the pun, the crust is
adamantine (this can often be remedied by cooling the bread and storing
it in a plastic bag).  I use this technique primarily on free form round
loaves where I want a heavy crust.  I learned this method twenty odd
years ago from a flimsy little pamphlet on baking which has since
disappeared from my ken.

A French baking technique I recently came across is similar, only the
pan in put in the oven empty.  The oven is then brought to temperature
and allowed to stabilize for 15-20 minutes.  One cup of water is added
to the pan and the oven is closed for 4-5 minutes before the bread is
loaded.  This creates steam early in the baking which then dissipates.
This technique may be better for doing baguettes than the one I use.
I'll be trying it out tomorrow evening.  

>Adamantius
>______________________________________
>Phil & Susan Troy
>troy at asan.com

Bon Chance
Bear
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