I think it fair to say that the two recipes in The Good Huswifes Handmaide for the Kitchin (1594) are the first fully fleshed out English language cookbook bread recipes intended for humans. In the 1570s, William Harrison, in the spirit of the Roman author Cato, included bread recipes in the history of England volume…
Category: Bread
Rubel Spring 2022 Bread History Seminar Series
This Spring 2022 seminar series taking us from Seminar #29 through #34 starts with an in depth look at the history of written bread recipes starting with Ancient Egypt and ending in the late 19th century. There are three talks in my “close reading” series where I read from historic texts and then talk about…
Seminar #28 The Fabulous Breads of John Cochrane, 1797
John Cochrane’s portrait dating to the 1780s doesn’t suggest suggest someone who was passionate about bread. He kind of looks like a stuffed shirt sitting there with his wig and frilly collar and cuffs. He is a good one to apply the adage, Don’t judge a book by its over. Cochrane’s Seaman’s Guide was published…
Recipes for the Introduction to Egyptian Bread Seminar #22 & Revised for #24
The ancient Egyptian bread that is most often the focus of recreation is the molded conical loaf. Working out how to bake conical loaves in clay molds on an open fire is not a challenge that fits into my interest in historic breads. For me, it is a too specialized product. Emmer and barely are…
Gluten!
Gluten! Gluten, the protein structure in wheat flour that makes it possible for a pizzaiolo to toss pizza dough into the air in order to stretch it; the fine balloon-like network of bubbles that makes white wheat bread the bread with the biggest potential air bubbles baked into a finished loaf. Gluten can be developed…
Stencil on Bread
I am interested in the surfaces of breads. When we think back on the history of bread, how often is surface decoration part of one’s vision? I bought this stencil at a stationary store. This is an experiment I made when writing an article for Mother Earth News about stencilling breads. Shouldn’t we imagine stencilled…
Salt Rising Bread Recipes and Instructions
Jenny Bardwell, Guest Speaker Bread History Seminar #20 February 18, 2021 9am Pacific: 6pm Belgium: 9:30pm Bangalore SALT RISING BREAD (made with potatoes + cornmeal or garbanzo) Yield: 2 loaves STARTER: Slice 2-3 potatoes (with the peel) into a quart mason jar. Add 1 tablespoon of cornmeal, 1 tablespoon of garbanzo flour (optional), and…
Bread Fanny Pack
Besides being pretty certain this detail is from a painting in Madrid, I have no idea what painting it is. If any of you recognize it, please make a note in the comments! Thank you! This detail caught my eye today because I love the woman with the child in tow freeing up her hands…
Luxor. 2019.
Winter. This lovely woman you see here is showing me how she makes bread in her backyard oven. A friend is pointing to the aluminum pots baking in the embers underneath the oven floor. This type of bread oven is fired from below. There is a large hole in the floor through which flames rise…
Recipes: Prison and Slave Breads for William Rubel Thursday Bread History Seminar #19.
These recipes were first published for people attending my Thursday Bread History Seminar on prison and slave breads on February 4, 2020. There is no cookbook where you can look up how to make breads for prisoners, or for the enslaved. Prison and slave breads are really and truly written in the hearts of jailers…
William Rubel 