[Sca-cooks] manchets

[Carol Smith]

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 
> 
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