SC - SC: Panisses and other flat breads

[Elysant at aol.com]

- -Poster: <Elysant at aol.com>
 
>  The fact that there are some things that people today won't eat really
>   doesn't prove that these things weren't eaten by our period forebears.
>   Flour-and-water dough is one of them. Note that I'm not saying such
>   dough was regularly eaten. But if it was, so what?    

In one of the modern cookbooks I have there is piece somewhat related to this 
topic.  I had seen the author several times on the TV and heard her talk 
about some of the evolution of various dishes.  Sadly in the book she does 
not give a bibliography :-(   

" In all the cuisines of the world you will find wonderful things made with 
bread dough.  In  France we call them gallettes, and they are made mostly 
with a handful of bread dough topped with whatever is available.  (One of the 
most curious is the Savoie gallette covered with la-crutz (skimming of the 
butter one would melt for winter storage) mixed with a bit of honey.  In 
Provence, the panisses are made of chick pea flour and bread dough and 
flavored with wonderful Mediterranean flavorings such as orange-flower water 
and anise.  In Brittany, they refine unleavened bread dough to make sweet 
gallettes, first cousins to the Celtic and Viking butter shortbreads....  The 
panisses of Provence may very well have been created ten thousand years ago 
in one of the many early settlements along the Mediterranean that have been 
studied".  
 

Panisses with Honey and Olive Oil (OOP)
Yields apporximately 8 pannisses

3 cups sifted flour
3/4 cup olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons orange-flower water
2 teaspoons dried orange peel
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup honey
1/4 teaspoon thyme
Water as needed (approximately 1 cup)

Make a well in the flour, add the olive oil, orange-flower water, peel, salt, 
honey, and dried thyme.  Add 3/4 cup of water and dissolve the honey in it.  
Gradually mix all the ingredients, adding more water as needed for 
consistency, until the dough holds together or forms a ball and will roll out 
 like pie dough.  Put the dough to rest in the refrigerator for thirty 
minutes, then roll it onto a large sheet, 1/4 inch thick if you can.  Cut 
into three and a half inch circles, pull each circle to elongate it into an 
oval and cut three slits in the center.  Bake in a preheated oven until 
crisp, about 10 minutes.  Cool and store in tins.

(from Madeleine Cooks by Madeleine Kamman)
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