[Sca-cooks] Millet

[Susan Lord]

We all wrote -
> 
> I wrote: 
> "Make dough with millet flour, salt and a little water, kneading it into a round shape. Make it thick if it is to be baked and thin if fried. Cover the outer layer with sesame seeds, anise and green anise. Cook immediately before the dough deteriorates.?
> 
> I see that when originally translating this recipe, I had a typo and wrote think not thick. This is a direct translation from Barajas-Benavides? Spanish version of "The Alhambra,? p 96. I did have a copy of the English version but it was not good and I must have misplaced it.
> 
> What would be a better word than ?deteriorates?? - I don?t like it either. 
> 
The original text reads: deteriore. The full sentence is: Cocinar enseguida para que la masa no se deteriore - translated that is - Cook immediately so the dough does not deteriorate.

Tis interesting because we criticise medieval manuscripts because the scribes were not cooks so their notes were transcribed directly with no interpretation. Now the Barajas-Benavides book is a 20th publication and still we find people like me and other official translators doing the same until or unless we actually try the recipe. So Sara has hit it on the head with her interpretation of the recipe - cook immediately to prevent dough from drying out and cracking. - A thousand thanks!

Interesting, in the end I let the dough rise for 2 hours. After baking, it cooled and cracked. Perhaps I should have watched them more carefully and as soon as it stopped rising due to whatever items I used which included- tapioca flour, yeast, baking powder and xanthan gum.  I am not a cook, but an historian trying to interpret ancient recipes into modern terms.

Members of our group mention an Indian flat bread - Bari no Rotio. It is possible that mijo bread descend from the Indians, then went to Bagdad and on to Spain. That’s a little too far for my research.