[Sca-cooks] manchets
Carol Smith
eskesmith at hotmail.com
Tue Nov 30 13:48:39 PST 2010
Thank you, Bear. That makes a lot of sense. And the Honey Brown Ale sounds like a delicious addition to the bread.
Thankful regards,
Brekke
> From: t.d.decker at att.net
> To: sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org
> Date: Tue, 30 Nov 2010 14:50:30 -0600
> Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] manchets
>
> 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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