Introduction
I came across this recipe. I thought it might be interesting to bake at a later time. So, this is what I have so far.
Other than the name of the recipe, the recipe itself does not say if the batter should be poured into a tart. However, any other tart recipe I've come across so far involves tarts (think pie crusts). The recipe says to "put it into your paste", but your paste is the dough that you've just made. So, I'm wondering if the author meant to say to put it into your coffin (Tudor baking term for the tart or pie crust). However, I did come across a Tarte of Bread recipe from Kingdom of Lochac, which does not say to make a separate tart. So, we'll see how this works when I bake it!
Original Recipe
To make a tarte of bread.
<"137">TAke grated bread, and put to it molten Butter, and a litle
Rosewater and Sugar, and the yolkes of Egs, and put it into your paste,
and bake, and when you serue it, cut it in foure quaters and cast sugar
on it. (Dawson)
Similar Recipe
Possibly similar to a 17th century Treacle Tart?
Materials
5 slices bread, grated
2 Tbsp butter, melted
1/2 tsp rosewater
1 1/8 Tbsp sugar
1 egg yolk
Procedure
Grease a pie dish with a little bit of butter (or, for an easier non-period alternative, non-stick cooking spray). Mix the ingredients together and place in the pie dish. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Bake for 40 minutes. Cut the tart into 4 servings. Sprinkle sugar on top. Serve and enjoy!
Works Cited
Dawson, Thomas. A Good Huswifes Handmaide. 1594. http://www.foodsofengland.co.uk/book1594huswife.htm. 7 September 2020.
"Tarte of Bread." The Blue Strand. 6 July 2013. https://kraeglas.lochac.sca.org/files/2013/08/Issue-2013-06-July-2013.pdf. 9 September 2020.
Introduction
I came across this recipe and found it interesting. Here's what I've got so far, for me to revisit and bake at a later time.
Original Recipe
TAke half a bushel of fine flower, ten eggs, yolks and white, one pound and an half of fresh butter, then put in as much of yest as into the ordinary manchet; temper it with new milk pretty hot, then let it lye half an hour to rise, then make it into loaves or rowles, and wash them over with an egge beaten with milk; let not your oven be too hot. (Woolley)
Materials Needed
Half a bushel of flour = 20.52 lbs. flour*
10 eggs
1.5 lbs butter = 48 Tbsp. butter**
Yeast as manchet
Hot milk
Egg wash made with 1 egg and splash of milk
* 1 bushel of flour equals 41.05 lbs. of flour. 1 lb. of all purpose flour equals 3 1/3 cup.
** 1 lb. of butter is 2 cups. 8 Tbsp of butter equals 1/2 cup of butter.
My Interpretation of the Recipe
So, after dividing this recipe by 10, here is what I came up with:
6 2/3 cup flour
1 egg
5 Tbsp unsalted butter (technically it's 4.8 Tbsp... so I rounded up to 5)
yeast
hot milk (enough to make bread dough)
Egg wash made with 1 egg and splash of milk
Instructions
Mix together the ingredients. Allow the dough at least 30 minutes to rise. Then, make loaves from the dough. Brush the egg wash on top of the loaves. Bake at 325ºF for 40-45 minutes.
To test if the bread is done, thump the underneath side of a loaf with your thumb or knuckle. If it sounds hollow, then the loaf is done.
Works Cited
Woolley, Hannah. The Cook's Guide. 1670. https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A66843.0001.001/1:6?rgn=div1;view=fulltext. 7 September 2020.
Introduction
When I came across this recipe, I became intrigued because the name of the receipt is misleading. It is called 'To make leauened bread'. However, the recipe does not call for yeast. So, how does one make leavened bread without yeast?
It appears this recipe is meant to be read like baking a puff pastry.
Original Recipe
To make leauened bread.
