[Sca-cooks] Flour question

[Elaine Koogler]

The statement of it being high in starch and bran free is part of the
listing of ingredients for various pastries, etc. in the book *Annals of the
Caliphs' Kitchens*, a 10th century book written by Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq.
 The translation I'm using is by Nawal Nasrallah.  An example of a recipe
with this notation in it is:

*A recipe for stuffed cookies (halwa mahshwuwwa), delicious and unusual (
tarifa)*
*
*
Take equal amounts of almond, pistachio and hazelnut.  Shell them, pound
them and add an equal amount of sugar.  Mix and moisten the ingredients with
rose water in which you have dissolved a lump of musk.

Make dough with pure, fine *smidh* flour (high in starch and bran-free),
milk, sesame oil and yeast. When the dough ferments, flatten portions into
small discs using a rolling pin.  Line a concave mold (*qalab*) carved with
decorative shapes (*suwar al-tamathil*) with a flattened disc, and fill the
cavity with some of the sugar-nut mixture.  Put another flattened disc on
the filling and seal the edges.  Take the cookie out of the mold, [and
repeat with the rest of the dough].

I was intrigued by this one because it shows up in other, later books, and
there is a similar one that Dame Hauviette cites in her ebook, *Celebration
at the Serayi. *Her notes indicate that it is from Sirvani.

I don't know if any of this helps, but this is only one example of many with
the description of the flour in it.  I have no way of knowing whether the
parenthetical phrase is part of the original manuscript or a clarification
by the translator.  I do know that in other recipes, where quantities are
given using Arabic measurements, the translator has added western
equivalents.  This also is an example of a recipe that is bugging me
regarding the use of musk.  I would rather not use the substitutions that
Urtatim suggested, especially given the dangers she cited.  The recipe in
Hauviette's book uses marzipan as the foundation for the dough and avoids
the issue of the musk altogether.  I'd rather use the pastry recipe from
al-Warraq, but suspect that something to enrich the flavor would be a good
thing.

Thoughts?  Suggestions?

Kiri

On Sun, Jan 16, 2011 at 8:15 AM, Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius <
adamantius1 at verizon.net> wrote:

>
> Of course, that might be a subjective thing.
>
> Perhaps you could give us a little more detail on, for example, the source
> of the statement that the flour is high in starch and free of bran (which to
> me says white pastry flour; semolina is usually fairly coarse -- a harder
> wheat -- and high in protein). Is it being used as a thickener, or to make a
> dough or batter, etc.?
>
> Adamantius
>


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