[Sca-cooks] manchets
Linda Peterson
mirhaxa at morktorn.com
Tue Nov 30 09:03:36 PST 2010
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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