[Sca-cooks] manchets
Terry Decker
t.d.decker at att.net
Tue Nov 30 12:50:30 PST 2010
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
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