[Sca-cooks] Shortbread was Period Flour Query

[Terry Decker]

In general, there is no great difference between Medieval and modern flour 
other than the precentage of extraction, especially if you choose an 
unbleached, whole wheat flour.

Other than improving the flavor, roasting coagulates the gluten, which, I 
suspect will produce a more granular texture.  I haven't run any experiments 
to see what would happen with unroasted flour.

Bear

> 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