SC - Oven temperatures

[Robin Carroll-Mann]

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