[Sca-cooks] cakes

[Terry Decker]

> Bear replied to me with:
>> A two penny loaf is a loaf that can be purchased for two pence.  Under 
>> the
>> Assize of Bread, the weight of the loaf varied by the market price of the
>> grain and the quality of the flour.  For example, in 1329 a two penny 
>> loaf
>> of white bread would have been 7 pounds 10 ounces a voirdupois.  It would
>> have been somewhat less in the latter half of the 17th Century when 
>> Evelyn
>> was cooking.
>
> A *seven* pound loaf of white bread??? That sounds like either an awfully 
> large loaf or rather heavy bread. I just went and checked a fairly 
> standard sized loaf of Dark whole Wheat bread, the only bread currently in 
> my kitchen, and it is only one pound, 8 ounces. And I would expect that to 
> be a bit heavier than a *white* bread.
>
> Stefan

Large loaf.  Remember that the average per capita consumption of grain at 
the time was 2.5 pounds per day washed down by a gallon of malt beverage.

Under the Assize of Bread, the actual weight of the loaf was dependent on 
the cost of a quarter of wheat (8 Winchester bushels or 480 pounds).  The 
higher the cost, the smaller the loaves by weight, the lower the cost the 
larger the loaves by weight.  The Assize of 1329 was based on a 6 shilling 
(72 pence) quarter.

Doing a little checking, I find that Jacobean and later recipes (which 
covers Evelyn) used the convention in recipes of a "penny white loaf" being 
a loaf of 6 to 8 ounces of the finest flour enriched with eggs and milk, 
while an "ordinary penny loaf" is a loaf of slightly coarser flour of 12 to 
16 ounces.  Evelyn's recipe is calling for 24 to 32 ounces of bread.

Bear