[Sca-cooks] Shortbread was Period Flour Query

[David Friedman]

>On Fri, 9 Feb 2007, David Friedman wrote:
>
>>
>>  Incidentally, does anyone have a good explanation of why you bake the
>>  flour first?
>>
>
>the manual for army cooks, 1883 and 1896 editions mention to brown the
>flour used to thicken drippings for gravy. my brother and i experimented
>with this back in 1995. the browning of the flour definitely removes the
>flour taste and imparts a slightly nutty flavor. a side-effect is that
>the gravy is not lightened by the use of plain white flour.
>
>my brother, a military historian, also thinks based on anecdotal and
>comtemporary writings of enlisted solders and quartermasters, that it
>may have been recommended to kill off any parasitic infestations in the
>flour.

The problem with these explanations is that, so far as I know,  most 
other recipes using flour don't have any similar 
instructions--although I could be wrong, since I'm not that familiar 
with late period recipes.

That suggests to me that there is something special about this sort 
of recipe that requires baked flour, but I have no idea what. Clearly 
experimentation is called for.

But of course, it might be connected with some difference between 
their flour and ours; I have no idea what sorts of processing beyond 
grinding, and sometimes bleaching, modern flour goes through.
-- 
David/Cariadoc
www.daviddfriedman.com