[Sca-cooks] Four 10th century bread recipes from al-Warraq(including samidh flour)

[Bhadra]

Oh can I kiss you now? 
You read my mind and I reallly wanted these recipes 
and could not afford the book. Heaven....I'm in Heaven....

Sabina...former breadmakin fool
-------Original Message-------
 
From: emilio szabo
Date: 2/22/2008 3:14:18 PM
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Four 10th century bread recipes from
al-Warraq(including samidh flour)
 
Gianotta wrote:
<< Still looking for some recipes, and I realized that I've seen several
references to samid (semolina) bread, but no recipes for the bread itself.
>>
 
There are four such recipes in the tenth century cookbook of Ibn Sayyar
al-Warraq. I quote two of them for your convenience:
 
 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Annals of the Caliphs' Kitchens. Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq's Tenth-Century
Baghdadi Cookbook. English Translation with Introduction and Glossary by
Nawal Nasrallah. Leiden, Boston 2007, page 119-120. (several bars,
underlinings, italics and notes omitted)
 
MAKING KHUBZ (FLAT BREAD) AND RUQAQ (VERY THIN BREAD)
 
A recipe for Nabatean water bread (Khubz al-ma' al-Nabati):
 
Take 1 makkuk (7 1/2 pounds) good quality samidh flour and sift it in a big
wooden bowl (jafna). Mix with it 3 uqiyyas (3 ounces) yeast, and add 30
dirhams (3 ounces) salt that has been dissolved in water and strained.
 
Knead the mixture into very firm dough, as firm as stone (hajar) and press
it well. Continue pressing it while rubbing the bottom of the dough 120
times with water in doses of 5 dirhams (1 tablespoon) each until it develops
a consistency which is a little firmer than that of the zalabiya dough.
Cover the dough and let it ferment. With the help of some oil of hulled
sesame seeds {shayraj muqashshar) divide dough into portions and shape them
like farani.
 
Light the tannur and wait until the fire starts to smolder gently. Wipe
clean the inside of the oven [with a piece of cloth]. Rub each portion of
the dough with 2 dirhams (1 teaspoon) sesame oil or zayt anfaq (olive oil
extracted from unripe olives) then flatten it by hand and stick it to the
inside of the smoldering oven (tannur hadi'). This recipe will make 15
pieces of bread.
 
When you are done sticking all the portions in the tannur, cover it with its
lid for a short while. As soon as the breads are set (jamuda), sprinkle them
lightly with water, about 1/2 kuz (1/2 cup), and return the lid as it was
before. Wait for a short while, then remove the cover, and open up the
bottom vent hole ('ayn al-tannur) to expose the breads to more heat. (24r)
As soon as they brown (ihmarra), take them out. Scrape their backs with a
knife and wipe them with a small amount of water. Stack the breads, enclose
them in a damp piece of cloth, and set them aside for an hour or so.
 
Serve this bread whenever you need it, it will be the best, God willing.
 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Annals of the Caliphs' Kitchens. Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq's Tenth-Century
Baghdadi Cookbook. English Translation with Introduction and Glossary by
Nawal Nasrallah. Leiden, Boston 2007, page 120. (several bars, underlinings,
italics and notes omitted)
 
A recipe for bread called khubz al-qanani (bottle bread):
 
Make soft dough similar in consistency to zalabiya dough, using as much as
needed of good quality, fine samidh flour (high in starch and bran-free)
[and water].
 
Pour a little pure olive oil (zayt naqi) or sesame oil into wide-mouthed
heatproof thin bottles and sprinkle the inside with rose water. Pour the
batter into the bottles until they are almost full. Place the filled bottles
on flat tiles (qaramid) spread in the bottom of the tannur, and let them
bake in medium heat {mu'tadila) until done. To test for doneness, insert a
toothpick (khilal) into the baking dough. If it comes out clean, it is done.
 
When you take out the bottles and break them, the breads will come out
looking like bottles, God willing.
 
[To serve] moisten the breads, if you like, with refined sweetened milk
perfumed with mastic and rose water, or with milk and honey, or eat it plain
 God willing.
 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------
There are two more bread recipes with samidh flour on page 123-124 of:
Annals of the Caliphs' Kitchens. Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq's Tenth-Century
Baghdadi Cookbook. English Translation with Introduction and Glossary by
Nawal Nasrallah. Leiden, Boston 2007.
 
 
Emilio
 
 
 
      ___________________________________
L'email della prossima generazione? Puoi averla con la nuova Yahoo! Mail:
http://it.docs.yahoo.com/nowyoucan.html
_______________________________________________
Sca-cooks mailing list
Sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org
http://lists.ansteorra.org/listinfo.cgi/sca-cooks-ansteorra.org