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
- This is a bread to watch when baking. Tap the underneath side to hear if it sounds hollow to know if it is done. The bottom may burn if left too long in the oven. However, if not left in the oven long enough, the center may still be doughy.
- I have a jar of Active Dry Yeast that is almost a year old. The jar says to use within 6 months of opening. So, I knew that going into this recipe, that my bread may not rise as it should have. The yeast that I made only fizzled after about 10 minutes. It took over 20 minutes for it to have any significant foaming and almost doubled in size at that point. So, in the future, use fresh yeast.
- Speaking of rising, give your bread time to rise. Unfortunately due to time constraints, I was not able to give my bread time to properly rise before baking.
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.
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