[Sca-cooks] Was bread served warm?

[Simon Hondy]

> > Yeah warm from the oven is great, but was it not a common
> > perception that
> > bread freshly baked was unhealthy?  Bad for the humors?
>
> Oh? I don't remember anyone mentioning this before. References?

"Bread should be well-baked in an oven and not used the same day, "
(whole few sentences below)

Let the baker be careful not to put in too much or too little leaven, for,
from the former, bread can acquire a sour taste, and, from the latter, it
can become too heavy to digest and too unhealthy, since it binds the bowels.
Bread should be well-baked in an oven and not used the same day, nor is it
especially nourishing when made from very fresh wheat and if it is digested
slowly."

De honesta voluptate, book I.14, Platina, Venice L. De Aguila, 1475
Source: Platina: On Right Pleasure and Good Health. Tempe: Medieval &
Renaissance Texts, 1998. ISBN 0-86698-208-6.

(from The Mad Baker's web site :
http://www.whirlwind-design.com/madbaker/breadfaq.html)


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

As Bear answered a Baker who owns and operates several bakeries in Paris,
now, modern day.
http://www.poilane.fr/

My reference of his comes from Peter Reinhart's book "The Bread Baker's
Apprentice"
Published by: Ten Speed Press, 2001  page 13 near the end of the third
paragraph.  And again as Bear pointed out, these are BIG 100% whole wheat
sourdough loaves, they weigh in at about 2 kilos, 4.4 pounds, I made a
couple that went to Pennsic, one made it to the Midrealm Laurels meeting, it
was right in at 1 kilo.  It was about 3 to 4 days old when it was displayed
and then eaten.

And yes smaller loaves go stale quicker.  I read through
http://www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD-BREADS/trenchers-msg.html to get
trencher info, and winged it (wung it?) from there using the courser bits
from my flour I had sifted while making the whole wheat bread mentioned
above.  At about 1 pound loaves (dense and heavy they were) I was able to
get 4 good slabs of bread from each loaf, carved square.  take 4 and place
them in a square all together, then a 5th on top would make a very sturdy
nearly leak proof base from which to eat juicy meats.  Of course this only
matters if you have the meats cut up properly in bite sized pieces to
facilitate picking it up on knife point, to shake off the excess juices,
before plucking it with your fingers from knife point and into your mouth.

making really good trenchers is a pain, but they are truly beautiful when
taken the time to do so!

I chose to follow Reinhardt's recipe as from the Poilâne bakery.  Simple
flour water leavening and salt.  Using straight ground wheat "as it comes
from the miller"  with a little sieving to take out the remaining chaff,
little of the bran, and the chisel - the big chunks of grain.

Simon Hondy
"Cum Omni humilitate
faciant ipsas artes"
  -St. Benedict