[Sca-cooks] Was bread served warm?

[Terry Decker]

Yep, I did error (faulty memory), but not by much.

Here's a paragraph from a paper I did for the 2nd SIF! CookCon:

"Trencher bread, three dozen of half a foot in width and four fingers tall, 
baked four days before and

browned, or what is called in the market Corbeil bread." is Menagier's 
description of a trencher loaf.

Such a loaf would weigh between 8 and 12 ounces. The Wroclaw bread laws 
provide for a similar

loaf in Poland made of a maslin of wheat and rye. It weighed about 11 
ounces. The size of

trencher loaves probably varied between six and eight inches diameter and 3 
to 4 inches in height.

The weight was dependent upon the mix of flours used.


Manchets tended to be round, while trencher loaves were flattened like 
galettes.  Trenchers tend to be denser bread than finely sieved wheat 
loaves, so they often have a smaller diameter for the same weight of dough.

The descriptions of trenchers we have are from the High Middle Ages into the 
Renaissance.  I place the start of trencher loaves sometime in the 10th 
Century.  They were initially split round loaves (early 12thCentury) with 
the carving and shaping showing up in 13th and 14th Century sources.  There 
is no way to determine if the earlier trenchers may not have been larger 
loaves than those written about later.  Their use began declining after the 
13th Century and disappeared in the 17th Century.

Given the cost, bread trenchers fall under the heading of conspicuious 
consumption.  Their use appears to tie to wealthy feudal household ritual, 
so a small loaf, daintily carved would probably add to the display of wealth 
and position.  They were a Rolls Royce kind of status symbol.

Bear

> On Sep 25, 2005, at 12:29 AM, Terry Decker wrote:
>
>> 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.
>
> Are you sure about this? I mean, this is a loaf whose slices, after 
> trimming square, were used to line plates or serve as plates. Would  they 
> really be no larger than a manchet?
>
> Adamantius