[Sca-cooks] manchets

[Terry Decker]

> Alys K. said:
> <<< No, you are correct, I hadn't started by asking about manchets.  I 
> sent
> some of the information to the person (on the Forum) who then said he'd
> found a manchet recipe on that historicalfoods web site. The site's
> "information" aroused my "Really? I want to check that!" nerve, and I
> began looking at what was said about manchets.  And, off I went... >>>
>
> You may have gotten all the info you wish and/or you may have already seen 
> this info, but here is some of what has been said on this list in the past 
> about manchets.
>
> brd-manchets-msg (52K) 6/12/09 Small bread loaves of the finest white 
> flour
> http://www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD-BREADS/brd-manchets-msg.html
>
> Stefan

Interesting.  I don't think you have my latest experimentation with manchets 
from the recipe in The Good Huswife's Handmaide for the Kitchen in the 
Florilegium.

I have tried to determine the actual weight of the flour in the recipe 
because bushels used in trade varied in weight between 56 and 60 pounds 
avoir. depending on what measures were used.  Using these weights in the 
recipe did not produce the expected results.  Research brought me to the 
Tower pound, which was in use at the time the recipe was written.  A bushel 
would have weighed 64 Tower pounds.  A Tower pound was roughly 350 grams, 
which means a bushel weighed 22.4 kg or 49.25 lb avoir.

By using the Tower pound, which would likely be the common measure, as the 
measure produced results that I believe are more in keeping with the recipe. 
While this is home recipe, the weights also mean that the heavier bushels of 
flour would produce a few more loaves, an advantage for a commercial baker.

Using a half bushel of 32 Tower lbs, subtract 8 Tower pounds of chesill, 
leaving 24 Tower lbs of fine flour (8.4 kg).

Liquid measure is the Elizabethean wine gallon of 128 fluid ounces which is 
also the modern U.S. gallon measure.

A handful of salt is estimated to be 1/2 cup or 24 teaspoons.

Translating this to 1/10th of the original recipe:

29.5 oz avoir (or 840 g) flour
14.5 fl. oz. water (includes the additional fluid of the ale barm)
2.5 teaspoons salt
1 scant Tablespoon of dry active yeast (approx. 1/4 oz avoir. or one packet)
Additional flour for kneading

Proof the yeast in the liquor (which emulates an ale barm), then add the 
liquor to the mixed dry ingredients.

This makes a very stiff dough that is hard to knead by hand, so I used the 
Kitchenaide to do most of the kneading and finished it by hand, adding a 
little flour to keep the dough from sticking..

Divide into 6 equal pieces.  Scatter coarse meal (I used corn meal) on the 
baking sheet to keep the dough from sticking.  Shape dough and place on 
baking sheet.  Let rise 30 minutes.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Bake 
for about an hour.

Unbleached flour will produce a white crumb.  Whole wheat pastry flour will 
produce a light brown crumb.

Bear