[Sca-cooks] question about breads

[Volker Bach]

Am Samstag, 4. Juni 2005 06:41 schrieb Stefan li Rous:
> Bear commented:
> > Period breads don't use sugar.
>
> I'm curious why you are so sure of this. I realize that sugar probably
> wasn't cheap enough until at least the 16th century to be used this
> way. There seem to awfully few recipes though to make this statement
> from. Or do you have some other information that indicates this?
>
> In a regular, modern bread how much sugar is used? I assume this is a
> small quantity used for something other than sweetening the bread. Is
> this for the yeast? Or is this similar to what we discussed here
> before, where just a touch of sugar doesn't really sweeten the taste of
> item, but brings out other flavors?

I've used a teaspoon of sugar to get yeasts started in pizza crust and herb 
bread without undue effect, so I don't think you can taste it after baking. 
That said, the point is (acording to my mother and great-aunt) to give the 
yeast 'something easy to eat', so presumably the sugars (disaccharides, IIRC) 
get converted first, so that then the growing yeast cultures tackle the 
starches better (polysaccharides).

I would still doubt that this technique is period for bread, for a number of 
reasons. 

sugar was valued highly as a flavourant. Any technique in which its flavour is 
lost strikes me as wasteful from that perspective. 

the main item saved on when using sugar to 'start' yeast is time. Now that I 
have taken to starting my yeast doughs a day or two before use rather than 
the same morning (like my mother does), I don't use sugar any more and they 
turn out fine. The middle ages don't strike me as an age much concerned about 
losing time. 

in period, something could be addressed as 'sweet' or 'cake' by virtue of 
being made with eggs, cream and fresh butter. No other sweetening was 
required. I doubt that baked goods involving any kind of sweetening would 
have been understood as 'bread' rather than 'cake' by many. Of course by our 
standards, period 'cakes' can look more like what we think of as 'bread'

A point in favour: they serve sugar-and-spice-strewn white bread at the Olde 
Hansa medieval restaurant in Talinn and it's very good. I have no 
documentation for it whatsoever, but it is still good. And remember, we were 
all sure they didn't use flavored butter till the Wolfenbüttel MS turned 
up :)

Giano


	

	
		
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