Mmmm. Bread

[LadyBrower]

Bread, of course, is a stable of diets for, well, a LONG time. Once upon a time, women were measured as wives by how good their bread was. The better bread they made, the better wives they were.

I suspect the basic recipe for bread has not changed too much, (Flour, salt, yeast, water...) but what kind of flours were available to the common people during the GAoP? and what sort of techniques were used? What do you need to bake bread on a fire?

One of my favorite whole grain bread recipes:

3 cups whole grain flour or so,

a couple handfuls of sunflower seeds

tablespoon salt

2 tablespoons honey

package of yeast

enough water to make the dough

dissolve yeast and honey in about 1 cup warm (110 degrees or so) let proof.

mix flour, seeds and salt. Add proofed yeast and water mixture. mix and kneed until smooth and elastic. Let rise in a warm spot in a buttered dish covered by a towel until doubled. punch down and let rise again. Bake in a 400 degree oven until it sounds hollow when you knock on it. =)

This is super yummy with tea and cinnamon butter, or more honey.

[Quartermaster James]

After we've had our fill of bread and wine, we shall tell tales of other times we've had our fill of bread and wine!

- Long John Peter, Family Guy

I have no idea how many hands this recipe went through before it came to me, ostensibly as a recreated 17th Century Bread. My contribution was adding the Graham flour. I like to skip the bread pans and make small loaves to throw in my pack along with dried beef, cheese, etc. Adjust your baking time accordingly.

17th Century Food Processor Bread – 09/13/08 rev

1 package dry yeast

2 teaspoons sugar

1/3 cup warm water (105-115F)

2 cups WW Flour

1 cup Rye flour

½ cup Corn flour

½ cup Graham flour

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, in small pieces

1 ½ teaspoons salt

1 cup cold water

Instructions

1. In a 2-cup liquid measure, dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water. Let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes.

2. Insert dough blade*. Process flour, butter and salt until combined, about 10 to 15 seconds.

3. Add cold water to yeast mixture. With machine running, add liquid through small feed tube as fast as flour absorbs it. Once dough cleans the sides of the work bowl and forms a ball, process for 45 seconds to knead dough.

4. Place dough in a lightly floured plastic food storage bag and seal the top. Allow to sit in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 to 1-1/2 hours. **

5. Place dough on a lightly floured surface and punch down. Divide dough in half and form each half into a tight ball.

6. Place on prepared baking surface and cover with plastic wrap coated with cooking spray. Let rise until dough is just above the tops of the pans, about 45 minutes to 1 hour.

7. Fifteen minutes before baking, preheat oven to 400° F.

8. Bake until tops are browned and loaf sounds hollow when tapped, about 30 to 35 minutes.

9. Remove from pans and cool on wire rack.

*for a batch this size, a dough blade is not necessary. I use the metal blade with my FP. Check your manual; YMMV.

**this trick was part of the recipe as it came to me. Personally, I still prefer to let the dough rise in a cloth covered bowl.

[lady constance]

i dont know a complete history of yeast as of yet-- just parts of it....cake form was not avalailable til microscope invented to label genus species...and how each genus species makes certain bread so precise and repeatable recipe wise..........

and like cheese{ which uses bacteria NOT yeast}, certain yeast strains are avalaible ONLY in certain locales....... so---- we can never really hope to make "exact" gaop bread--even historically the flora and fauna changes over time with the input and transfer of plants from one country to another decimating and encouraging new strains to grow and be discovered

wine producing countries and vintners knew more than they could explain....but closely gaurded their secret yeast strains......soils and years of the spent grapes beign added back into the soils to give the next years crops the proper/ same yeast back to teh grapes to grow a new season.....KWIM? { why certains regions and countries produce such fine and unrepeateable wines that cannot be reproduced in anoteh region even with the very same plants and recipes......... it is literally in the soil and in the air where the grapes are grown that so influence the wines......

know the stoy of dom perrignon? fascinating strain of yeast! all from the holy brothers!!

wild yeast is available every where--in the air.......

and of course, there is always the alcohol yeast from fermented beverages.......... which i am SURE one of the sources back in GaoP.....

any bread made now adays can be made over a campfire--- you just have to know heat temps of your fire---and have a tempering / moderating pan { another pan upon which to set your bread baking pan over to even out the heat... you can add water to boil beneath is since water boils { same for salt water} consistently at specific temps { taking into account sea level and mountain level}.......

happy cooking!

[LadyBrower]

any bread made now adays can be made over a campfire--- you just have to know heat temps of your fire---and have a tempering / moderating pan { another pan upon which to set your bread baking pan over to even out the heat... you can add water to boil beneath is since water boils { same for salt water} consistently at specific temps { taking into account sea level and mountain level}.......

happy cooking!

I'm not sure I understand. Would the bread be baked in something like a dutch oven, or "fried" in a pan? I've never tried, though I might try it on the stove with that double pan technique if I can figure it out.

[ThomasBlackthorne]

Here be my recipe, it keeps forever, and is somewhat tasty:

2 Cups flour

3/4 cup of water

6 pinches of salt

Mix ingredients until it is thick, and does not stick to your hands or rolling pin or whatever you decide to touch it with....

Spread flat on non-greased cookie sheet, and put in oven @ 400 degrees for one hour

Remove try and cut into 3X3 pieces and the flip them over and put them back in for one half hour.

Actually, this is the recipe for traditional hard tack, but it is a lot like bread...?

<~~~ KILL IT!

Edited May 28, 2009 by CaptainThomasBlackthorne

[LadyBrower]

Well Captain... That sounds like a, um, delightful recipe... =P

The last hard tack I made was scary. lol.

[Commodore Swab]

Would pirates of even had bread? Ovens, Flour, yeast?

[LadyBrower]

Well time wise, of course there would have been bread.

What you have to remember as well, that even if they didn't necessarily have tasty, oven fresh bread at sea, there were ladies back ashore cooking and baking, and taverns where the pirates might go to for a pint and dinner. As a female portraying a female civilian, for an encampment or some such I might be very interested making bread to go with the stew.

But of course I may be wrong...

[ThomasBlackthorne]

Well Captain... That sounds like a, um, delightful recipe... =P

The last hard tack I made was scary. lol.

This actually came out quite well. It was a bit intimidating to eat at first. I was afraid of it. However, being the brave pirate I am, I ate it and it was good.

The most difficult part to the recipe however, is getting the right consistency with the dough. The goal is to get it to not be sticky, as sticking to your hands, the bowl, etc.. I didn't succeed there, but it all bakes to the consistency of a rock anyway, so wtf is the difference?