brd-mk-flat-msg - 9/1/14

Breadmaking -Period unleavened or flattish shaped bread recipes. Griddle cakes.

NOTE: See also the files: bread-msg, brd-mk-sour-msg, flour-msg, pretzels-msg,  fried-breads-msg, wafers-msg, trenchers-msg, yeasts-msg, breadmaking-msg.

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                                          Stefan at florilegium.org
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From: Kevin Riley <lindo at radix.net>
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Camp Bread, In period
Date: Wed, 02 Oct 1996 20:19:50 +0000

TJorDan001 wrote:
>   Recent readings have started my brain bubbling and certain questions are
> driving me nuts.  Foremost among them, at the moment, is the question of
> bread on the march.  Bread appears to have been the staple food of
> soldiers on campaign yet I have yet to find more than vague references to
> the ovens used to cook them.
(snip)

This doesn't exactly answer the question about ovens, but here's a
recipe for Bannocks that can be cooked either on a griddle (or other
flat piece of metal).  If anyone can tell me what might have been used
to substitute for the baking soda...

I imagine you could get a cakey bannock by using an egg and some milk
instead of baking soda and water.  Haven't tried it yet.

Griddle Bannocks:

1-1/3 c. med. oatmeal
large pinch salt
1 T. dripping or lard
1/4 t. baking soda
6 T. hot water

Mix dry ingred. together.  Melt dripping and pour it into center, then
stir enough hot water to make a stiff dough.

Knead thoroughly on floured board.  Divide into two halves.  Roll each
into 8" circles, 1/4" thick.  Cut into quarters (known as 'farls').

Cook on a griddle over medium heat.  Should only take a few minutes;
done when edges begin to curl.  (I tend to roll them too thick, which
means they cook longer; I figure they're done when they get crumbly and
brown.)

Can also be baked in an oven at 325 degrees for 30 minutes.


Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Camp Bread, In period
Date: Tue, 8 Oct 1996 15:09:57 -0600
Organization: Calgary Free-Net

On 4 Oct 1996 bard at csnsys.com wrote:
> Kevin Riley <lindo at radix.net> wrote:
> >This doesn't exactly answer the question about ovens, but here's a
> >recipe for Bannocks that can be cooked either on a griddle (or other
> >flat piece of metal).  If anyone can tell me what might have been used
> >to substitute for the baking soda...
> >
> >I imagine you could get a cakey bannock by using an egg and some milk
> >instead of baking soda and water.  Haven't tried it yet.
> 
> Just be sure you don't burn them!

Greetings my lords and ladies.  re the questions above: 

1. substitutes for baking soda ; one that was often used in the eighteenth
and nineteenth centuries in the back-blocks of western canada was wood-ash
from trees such as poplars.  the ash was (is?) relatively high in the
active ingredient of baking soda.  Note : I am not recommending that
anyone experiment with this.  

2. effect of adding milk and/or egg to a bannock recipe.  If you
substitute milk for water in bannock you gett a richer tasting result, but
the consistencey of the bread is not noticably different.  

effect of adding an egg : beat the egg well before adding it, and mix it
with the water or milk before adding it to the dry ingredients.  You will
need a little less water or milk.  Again the results are richer tasting
but not otherwise much different.  

For the richest tasting bannock in the world, make the following
substitutions : 
        instead of lard or shortening, use unsweetened butter
        instead of water, use whole milk
        add 1 egg (reduce liquid by an equivalent amount, approximately)
        add a generous handfull of raisins to the dry ingredients, before
adding the liquid.  Rinse the raisins before adding them so that they will
distribute evenly through the batter, (due to each one now being coated
with flour.)

The relative consistency of cake compared to bread/bannock etc. is due to
1) the raising agent and 2) the proportions of flour and liquid.
Substituiting (sp?) milk for water doesn't materially affect the
consistency of the dough.
Leaving out the baking powder, as the orriginal sender seems to imply will
give you something the consistency of a brick, unless you add some other
rising agent.

 Hope this is of some help.

Aldreada of the Lakes (D. Booker, Montengard, Avacal, An Tir)  


From: david friedman <ddfr at best.com>
Date: Fri, 6 Jun 1997 00:10:43 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Re: SC - Period Recipes

A few of my relatively recent discoveries are two frying pan pastries (13th
c. Islamic) and a frying pan bread (16th c. North Indian--Mughal). The
recipes are in the current Miscellany, but may not be in the online
version, which was based (last I checked) on the previous edition:

Recipe for Murakkaba, a Dish which is Made in the Region of Constantine and
is Called Kutmiyya
Andalusian p. A-62

Knead a well-made dough from semolina like the "sponge" dough with yeast,
and break in it as many eggs as you can, and knead the dough with them
until it is slack. Then set up a frying pan of clay [hantam] on a hot fire,
and when it has heated, grease it with clarified butter or oil. Put in a
thin flat loaf of the dough and when the bread is done, turn over. Take
some of the dough in the hand and smear the surface of the bread with it.
Then turn the smeared surface to the pan, changing the lower part with the
upper, and smear this side with dough too. Then turn it over in the pan and
smear it, and keep smearing it with dough and turning it over in the
tajine, and pile it up and raise it until it becomes a great, tall loaf.
Then turn it by the edges a few times in the tajine until it is done on the
sides, and when it is done, as it is desired, put it in a serving dish and
make large holes with a stick, and pour into them melted butter and plenty
of honey, so that it covers the bread, and present it.