TAke sixe yolkes of Egs, and a litle peece of Butter as big as a Walnut,
one handfull of verie fine flower, and make al these in paste, and all
to beat it with a rolling pin, till it be as thin as a paper leafe, then
take sweet Butter and melt it, and rub ouer all your paste therewith,
with a feather: then roll vp your paste softly as ye would roll vp a
scroll of paper, then cut them in peeces of three inches long, and make
them flat with your hands and lay them vpon a sheet of cleane paper, and
bake them in an Ouen or panne, but the Ouen may not be too hot, and
they
must bake halfe an howre, then take some sweete butter and melt it, and put
that into your paste when it commeth out of the Ouen, and when they are
verie wet, so that they be not drie, take them out of your butter, and
lay them in a faire dish, and cast vpon them a litle Sugar, and if you
please, Synamon and Ginger, and serue them foorth. (Dawson)
Materials
6 egg yolks
2 Tbsp sweet butter (unsalted)
1/2 cup flour
4 Tbsp sweet butter, melted
sugar
cinnamon
ginger
The recipe calls for butter the size of a walnut, which is approximately 2 Tbsp. The recipe also calls for a handful of flour, which is approximately 1/2 cup.
The sugar, cinnamon, and ginger at the end of the recipe are for sprinkling on top. Add as much or as little you prefer.
Procedure
Mix together the egg yolks, the butter, and the flour. (The consistency reminds me of Play-Do.) Then, roll out the dough as thin as it will go without breaking. Take a brush (or feather) and paint the dough with 2 Tbsp of melted butter. Next, roll up the dough "as ye would roll up a scroll of paper". Slice the rolled-up dough every 3 inches. Place the dough on baking paper, or melt butter (or use non-stick cooking spray) on a cookie sheet to place the dough on. Bake at 325ºF for 30 minutes. Once the pastries are done baking, roll them in the remaining 2 Tbsp of melted butter. Place the pastries on a plate. Sprinkle sugar, cinnamon, and ginger on top of the pastries. Serve and enjoy!
For video instructions, please click here.
Lesson Learned
Bibliography
Dawson, Thomas. A Good Huswifes Handmaide. 1594. http://www.foodsofengland.co.uk/book1594huswife.htm. 7 September 2020.
Introduction
This is a re-creation of a recipe from A Booke of Cookrye (England, 1591) entitled, "A buttered Loafe".
Source Recipe
"A buttered Loafe.
Take very fine flowre and yolks of Egs, sweet butter, yest, cloves, mace, sugar, sinamon, ginger, and woork it togither and make them in little loves, and when they are baked inough, set a good deale of sweet butter upon a chafingdish and coles, then cut your loaf in three peeces and butter it, then strew sugar betwixt every peece and serve it out." (A.W.) ... from 1591
Related Recipes
"To make buttered Loaves.
Take the yolks of twelve Eggs, and six whites, and a quarter of a pint
of yeast, when you have beaten the Eggs well, strain them with the yeast
into a Dish, then put to it a little Salt, and two rases of Ginger
beaten very small, then put flower to it till it come to a high Past
that will not cleave, then you must roule it upon your hands and
afterwards put it into a warm Cloath and let it lye there a quarter of
an hour, then make it up in little Loaves, bake; against it is baked
prepare a pound and a half of Butter, a quarter of a pint of white wine,
and halfe a pound of Sugar; This being melted and beaten together with
it, set them into the Oven a quarter of an hour." (W.M.) ... from 1658
Rastons (Brears)
Buttered Curd Loaves (Webster)
A Good Cake (Evelyn)
Take three quarts of new milk, and add as much runnet as is
sufficient to turn it; then break the eurd, and drain off all the whey
through a clean cloth. Pound it in a stone mortar, add the white of one
and the yolks of six eggs, a good handful of grated bread, half as much
of fine flour, and a little salt. Mix them well together with the hand,
divide the whole into four round loaves, and place them upon white
paper. After they are
well buttered, varnish them all over with a feather, dipped in the yolk
of an egg stirred up with a little beer. Set the loaves in a quick oven
three quarters of an hour; while baking, take half a pound of new
butter, add to it four spoonfuls of water, half a nutmeg grated, and
sugar sufficient to sweeten it. Stir them together over the fire till
they boil; when sufficiently thickened, draw the loaves from the oven,
open their tops, pour in the butter and sugar, and send them up with
sugar strewed over them." (Eaton) ... from 1822
Materials
The original recipe calls for the following ingredients:
flour
egg yolks
sweet butter
yeast
clove
mace
sugar
cinnamon
ginger
Procedure
The original recipe did not provide any measurements for the ingredients. So, I did a test version. Learned things from the test version (such as increasing the amounts of spices). And then, I did a second test. Below is the result from the second test.
