SC - Re: Lovage
alysk@ix.netcom.com
alysk at ix.netcom.com
Mon Feb 21 14:08:01 PST 2000
And it came to pass on 21 Feb 00,, that Philip & Susan Troy wrote:
> Does it say anything about when (i.e. in relation to other semi-known
> quantities such as bread, pies, etc.) to bake these puppies? A lot of
> English recipes will say to put these in after the manchets come out, or
> some such.
Alas, no. This recipe is in the _Manual de Mugeres_. The baking
instructions are:
"E despues cozeldos en vuestro horno bien cozidos. Y como lo sean,
sacadlos; y tapad el horno y dexandlos reposar media hora o una. Y
despues tornadlos al horno y dexadlos estar IIII o V oras"
Or, in English, "And then cook them in your oven until they are well
cooked. And when they are, remove them; and stop up the oven and let
them rest half an hour or one hour. And then return them to the oven
and leave them be for 4 or 5 hours."
That's it.
> > They have a high sugar content, and brown quickly, so I wonder if I
> > should be going for a faster bake at a higher temperature, then dry them
> > in a very low oven (100F-250F???).
>
> Alternately, you might cook them at the same temperature for just a hair
> less, then dry them.
Or maybe lower. I just looked at some of the bizcocho recipes in
Granado. Those have a lot of egg in them, whereas my current recipe
has none, but both have a 2-1 flour-sugar ratio. Granado calls for an
oven that is not very hot, and the bizcocho slices (like traditional
biscotti) are put back into a very temperate oven for the second baking.
> You might see if you can find a meringue recipe
> geared for an electric oven; it seems as if the recipe is geared toward a
> crisp but not really brown cookie.
I kept looking on the web for recipes for twice-baked or long-baked
cookies. I kept finding two kinds: biscotti, which are in a thick loaf for
the first baking, and meringues. *These* biscotti are "panecillos" (little
rolls) that flatten out into cookies, and they are made from a dense,
yeast-leavened dough with no eggs. So I really wasn't sure if I could
apply the times and temperatures to such vastly different creatures.
>I think you're on the right track,
> though. Another possibility you might experiment with is placing a few
> ordinary bricks in the bottom of the oven; they may help hold the heat and
> keep it stable.
I have a pizza stone which lives more-or-less permanently on the bottom
rack; that should have a similar effect, no?
I see that I baked my other bizcochos (the sugar-cookie ones from
Granado) at 325. Those, however, were once-baked, and were not
supposed to get brown or crisp. I think I'll try dropping the temperature
down to 300, then maybe finishing up at 250.
I also plan to cut waaaaay back on the rising times. Yesterday, I
dutifully gave the bizcochos the specified 2-3 hours followed by 3-4
hours, only to discover that the darn things don't rise until they're in the
oven, anyway. Since Granado calls for rising times of 2 hours followed
by 1 hour for *his* yeast-leavened bizcochos, I think I'm justified. (And I
suspect modern yeast is more potent.)
Thank you for the suggestions. I'll post an update after the next
experiment.
Lady Brighid ni Chiarain
Settmour Swamp, East (NJ)
mka Robin Carroll-Mann
harper at idt.net
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