[Sca-cooks] Another leavening agent was Baker of Bagels in the 11th C

[Johnna Holloway]

David Waines did this article
Cereals, Bread and Society: An Essay on the Staff of Life in Medieval Iraq
David Waines Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, 
Vol. 30, No. 3 (1987), pp. 255-285  (article consists of 31 pages)
It's in JSTOR so I will get in later and get it.
Borax is mentioned in it. "Another type, bardzidhaj, differed from the 
above in containing /borax/ *..."
It's rather hard to find but  *Soup for the Qan does list Borax. It's on 
page 77 in a section on breads.
It's said to be connected with a bread coming out of Armenia.
*
Johnnae
*

Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius wrote:
>
> On Mar 31, 2009, at 7:34 PM, Terry Decker wrote:
>
>>> I understand borax is sometimes used in small amounts in hand-pulled 
>>> noodles in China, and I think it may appear in some of the 
>>> wheat-dough recipes for mantou in "A Soup for the Qan," although I 
>>> could be remembering that last part incorrectly.
>>>
>>> I believe it's roughly akin to baking soda in pH, and it can be used 
>>> industrially as an antifungal, so one possibility is as a yeast 
>>> inhibitor, but for all I know it could have something to do with  
>>> gluten extensibility, hence its use in pulled noodles.
>>>
>>> If that's the case, I could see it appearing in bagels for a 
>>> lighter, more elastic dough.
>>>
>>> Bear? Tag, you're it.
>>>
>>> Adamantius
>>
>> Already tagged in and I see memory failed on remembering A Soup for 
>> the Qan.
> And, of course, I now can't find a single word in reference to it in 
> ASftQ. Probably sometimes next year I'll find it in Ni Tsan or in a 
> footnote. Generally my memory loses or misplaces things, but almost 
> never manufactures something I haven't actually seen. Of course, 
> there's always a first time.
>
> Adamantius