These are the recipes for my Bread History Seminar #27, Introduction to the breads of Ancient Greece, November 11, 2021. This week we are making easy breads and are not stressing authenticity in baking method or getting too finicky with the flour. We will get more focused on detail in the next talk on Greek…
Category: Bread
Athenaeus’ “Cappadocian” Bread circa 300 CE
“The Greeks use the term “soft” for a type of bread prepared with a little milk, oil, and just enough salt; you need to make the dough soft and spongy. This type of bread is called Cappadocian, since soft bread is for the most part produced in Cappadocia.” From “Deipnosophistae” Book III circa 300 CE…
Recipes for Seminar #23 — An English Bread Manuscript from the 1550s.
Recipes for Bread History Seminar #23 Recipes from the Manuscript by T. (only name we have so far), circa 1550 I am posting this Tuesday evening, April 20. I will be revising this text prior to the workshop, but this will give you enough to get started. I would like to acknowledge Jeff Pavlik. He…
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…
The Quartern Loaf : Recipe for William Rubel Bread History Seminar #21, March 25, 2021
The thing about the Quartern Loaf is that as far as I can tell, it is the one of the most important British breads. But, to be honest, before focusing on the bread for this talk, I had thought of it as a super minor bread. One of n real importance. I was wrong. This…
The Quartern Loaf Seminar, Thursday, March 25, 2021
“Just bread.” That is how to think of the Quartern Loaf. It was “just bread.” A workaday loaf. Nothing to write home about. Nothing special. Like the American peanut butter and jelly sandwich, its importance cannot be found by surveying cookbooks. The Quarern is defined by its size. It weighed 4 1/4 pounds. In its…
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 stationery 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…