SC - SC REC Bara Brith (Welsh)

[cclark at vicon.net]

Maredudd wrote:
>Although this is an important part of my Welsh heritage, and I am aware that
>it is very old, I have never had any inkling that it might be period. But
>I've always wondered. Any ideas?

I don't know if the Welsh documentation goes back that far, but something
much like this was known in later Renaissance England as Great Cakes, Spice
Cakes, Banbury Cakes, or simply Cakes. The standard leavening was ale-barm
(can be simulated with malt syrup, warm water, and baking yeast), the
standard shortening was butter, the usual scale was one peck of flour to a
cake. Recipes come from (among others):

Digby, Sir Kenelm. The Closet Opened. 1669. Digby's collection of recipes
for food and drink, published posthumously. Reprinted in A Collection of
Medieval and Renaissance Cookbooks, Fourth Edition, compiled by Duke
Cariadoc of the Bow, The Duchessa Diana Alene, et al. Chicago, 1987. (I
suppose that it's also in more recent editions.)

Hess, Karen. Martha Washington's Booke of Cookery. Columbia University
Press, New York, 1981. Manuscript written perhaps in the 1650s (with addenda
from later dates), subsequently inherited by Martha Washington, transcribed
and annotated by Karen Hess.

Markham, Gervase. The English Housewife. London, 1615. Modern edition: Best,
Michael. McGill-Queen's University Press, Kingston and Montreal. Printed
book containing recipes for foods, medicines, and other things. 

Spurling, Hilary. Elinor Fettiplace's Receipt Book. Viking, New York, 1986.
Manuscript dated 1604, selectively transcribed and annotated by Hilary Spurling.

I've made a few of these cakes, but never with as much as a peck of flour at
a time!

Alex Clark/Henry of Maldon

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