[Sca-cooks] Was bread served warm?
Terry Decker
t.d.decker at worldnet.att.net
Sun Sep 25 08:19:24 PDT 2005
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
More information about the Sca-cooks
mailing list