SC - cheese

[Stefan li Rous]

Bear replied to my comments:
> > Conversely, bread was often round instead of our straight sided loaves
> > because, again, it was cooked in the oven without a pan.
> > 
> > Lord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
> 
> Common loaves were often round because the dough was worked into a ball and
> allowed to rise, softening the ball to flat bottom and a domed upper crust.
> This is shown in various woodcuts and paintings.  It does not preclude other
> free-formed shapes such as the batard, a long wide loaf.  In fact, I suspect
> the bakery practice of different types of bread being different shapes and
> sizes goes back to the Middle Ages.

Yes, I realized when I wrote this that other shapes such as the long, "French"
loaf shape were also cooked without pans. That was specifically why I
added the "straight sided" portion. I guess I've got to figure another
way to say this.
 
> As for loaf pans, some of the bread from Pompeii was obviously formed with a
> circular pan (probably terra cotta) making heavy indentations for easy
> seperation.

Yes, these are very general comments to which exceptions can probably
always be found. Pompeii is however not in the medieval time period.
While it existed then, I doubt there was too much bread making going
on.

Since clay was available, I wonder why it wasn't used for either
bread or pie pans? Does cooking bread in a pan have particular
advantages besides shape and vice-versa, what advantages does
baking bread without a pan have? Why spend the time and resources
to make a coffin crust each time you make a pie when a clay container
would ease that or even eliminate the crust?

- -- 
Lord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
Mark S. Harris             Austin, Texas           stefan at texas.net
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****