[Sca-cooks] Gyngerbrede.

[Ruth Frey]

> From: "Gwynydd Of Culloden" <gwynydd_of_culloden at yahoo.com>
>
> I have to say, though, that I have been making Gyngerbrede for some time now
> and I gave up following the proportions in ANY redaction ages ago.  I think
> that some breadcrumbs hold more or less honey than others.  I simply keep
> adding breadcrumbs to my slightly boiled honey until it can't hold any more
> which gives the right (to me) texture and keeps the sweets able to be eaten
> without serious risk to teeth.  Is this what basically happens with your
> redaction?

	Pretty much.  I've been having good luck with reproducible
results as far as measurments go, but that may be because I'm
consistently using crumbs from one single bakery.  Bread from
other sources might react differently with the honey, requiring
some adjustment each time.
	The end texture I get is firm, but still slightly
flexible/malleable, and chewy, with a slight crunch.

> I also tend to add the spices (and colouring) to the honey before I start
> stirring in the breadcrumbs, as you have done here (and as, I was pleased to
> see - because it means I have been doing it "right" all along! - it is done
> in the sources given on Gode Cookery.  Thank you for that!  As you no doubt
> know, that is not how it is done the original in Pleyn Delit).

	Spices are added to the honey before adding crumbs
in the original from _take a Thousand Eggs or More_, too
(that may be the same original as the Gode Cookery original;
I *think* the two are different, but I don't have all my
documentation with me at the moment).
	The "other way" of doing things (which is in the PD
original, and also in an Elizabethen recipe I have) is to knead
the spices in after adding the bread.  It seemed like a great way
to make a mess and scald one's hands (since gyngerbred is best
worked with pretty hot, at least the way I make it), so I went
with the spices first.
	Whether that's "right" or not, I have no idea.  My
redaction is a mutant blend of several recipes.

> . . . It should bend and then
> break along the score marks and the pieces can be rolled (at some risk of
> damage to hands - breadcrumbs are sharp!) into balls if required.  I do find
> it essential to score it before it has cooled completely.

	Same here.  Cutting when it's cooled just doesn't work.
I haven't tried rolling it into balls after it's cooled -- I get
the impression that my version might be a little too solid to
get away with that.  Rolling it into balls *before* it's cooled
is painful (having tried that *once*!).
	Random side note: the Elizabethen recipe I have describes
kneading the dough and then pressing it into a mold to shape it.
Unless Elizabethen cooks had cast-iron hands, I'm guessing their
version ended up being much more malleable when it cooled, sort of
a play-doh type texture.  It would be possible, with fine enough
crumbs and the right proportions, I think.
	But I digress . . .

> In my experience, it keeps pretty much indefinitely at room temperature.  I
> over-spiced (to my taste) a batch (hey, who knew that there was such a thing
> as too much cinnamon?) more than a year ago and my Lady is STILL eating it
> with no ill-effects

	Heh.  I also managed to add way too much cinnamon
once.  Fortunately, a lady in our group just adored the stuff,
so she managed to take care of most of it.  Everyone else took
a bite and started coughing . . . (I've really tortured the
local group getting this recipe right!).

	Oh, a note I forgot in the original post: about saffron.
Saffron is *universally* present in Period gyngerbrede recipes
(as I recall), but when I tried adding it in "usual saffron
quantities" (a few threads per recipe) the rest of the spices
pretty well overwhelmed it.  That indicates, to me, that either
the Period recipes actually used a lot less of the other spices
than the modern mind expects for gyngerbrede, or else Medieval
cooks used whopping great amounts of saffron (relatively speaking).
For this redaction, not being wealthy enough to toss saffron
around too freely, I simply left the stuff out as a cost-cutting
measure.  Sometime when I have a lot of saffron on hand, I might
try adding it to this recipe in a sufficient amount to be noticed.
Either that, or, when I have a lot of time, I might try a second
redaction, adjusting the spices to make saffron in more usual amounts
noticeable.

		-- Ruth