SC - Peas, Peas, Beautiful Peas...

[Decker, Terry D.]

> > > Italian Bread - fresh baked by us without a recipe
> > With or without a bigga?
> 
> Educate me, please, I've never heard that term before.
>  :)

A bigga is the Italian baker's term for a leaven.  In the case of Platina,
it's the sourdough starter from the previous batch of bread.  Since a lot of
modern Italian baking uses yeast rather than sourdough, today's bigga is
more often a sponge allowed to ferment for about 24 hours before making the
dough.  The bigga improves the flavor of the bread.

> 
> > BTW, Platina has one of the four period bread
> > recipes that I've found.
> 
> I read through it.  A Laurel friend of mine who is
> associated with the church (Mistress Grania ni
> Fhearguis) volunteered to bake the bread and
> simultaneously teach me to bake without a recipe, so I
> jumped at the chance.
> 
> - Clotild

Actually, baking bread without a recipe isn't difficult.  Basic bread tends
to be 10 ounces of water to 2 pounds of flour to 1 teaspoon dry active yeast
to 1 or 2 teaspoons of salt for about 2 pounds of bread.  Bake at 425 F for
40 to 50 minutes.  Temperature and time change over 3000 feet ASL.

I recently spent an event in an empty kitchen, baking a couple recipes I'd
never tried before, and producing manchet, honey wheat bread, light unseeded
rye, and stollen from memory.  Technically, it was an A&S display, but no
one showed up to discuss the work, so I spent the day playing and the tavern
reaped the rewards.

Bear