[Sca-cooks] manchets

[Terry Decker]

No.  The recipe specifically calls for "as hard as ye can handle it."  Most 
bread recipes run 2 to 3 cups of flour to one of liquid.  The recipe I have 
worked out is slightly more than 4 to 1 flour to liquor, which makes a very 
stiff dough in any humidity.

Bear


.> Do you think the stiffness of the dough might relate to the humidity
> differences?  Mirhaxa
>
>   mirhaxa at morktorn.com
>
> On Mon, 29 Nov 2010, Terry Decker wrote:
>> 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
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