[Sca-cooks] Breakfast Bread Muffin Pastry

[david friedman]

Gwen Cat asked:

>I am looking for breakfast items that require no refrigeration and will
>  be edible for 3-4 days with no special attention.  A period
>equivalent of the lemon poppyseed muffin or cinnamon roll so to speak. 
>Something that can be eaten out of hand, with breakfast beverage of
>choice, and not be too complicated or messy.
>
>Yes Stephan, I did look through the Bread file in the Floreligium,
>and there are some ideas in there.  Are Scones actually period?  But I
>wont be able to provide clotted cream or butter because of the lack of
>refrigeration, so was afraid they might be too dry.   Any ideas and
>recipes would be much appreciated.

Favorites of ours include Digby's current cakes ("An Excellent Cake; 
17th century) and khushkananaj (13th c. Islamic pastries with an 
almond-sugar filling) and hais (date balls); recipes in our 
Miscellany. All scone and muffin recipes I have seen involve baking 
powder or baking soda, which were discovered well out of our period. 
Of the things I mention above, the current cakes have yeast in them, 
the khushkananaj is either sourdough raised or unleavened (the recipe 
isn't clear) and the hais are not leavened. There is a very elaborate 
cinnamon-dried fruit roll (To Make a Stuffed Tortillon) from a 
late-period Spanish source which is a large enriched yeast bread with 
filling; I don't know how well that keeps because we have never had 
it last that long.

Elizabeth of Dendermonde/Betty Cook