[Sca-cooks] Bread Puzzles

[JIMCHEVAL at aol.com]

Yes, the actual test is later in the text. Anyone who tries to work their  
way through it will probably be grateful that I paraphrased it rather than  
translating it word for word.

I don't know where this idea comes from  that bakers (in France at least) 
did not discuss their mysteries with the  public. I've never seen any 
reference to this idea in reading a broad range of  period sources. If there are no 
recipes for bread early on, it is simply because  mainly professional 
bakers made it and they learned their trades (as most did)  by apprenticeship. 
But by the seventeenth century there were already published  recipes for bread 
and in the eighteenth century (when the guilds/corporations  were at the 
height of their strength) whole works appeared on how to make bread.  

Bread trials, which were done all over France, were public and often  
documented. The problem is that most have not been transcribed from the local  
records. Françoise Desportes seems to be the only one who has actually taken 
the  trouble to travel about and consult them; unfortunately her work on 
medieval  bread is not readily available in the States.

It may well be that more detailed accounts exist for Paris in this  
collection:
 
Recueil d'ordonnances et de cris concernant le blé et le pain à  Paris ; 
essais de farines, taxes du pain. 1396-1478  

http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b90604930.r=essais%20de%20pain
 
But honestly I am just not that expert at deciphering old municipal  
scripts.
 
As for the measure, the applicable statutes were municipal, not national.  
Anyone who wants an overview of how many differed can read my blog post on 
the  subject:
 
FRENCH BREAD HISTORY: Late medieval bread outside Paris
http://leslefts.blogspot.com/2015/07/french-bread-history-late-medieval.html
 
jC
 

Jim Chevallier

Contributor, Savoring Gotham
A Food Lover's  Companion to New York City
Editor-in-chief: Andrew F. Smith and Foreword by  Garrett  Oliver
https://global.oup.com/academic/product/savoring-gotham-9780199397020?cc=us&
lang=en


In  a message dated 2/1/2016 6:07:45 A.M. Pacific Standard Time, 
t.d.decker at att.net  writes:
It's the section entitled, "L'essai du pain blanc."

Since  commercial bakers were guild members who did not discuss their 
"mysteries"  with the public, there is always a question of the accuracy of 
the  observer.  In this case, said observer appears to be accurately the  
weights of the ingredients in a standard measure.  That being the case,  
only 
the ratios matter.

As bread was the most regulated product in  Europe with guilds being 
chartered by the crowns of various countries,  baking was done in the 
national standard where ever one existed.  Which  is why I am certain that 
the Livre de Paris is the measure being used rather  than any local measure.