SC - Manchet (LONG POST)

[Decker, Terry D.]

WARNING - LONG POST
I said I would post this when I finished experimenting.  Since I'm going
to switch to experimenting with French and Spanish breads (panacea for
depression, the State of Oklahoma has scheduled me into an all day
meeting on the day I would be driving to St. Golias for their yearly
feast), I think I better post this before my notes disappear into my
home singularity.

Commentary on my experiments follows the recipe and notes.

 
                               Fine Manchet

Recipe By     : The Good Huswife's Handmaide for the Kitchen, 1594
Serving Size  : 4-6   Preparation Time :1:00
Categories    : Medieval 

  Amount  Measure       Ingredient -- Preparation Method
- --------  ------------  --------------------------------
   8      ounces        water, warm
   1      ounce         yeast barm
     1/4  teaspoon      salt
   1 1/2  pounds        flour, mixed

Proof 2 teaspoons dry active yeast in 1/2 cup lukewarm (90 to 110
degrees F)  water with a pinch of sugar.  After 15 - 20 minutes, add 1
1/2 cups lukewarm water.  Let stand for 1 hour.  Pour into a clean jar.
Refrigerate.  This is used as a substitute for ale barm.

Decant 1 ounce of the liquid from the yeast barm.  Add to the warm water
in a medium bowl.
Add salt.
Sift 1 pound unbleached white flour and 1/2 pound whole wheat pastry
flour together.
Stir in flour 1/2 cup at a time, until a soft dough forms.  Knead in the
remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time until the dough becomes stiff.  Knead
the dough into a ball.  Cover.
Let rise for 30 minutes.
Divide dough into 4 pieces.  Roll each piece into a ball.
Bake in a preheated oven  at 350 degrees F for 1 hour.


                   - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

NOTES : Take halfe a bushell of fine flour twise boulted, and a gallon
of faire luke warm water, almost a handful of white salt, and almost a
pint of yest, then temper these together without any more liquor, as
hard as ye can handle it:  then let it lie halfe an hower, then take it
up, and make your Manchetts, and let them stande almost an hower in the
oven.  Memorandum, that of every bushell of meale may be made five and
twentie caste of bread, and every loaf to way a pound besyde the
chesill.

>From David, Elizabeth; English Bread and Yeast Cookery.  

A bushel weighs 56 to 60 lbs.  A pint is 20 fluid ozs.  A gallon is 160
fluid ozs.  A caste is 2 to 3 loaves of bread, each loaf equal to 2
manchets.  Chesill is the finer dross seived out in the second boulting,
1 peck (14 lbs.) to the bushel. 

Commentary:  The recipe is approximately 1/20 of the original.  All
baking was done on a terracotta baking stone in an electric oven.  Each
batch was divided into 4 loaves.

The first test was undertaken with 2 pounds of Hodgeson Mills 50/50, 1/4
teaspoon of dry active yeast and 10 ounces of water (the flour was very
dry).  The flour is unsuitable, containing too much bran.  The yeast
failed to activate properly.  The dough was too stiff for much rising.
The result was what I refer to as Francis Drake's Bowling Balls.

I created the barm as a replacement for ale barm, so that I would have a
fully proofed yeast liquor.

The second test used 1 1/2 pounds of whole wheat pastry flour, 1 ounce
of decanted yeast liquor, 8 ounces of water.  I used wet hands to form
the loaves and smooth the crust.  These were baked at 400 degrees F for
45 minutes.  These produced beautiful brown whole wheat loaves which
split across the top during baking.

The third test I replaced the whole wheat flour with 1 1/2 pounds of a 2
to 1 mix of  all purpose flour and whole wheat pastry flour.  This
required nine ounces of water as the all purpose flour was drier than
the whole wheat flour.  Two loaves were formed and allowed to rise
before baking, two loaves were allowed to rise then formed.  No
appreciable difference was found in the end product.  The loaves were
formed with dry hands and scored around the middle to allow for rise in
baking.  These were baked a 350 degrees F for 1 hour.  The results were
very pale loaves with a hard crust and a some what doughy interior.

All of the loaves had an interior which resembled a heavy muffin rather
than what we currently think of as a loaf of bread. 

Manchet was made from the next to finest white flour, twice bolted.  The
whole wheat pastry flour I used would have been the finest flour, but it
isn't white.  Mixing it with all purpose flour makes what I believe to
be a reasonable substitute for fine period flour with its lower germ
extraction ratio.

The goal appears to have been to create a "white" loaf (visually) with a
finer texture than most coarse breads.  Unfortunately, taste appears to
have taken a back seat in this recipe.  This particular recipe should be
served hot from the oven for maximum flavor.

I am of the opinion that these loaves should be formed with wet hands,
as it helps close any fissures in the stiff dough and forms a more
disticntive crust which in turn helps retain moisture in the bread.  The
bread will rise during baking, splitting the hardening crust.  The crust
splits at the weakest points and the wet formed bread will tend to slpit
where it is scored rather than at random.

To improve the bread in keeping with other manchet recipes, I would
triple the yeast barm and increase the rise to 1 hour (ala Gervase
Markham) and replace the water with warm milk or an equal mix of warm
water and warm milk.  I might also add an egg (ala Lady Arundel's
Manchet).  My personal addition would be to add 1/2 teaspoon of salt
rather than 1/4 teaspoon.

To soften the crust, brush melted butter on the loaves before baking.

Enjoy
Bear


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