SC - Complaints about Feasts

[Morgan Cain]

I won't make any guarantees, but here are some things to try to keep your
trenchers mold and bug free.

Make your loaves out of flour, water, yeast and salt.  Breads enriched with
oil, milk, eggs, etc. have a greater tendency to mold.  Trenchers are
wastel, so stone ground whole wheat flour with the graham is a good choice
for trencher flour.

Do not wrap the loaves.  Moisture from inside the loaf continues escaping
for about a week.  If you put a moisture barrier around the loaf, the
moisture accumulates in the crust, softening it and making a more hospitable
environment for mold.  Rye loaves hold moisture better than wheat loaves and
stay soft much longer.  

To keep bugs out, put the loaves in a bag of a loose weave cloth like muslin
that can be tied closed.  Hang the bag where it won't get too hot and where
any moisture that is forced out of the bread by the heat will evaporate.

Bear

 

> Now, if I could find some way to keep bread from molding at 
> Pennsic with the 
> moisture in the wrapping (stale bread wouldn't be a problem, 
> but wet, moldy, 
> or buggy bread would), I would think that doing the period 
> thing and using 
> bread trenchers as a plate would satisfy both the desire to 
> eat from period 
> 
> Brangwayna Morgan