[Sca-cooks] Bread for 'trenchers'

[Robin Carroll-Mann]

-----Original Message-----
>From: Terri Morgan <online2much at cox.net>
>
>Greetings, smart and resourceful cooks (note the sucking up?),

Flattery is good.  Money and chocolate are better.  :-)

>   I'm cooking for a tavern event at the end of the month and am reviving
>the old custom of serving the supper on a large trencher. It's been years
>since this was done and there's no record of which bread recipes we used
>back then. (Which is okay, given that our resource base has expanded
>considerably since that time.) I thought I'd send out a cry for comments
>since I'm uncommitted to a particular recipe or culture/time period (this is
>a truly anachronistic, actually pretty much fantasy, tavern, so to cut down
>on my frustration, I'm going with 'poorman's authenticity' rather than beat
>my head against a wall for no purpose).

What you want, essentially, is a bread bowl -- perhaps shallower than usual.  Others may have recipes to recommend, but Googling "bread bowl" brings up a myriad of recipes.

>   Comments? Warnings? 

You're not concerned about authenticity on this point, and that's fine.  I'll just make a few historical observations for "the listening audience".  We know from carving and household manuals, and from pictures, that trenchers were used by the wealthy, possibly as a form of conspicuous consumption.  Trenchers were cut from 3-day old "household bread" -- the less refined loaves which were made for the servants.  Trenchers were neatly-trimmed square slices, which were laid on the table in a four-square pattern, sometimes with a fifth slice on top in the center.  They were used as plates -- pottages and soups would be served in bowls -- and fresh ones were brought in for subsequent courses.  Trenchers were not eaten by the feasters, but may have been placed into the alms bowl to be given to the poor after the meal.  

> Experience on price differences?

Bread is very cheap, so there's no need to use "fillers" just to cut costs.  As someone else observed, whole-grain is not the most popular choice if you want your feasters to eat the interiors of your bread bowls.  The Italian bread I make is dense and chewey, even though I use all-purpose flour.  I buy it at Costco -- $4.83 for a 25 lb. bag.  You might want to add some whole-wheat to give the bread a more peasant feel.  Adding other specialty flours, like millet or barley or bean may drive your cost up, depending on your available sources.  In my area, I would go to an Indian grocery store, where non-wheat flours are cheap, rather than a health-food store where they are sold in small expensive bags.

Bear is *the* bread expert here, and I know he's done a lot of research on trenchers, so I imagine he will chime in with all kinds of useful information.

>hopefully,
>Hrothny

Happy baking!



Brighid ni Chiarain
Barony of Settmour Swamp, East Kingdom