[Sca-cooks] Was bread served warm?

[Terry Decker]

>> > Lonnie D. Harvel wrote:>
>> > Oh, and also, I think warm bread recently from the oven is
>> magnificent.
>> > Would that have occured in any of the SCA periods? I get the
>> impression
>> > the bread arrived sometime during the morning (or afternoon for
>> large
>> > feasts) from the bakery or bake house.
>
> That's a very good question. If you are going to open it to any of  the 
> SCA periods and all classes of society, then I imagine the answer  is yes. 
> However, apparently not in some areas. I seem to remember  comments about 
> bread in some French villages only being baked one day  each week because 
> of the cost of firing up the oven. So, most bread  in that case would have 
> been eaten multiple days old.

This is not a bakery or a manor bakehouse, it is a communal oven manned by 
an ovenkeeper rather than a baker.  It is the method of baking common to 
village to poor or small to have a baker.  Commercial bakers and manor 
bakers worked far more steadily than a village ovenkeeper.

>
>> Poilâne insists that the peak flavor comes forth on the third day.
>
> Who was "Poilâne" and when and where did he live?
>

Lionel Poilane is a modern Parisian artisan baker.

> We do have mentions that trenchers were supposed to me made from  bread 
> that age. They weren't meant to be eaten by the guests, though  and they 
> were probably of a poorer quality of bread anyway. And  texture might have 
> been the reason for this. It seems to me though,  that "peak flavor" and 
> "texture needed for good trenchers" would be  opposing characteristics.
>
>>  Simon Hondy
>
> Stefan

Large loaves retain moisture better than small loaves.  Whole wheat and rye 
retain moisture better than standard wheat flour.  Trencher loaves are small 
loaves between six and eight ounces.  They stale relatively quickly, as do 
manchets.  A modern Parisian baguette is drying out inside of six hours and 
is good only for bread crumbs in three days.  In fact, in France baguettes 
are baked between three and five times a day, so one can get them fresh.

An uncut 1 to 2 pound wheat loaf with a hard crust will last about five 
days.  A similar whole wheat loaf may last about seven days.  Four pound 
loaves may last longer.  An uncut 1 or 2 pound rye loaf can last for months. 
The drier the climate, the shorter the life.

Poilane works largely in sourdough loaves around 1 to 2 pounds which last 
for about a week, thus three day old bread might be at "peak flavor."

Bear