[Sca-cooks] Gingerbread

[Kingstaste]

Wow, I never worry about getting it that fine.  I usually toast the bread
and let it dry out a bit, then put it in a food processor and grind it up.  
I have made it with dried ginger (usually) and with fresh ginger root
steeped in the hot honey.  The dried ginger is usually stronger.  Either
works fine.  Here's the thing, this is a fairly adaptable recipe.  It is
honey and breadcrumbs and spices.  It can be brown bread, white bread, mixed
loaves, semi-dry, really dry, wildflower honey, clover honey, whatever you
have on hand.  It doesn't "have" to be anything one way or the other.  The
period recipe specifies that the honey be clarified, get the wax and bee
parts out of it.  It calls for waste bread, so obviously it was going to
change from time to time when being made in the average medieval household.
I have even had it made with rye crumbs, and that was darned tasty.  

Good luck!
Christianna

-----Original Message-----
From: sca-cooks-bounces at lists.ansteorra.org
[mailto:sca-cooks-bounces at lists.ansteorra.org] On Behalf Of
chawkswrth at aol.com
Sent: Saturday, December 13, 2008 10:31 PM
To: sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Gingerbread

Yes, it does! Right now, I have about a pound of very finely ground crumbs,
ground ginger, cinnamon, and whole cloves. The long pepper, and the
saunders, no. 
So, I will use a small amount of black pepper, and not worry about food
coloring. ;-)

And hope I get the porportions right. Eh....

Thanks!

Helen


-----Original Message-----
From: Elaine Koogler <kiridono at gmail.com>
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Sent: Sat, 13 Dec 2008 9:22 pm
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Gingerbread



I have made the period version of gingerbread in the past...I made sure that
the breadcrumbs were finely ground.  So far as the ginger is concerned, I
used dried ginger rather than fresh.  I dunno...I sort of figured that they
probably used dried in period...I couldn't imagine how they would be able to
get fresh from the areas where it grows.  As it is a tropical plant, I felt
certain that it couldn't be grown in England, which is where the recipe I
used came from.

I don't know if this helps, but maybe it does.

Kiri

On Sat, Dec 13, 2008 at 9:54 PM, <chawkswrth at aol.com> wrote:

> Good Evening! I am in the process of making my very first gingerbread and
I
> find I need to ask, as the loaf of Old Bread lies spread out on the
counter,
> drying.
> ?
> Just how finely ground should the breadcrumbs be? What i usually do is put
> them though a fine mesh strainer. Obviously, the bread has to be really
dry,
> and the crumb is VERY fine, indeed.
>
> Also-has anyone ever put freshly grated ginger in it, or does it have to
> dried and finely ground, as well? (I have a thumb-sized lump of fresh
ginger
> in the fridge, and a nutmeg grater that I also use for lemon zest)
>
> With breadcrumbs under my nails....
>
> Thanks!
>
> Helen
>
>
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