[Sca-cooks] 12th-century bread (was Re: Favorite Frugal Pennsic Meals)

[Terry Decker]

I haven't come across this before, but I can think of three possible 
explanations of the term and I have empirical knowledge of each.

My first thought is this could be "peggy tubby" bread, where the dough is 
allowed to rise immersed in water.  The technique is believed to date to the 
1st Century BCE, but the evidence is fairly murky.

Otherwise, this may be a loaf cooked in a manner similar to simnel where a 
yeast bread is cooked by boiling or parboiling and baking (think water 
bagel).  This is not likely to actually be simnel which is an enriched (and 
sometimes filled) bread seated in a hard dough pie shell, as it would not 
likely be in the regular diet of a strict monastic order.

Bear

> What is this 12th-century "bread cooked in water," and from what source is
> this reference taken?  I'm in the process of collecting 12th-13th century
> European recipes and redacting them, so I would really like to know.
> Thanks!  :)
>
> Pax Christi,
> Lady Cecilia de Cambrige
>
>> I screw up -  you could also make a pudding-style levened dumpling. I
>> believe
>> that is what the twelfth-century 'bread cooked in water' may describe,
>> though
>> steamed or parboiled are also possible explanations.
>>
>> Giano