SC - Payne Puff

[Decker, Terry D.]

> > Date: Fri, 27 Feb 1998 11:21:54 -0800
> > From: david friedman <ddfr at best.com>
> > Subject: SC - Payne Puff
> > 
> > At 10:11 AM +0000 2/27/98, CHRISTINA van Tets wrote:
> > >5.  Pastry:  I did post this some months ago, but it seems that it is
> > >needed again.  Payne puff is mentioned (line 497) in John Russell's
> > >Book of Nurture (Harl. MS 4011), c. 1452, given in F. J. Furnivall's
> > >Early English Meals and Manners, Early English Text Society, London,
> > >1868.  His footnote states that the last recipe in the Forme of Cury
> > >is for payn puff.  His quote, unfortunately, does not appear to be
> > >complete, or to give adequate directions for the pastry.  What he
> > >does provide is this:
> > >        Payn puff, Forme of Cury, # 196
> > >
> > >        Eodem modo fait payn puff.  but make it more tendre 6e past,
> > >and loke 6e past be rounde of 6e payn puff as a coffyn & as a pye.
> > >
> > >Perhaps someone else can help further?
> > 
> > _A Proper Newe Booke of Cokerye_ has a recipe for Panne Puffe (p. 27); I
> > don't know if it is the same thing or not.
> > 
> > Take the stuffe of Stock frytters and for hys paest take a quantitie of
> ale
> > and a lytle yest and Suger, Mace and Saffron, than heate it on a
> > chavyndysche and ut it to youre floure with the yolcke of a rawe agge,
> and
> > so after this maner make up your paest.
> 
> Interesting how slight textual variatons can make a big difference. The
> version of FoC in Curye On Inglysch contains the following:
> 
> "203. The pety peruaunt...
> 
> <I'll omit the filling ingredients for a fairly typical medieval custard
> tart with fruit and marrow>
> 
> ...and loke (th)at (th)ou mak (th)y past with (y)olks of ayren 7 (th)at
> no water come (th)erto; and fourme (th)y coffin and make vp (th)y past."
> 
> Followed by # 204:
> 
> "Eodem modo flat payn puff, but make it more tendre 6e past,
> and loke 6e past be rounde of 6e payn puff as a coffyn & as a pye."
> 
> Either meaning, 'in the same way flat payn puff', etc., or 'in the same
> way make payn puf', assuming "flat" to be an error, and that "fait" was
> intended.
> 
> Anyway, it's not really clear, for certain, whether any other shortening
> is included. All other things being equal, the only way I can think of
> to make the pastry more tender, without adding shortening or sugar
> (neither of which is mentioned for the pastry) is to add more egg yolks
> (i.e. more liquid and more egg yolk shortening), making the dough
> softer, or else to knead it less, or to knead it to the point where the
> gluten is fully developed and then begins to break down. That's quite a
> bit of kneading...maybe Bear could tell us more about that?
> 
> Adamantius
> troy at asan.com
> 
I'm afraid all I can say about over-kneaded, unleavened dough is that it
gets leathery when baked.  Since this is a finished product I try to avoid,
I haven't really experimented with it.  When working with any kind of pastry
dough, I tend to mix the ingredients and knead only enough to get the
desired consistency, not that I'm any great expert with pastries.

Looking at the egg and flour dough recipe, I wonder if this may not have
been a common, utilitarian dough in the 14th and 15th Centuries.  In Maggie
Black's The Medieval Cookbook, she quotes Harleian 279 for a recipe for
Cruste Rolle, which is a griddle cake:

"Cruste Rolle.  Take fayre Flowre of whete; nym Eyroun & breke ther-to &
coloure the past with Safroun; rolle it on a borde also thinne as
parchement, rounde a-bowte as an obyle; frye hem and serue forth; and thus
may do in lente but do away with the eyroun, & nym mylke of Almaundys, and
frye hem in Oyle, & then serue forth."

The egg and flour pastry dough would certainly yield a better tasting
product than flour and water.  I would also expect a dough that could be
used for boiling, frying or baking, depending on the thickness of the dough
and its contents.

While it is not mentioned in the recipe, another trick that could be used to
make the pastry tender is to add sour cream to the mixture, which would add
semi-liquid and butter fat.  Modern pelemi dough uses sour cream in a
standard pastry dough and produces a smooth dough which is easy to roll and
to work.  I will add the caveat that I think using sour cream in this manner
is a recent practice, although I would love to be proven wrong.

Bear 
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