[Sca-cooks] Byzantine bread stamps

[Kathleen Madsen]

When I was a kid growing up in Germany one village we
lived in would always have bread men as a tasty treat
for the children on St. Nicholaus Nacht.  The bread
men were baked with a clay pipe in their little arms. 
I think mom and dad still have one rattling around the
house after twenty-some-odd years.

Eibhlin

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Just as an aside that might provide ~some~ insight...I
noticed at 
some of the small town festivals in Germany that they
sold bread 
loaves with different items embedded in the top of the
loaf...like 
an egg cup or shot glass or piece of glazed pottery
painted with a 
symbol. The items were kind of a souvenir for the
event.

Maybe the stamps indicated the type of bread, or the
weight 
(different loaf sizes) or the baker?

Ysabeau