SC - Trenchers Oh my!

[Decker, Terry D.]

> According to Food and Drink in Medieval Poland, by Maria Dembinska, edited
> and with recipes by William Woys Weaver, Polish bread was leavened with a
> yeasty substance that Weaver calls 'thick beer' (p120, p183), which also
> was used to make beer. The recipe included in the book by Weaver calls for
> a sourdough mixture:
> 
> 2 c. hops tea
> 2 c. German wheat beer (Hacker-Pschorr in this case)
> 1 c. spelt flour
> 1 c. barley flour
> combined and left to sit, uncovered (for five days in this case) until it
> begins to bubble.
> 
I wonder about this mix.  The hops and wheat beer would make it fairly
bitter while the ratio of liquid to flour would make this a batter.  Since
Ed Wood has obtained a continuous sourdough starters from Russia and
Scandinavia, I suspect this may be a bad modern "mock-up" of Polish
sourdough.

> Weaver's re-created recipe calls for a flour mixture of 7 c. spelt
> flour/whole wheat mixed with 8 c. of stone-ground rye. I halved the
> quantities, and mixed 3.5 c. spelt and 4 c. rye. However, I ended up using
> an additional 3 c. rye in order to get a dough that was kneadable (sticky,
> but still kneadable, instead of sticking to everything but itself)
> 
This 50/50 maslin mix produces a common rye.  For trenchers, I would have
expected something closer to 75/25 rye to wheat.  The fact the mix was very
sticky suggests that there was too much liquor to the volume of wheat, as
does the fact that you made it kneadable by adding more flour. 

> Using the leaven obtained as described above, I created a bread sponge:
> 1 c. 'thick beer' (above), 3 and 1/4 c. flour mixture, 1/4 ounce active
> dry yeast proofed in 1/2 c. lukewarm water (Note: I am unsure why
> Weaver adds this additional yeast), 2 c. room temperature water.
> 
The yeast is added to insure a rise.  This is a modern trick used by bakers
who must have rise (usually in commercial kitchens) or by people who know
very little about sourdough baking.  This further suggests the "thick beer"
is a modern approximation.

> Mix to smooth consistency, cover and let sit about 11 hours.
> 
> Dough: punch down sponge and add 2 tsp salt to remaining flour mixture.**
> Knead remaining flour mixture. Knead for 20 minutes. Set aside and allow
> to rise again until doubled. Punch it down and knead again. Mold into
> loaves. Cover and allow to rise.
> 
Okay.  I think you will find your 3 to 1 flour to liquor mix by volume is
about 2 to 1 by weight, which is a fairly common ration for bread making.

> Place loaves on greased sheets and slash pattern into the top of loaf.
> 
I doubt if this would be done for a trencher.  It would compromise the
solidity of the crust.

> +I don't know if tops of the loaves were slashed in medieval Poland, but I
> recall pictures of medieval breads with slashed tops. Weaver says that
> bread stamps or signs of the cross were used (Dembinska, p182)
> 
> Jadwiga Zajaczkowa, mka Jennifer Heise
> jenne at tulgey.browser.net
> 
Probably not for a trencher.  Table loaves are a different matter.

Bear