[Sca-cooks] manchets

[Terry Decker]

Corn meal was what I had handy and is usually what is available in most 
kitchens these days.  Besides, it's inexpensive.  I have used semolina, 
crushed millet and just plain ole flour.  They all work.

Rather than replacing the water (which is called for in the recipe) with 
ale, leave out 1 1/2 oz of water and replace it 1 1/2 oz of something like 
Dundee's Honey Brown Ale.  This will be roughly equal to 1/10 of the pint of 
ale barm called for in the recipe.  Using ale for all of the liquor will 
darken the crumb considerably.

Bear

>
> You might want to try coarse semolina flour instead of corn flour next 
> time.  Would using ale instead of water as your liquid make the flavor 
> closer to what it would be using real ale barm?
>
> Regards,
> Brekke
>
> <snipped>
>> 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