[Sca-cooks] true medieval bread recipes

[Elise Fleming]

Greetings! Someone commented that a definition was needed for "bread". 
Is dough that encompasses fillings or has various toppings (honey, oil, 
cinnamon, etc.) to be considered as "bread"? The Anonymous Andalusian 
has several recipes for flatbreads, and quite a number of "dough" 
recipes which have flour and oil, with or without "leavening".

I don't think any are like what we in the modern world commonly think of 
as bread: baked in a loaf pan, and raised with yeast of one sort or 
another.

David Friedman wrote:

 >I looked at the four bread recipes that I found on your blog with a
 >search for "bread." I don't think you quoted a period source for any 
 >of them, and when I tried clicking on the footnote references I got

 >" Your current account (daviddfriedman at gmail.com) does not have access
 >to view this page. "

(snippage)

 >/Manuscrito Anonimo/ has two bread recipes that I know of: Recipe for
 >Folded Bread from Ifriqiyya and Loaf Kneaded with Butter. al-Andalus 
 >is western geographically speaking, but from a culinary standpoint I 
 >would lump it in with al-Warraq, which has several more bread recipes.

In the April 22, 2016, blog there is a recipe for "Flaky Bread Rolls" 
which is "adapted and elaborated on from Huici's translation..." and 
Huici-Miranda's Spanish translation recipe is given. However, the 
English version in the blog is not what the Spanish seems to say, nor 
what Charles Perry gives in his English translation. The blog's dough 
contains 2 eggs and goat milk powder. I'm guessing that the eggs are a 
substitution for the leavening, but only "leavening" is mentioned in the 
original recipe, not "eggs".

One blog says, "[1] The difference between this recipe and one of the 
Middle Ages is the flour. Unrefined flour was used in the original 
recipe, today we are blessed with fine white bread flour and a thermomix 
or food processor!" But there is no medieval recipe and the original 
website from which the recipe and instructions are copied does not 
provide any original recipe. So, can "molletes" from Leon/Antequera 
truly be said to be a recipe from the Middle Ages?

Alys K. (being curmudgeonly)
-- 
Elise Fleming
alyskatharine at gmail.com
http://damealys.medievalcookery.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8311418@N08/sets/