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup unbleached, all purpose flour
1 package of yeast (follow instructions on the yeast packet to make the yeast)
2 egg yolks
1/2 cup sweet butter (unsalted butter), melted
1/4 tsp ground clove
1/4 tsp ground mace
1 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Create the yeast and set aside. Combine all of the dry ingredients. Then, stir in the egg yolks, melted butter, and yeast. Knead the dough. Allow the dough time to sit for 1 hour. Split the dough into small loaves.
For a more historically accurate option, spread a little melted butter on a sheet pan. For a quicker, modern option, spray non-stick cooking spray on a sheet pan.
Place the loaves on to the sheet pan. Bake for 40-45 minutes. Yield = 4 mini loaves
After the loaves are done baking, remove from the oven and allow them to cool. Then, cut your loaf into 2 slices (or 3 slices, as per the original recipe). Place sweet butter on each slice. Then, sprinkle sugar between each slice. Serve and enjoy!
For video instructions, please click here.
Lessons Learned
Bibliography
A.W. A Booke of Cookrye. 1591. http://jducoeur.com/Cookbook/Cookrye.html. 7 September 2020.
Brears, Peter. Cooking and Dining in Medieval England. 2008. https://app.ckbk.com/recipe/cook18873c07s001r009/rastons. 7 September 2020.
Eaton, Mary. The Cook and Housekeeper's Dictionary. 1822. http://www.foodsofengland.co.uk/book1822eaton.htm. 7 September 2020.
Evelyn, John. "A Good Cake, a 17th Century Recipe." 29 March 2020. https://atasteofhistorywithjoycewhite.blogspot.com/2020/03/a-good-cake-17th-century-recipe-by-john.html?m=1. 7 September 2020.
Webster, Brigitte. "How to Make Tudor Bread." 23 May 2020. https://thetudortravelguide.com/2020/05/23/tudor-bread/. 7 September 2020.
W.M. "The Compleat Cook." 1658. http://www.foodsofengland.co.uk/book1658compleat.htm. 7 September 2020.
St. Hildegard von Bingen was a 12th century German nun with many talents. Among these talents, she wrote Physica around 1153 AD. In this book, there was a recipe for Joy Cookies.
Original Recipe
“Nutmeg has great heat and good moderation in its powers. If a person eats nutmeg, it will open up his heart, make his judgment free from obstruction, and give him a good disposition. Take some nutmeg and an equal weight of cinnamon and a bit of cloves, and pulverize them. Then make small cakes with this and fine whole wheat flour and water. Eat them often. It will calm all bitterness of the heart and mind, open your heart and impaired senses, and make your mind cheerful. It purities your senses and diminishes all harmful humors in you. It gives good liquid to your blood, and makes you strong.” -Hildegard von Bingen, Physica, ~1153
Modern Recipe
1 cup flour
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground clove
1/2 cup water (or just enough to moisten the dough)
Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Mix the dough together. Roll into little balls. Bake for 20-30 minutes.
It may help to flip the cookies over half way through baking. The end result will be like a cracker, since there is no fat in this recipe.
For video instructions on baking these cookies, please click here.
Other Modern Interpretations
