[Sca-cooks] Pennsic Bread Baking

[Christina Nevin]

	Pierre Vianney, le Boulanger de Grenoble wrote:
	I am interested in recreating the bread baked by the Egyptians
during the
	time of Moses.  According to contemporary sources, the dough was
baked in
	covered clay pots.  A potter friend of mine made me some pots. I
recently
	received a shipment of sourdough yeast from Giza, Egypt, and I
picked up
	some flour which is alleged to have been made from wheat grown from
seeds
	found in King Tutenkamun's tomb.
	I plan on baking the bread at Pennsic.  If all goes well, and it is
accepted
	by the editors, these experiments will form the basis for a future
article
	in Tournaments Illuminated.
	One of the projected "baking days" is August 14.  That way, if it is
edible,
	I can send a loaf to the Potluck Supper for everyone's critique.
	Clann O'Choda has graciously permitted my family and I to camp with
them.
	Therefore, if you are interested in participating in this
experiment, I
	invite you to please stop by the O'Choda encampment.  By then I
should know
	a bit more about when we will be baking this type of bread.
	I understand O'Choda has its tradional site near the solar showers.


Saluti Pierre!

Well I can't be of much use with the baking (not much of a baker I'm sad to
say), but if you have any Egyptian texts / sources you want looked
at/translated, I can help you there. I have a masters degree in Egyptology,
and some friends still in the field (having long since departed to the
scarcely related, but much better paid field of tech writing, myself) and I
also belong to an academic Egyptology list where I can ask for pointers to
relevant articles or books which might also be of use to you (frustratingly
enough I remember reading a very good article on this about 10 years ago but
sorry to be a tease, I just can't remember where!).

I also understand there is a book out now on the subject:
"Food Fit for Pharaohs" Michelle Berriedale-Johnson; British Museum Press;
ISBN: 0714119296
but I haven't actually seen it. How accurate it is, is an unknown quantity
given that this is the same author who wrote "Berrydale Bear Meets
Chocosaurus the Dinosaur" and "Beat Candida Through Diet" <snerf> (sorry,
couldn't resist that comparison). Anyways, the review on Amazon UK reads
"I had been looking for a book for a while on ancient egyptian food, and I
found this one. Its a lovely book, with fantastic images alongside. The
recipes are simple, and easy to follow, and they even taste good. I can
recommend this not only for cooks, but for followers of egyptology."
which rather gives shades of midevil cooking book critiques but never
mind...

Offtopic aside: You have contemporary sources from the Egyptians dating from
the time of Moses? <snicker> Mmm - get 3 Egyptologists in a room and throw
_that_ topic on the table...it gives off as much blood as 3 starving piranha
in a fish tank and in terms the list can understand, is about as
documentably feasable an accomplishment as dating King Arthur. Just one of
the Great Cuskynole Debates of the Egyptology world... <evil grin>

BTW, what type of flour did you get? (and how?!) Do you know what genus the
wheat is?

Al Servizio Vostro, e del Sogno
Lady Lucrezia-Isabella di Freccia

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Lady Lucrezia-Isabella di Freccia   |  mka Tina Nevin
Thamesreach Shire, The Isles, Drachenwald | London, UK
mailto:thorngrove at yahoo.com | http://www.geocities.com/~thorngrove
"There is no doubt that great leaders prefer hard drinkers to good
versifiers"
- Aretino, 1536
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