From "Making of Elegant Isfunja ("Sponge")," Andalusian: You take clear and
clean semolina and knead it with lukewarm water and yeast and knead again.
When it has risen, turn the dough, knead fine and moisten with water,
little by little, so that it becomes like tar after the second kneading,
until it becomes leavened or is nearly risen. ...

How I do it:

2 1/4 c semolina flour	2 eggs	1/2 c butter
1/2 c water	1/4 c more water	3/8 c honey
1/2 c sourdough (for starter)	1-2 T oil for frying

Combine flour, 1/2 c water, and sourdough and knead smooth. Cover with a
damp cloth and leave overnight to rise. In the morning knead in an
additional 1/4 c water, making it into a sticky mess, and leave another few
hours in a warm place to rise. Add the eggs, and stir until they are
absorbed into the dough.

Heat a frying pan over medium to high heat and grease it with oil or ghee
(clarified butter). Pour on enough batter to make a thick pancake about 7"
in diameter. When one side is cooked (about 2 minutes) turn it over. Put
onto the cooked side about 1/4 c more batter, spreading it out to cover.
When the second side is done (1-2 minutes more), turn it over, so that the
side smeared with batter is now down. Cook another 1-2 minutes. Repeat.
Continue until the batter is all used up, giving you about 8-10
layers--like a stack of pancakes about 3" thick, all stuck together. Turn
the loaf on its side and roll it around the frying pan like a wheel, in
order to be sure the edges are cooked.

Punch lots of holes in the top with the handle of a wooden spoon, being
careful not to get through the bottom layer. Pour in honey and melted
butter, letting it soak into the loaf. Serve.

Note: Scale the recipe up as desired to suit your ambition and frying pan.
If you don't have sourdough you could use yeast instead, with shorter
rising times.
- ---
Preparation of Musammana [Buttered] Which Is Muwarraqa [Leafy]
Andalusian p. A-60 - A-61

Take pure semolina or wheat flour and knead a stiff dough without yeast.
Moisten it little by little and don't stop kneading it until it relaxes and
is ready and is softened so that you can stretch a piece without severing
it. Then put it in a new frying pan on a moderate fire. When the pan has
heated, take a piece of the dough and roll it out thin on marble or a
board. Smear it with melted clarified butter or fresh butter liquified over
water. Then roll it up like a cloth until it becomes like a reed. Then
twist it and beat it with your palm until it becomes like a round thin
bread, and if you want, fold it over also. Then roll it out and beat it
with your palm a second time until it becomes round and thin. Then put it
in a heated frying pan after you have greased the frying pan with clarified
butter, and whenever the clarified butter dries out, moisten [with butter]
little by little, and turn it around until it binds, and then take it away
and make more until you finish the amount you need. Then pound them between
your palms and toss on butter and boiling honey. When it has cooled, dust
it with ground sugar and serve it.

How I do it:

2 c semolina flour
1/4 c clarified butter for frying	1/4 c
butter at the end
aprox 5/8 c water
1 T+ sugar	
1/4 c honey at the end (or more)
1/4 c == 1/8 lb butter, melted

Stir the water into the flour, knead together, then gradually knead in the
rest of the water. Knead for about 5-10 minutes until you have a smooth,
elastic and slightly sticky dough that stretches instead of breaking when
you pull it a little. Divide in four equal parts. Roll out on a floured
board, or better floured marble, to at least 13"x15". Smear it with about 4
t melted butter. Roll it up. Twist it. Squeeze it together, flatten with
your hands to about a 5-6" diameter circle. If you wish, fold that in
quarters and flatten again to about a 5-6" circle. Melt about 1 T of
clarified butter in a frying pan and fry the dough about 8 minutes, turning
about every 1 1/2 to 2 minutes (shorter times towards the end). Repeat with
the other three, adding more clarified butter as needed. Melt 1/4 c butter,
heat 1/4 c honey. Beat the cooked circles between your hands to loosen the
layers, put in a bowl, pour the honey and butter over them, dust with
sugar, and serve.  If you are going to give it time to really soak, you
might use more butter and honey.

For regular flour, everything is the same except that you may need slightly
more water. You can substitute cooking oil for the clarified butter (which
withstands heat better than plain butter)  if necessary.

- ---
Bread
Ain i Akbari

There is a large kind, baked in an oven, made of 10 s. flour; 5 s. milk; 1
1/2 s. ghi; 1/4 s. salt. They make also smaller ones. The thin kind is
baked on an iron plate. One ser will give fifteen, or even more. There are
various ways of making it; one kind is called chapati, which is sometimes
made of khushka; it tastes very well when served hot.

1 lb == 3 1/2 c flour	2.4 oz ghee (clarified butter) == 3/8-1/2 c
1/2 lb == 1 c milk	.4 oz salt == 1/2 T

Melt the ghee, stir it into the flour with a fork until there are only very
small lumps. Stir in the milk until thoroughly mixed, knead briefly. Put
the ball of dough in a bowl covered by a damp cloth and leave for at least
an hour.   Then knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic, adding a
little extra flour if necessary. Either:

Take a ball of dough about 2" in diameter, roll it out to about a 5"
diameter circle. Cook it in a hot frying pan without grease. After about 2
minutes it should start to puff up a little in places. Turn it. Cook
another 2 minutes. Turn it. Cook another 2 minutes. It should be done. The
recipe should make about 11 of these.

Take a ball of dough about 3" in diameter. Roll it down to a circle about
7" in diameter and 1/4" thick. Heat a baking sheet in a 450=B0 oven. Put the
circle of dough on it in the oven. Bake about 6 minutes; it should be
puffing up. Turn it over. Bake about 4 minutes more. Take it out. The
recipe should make about 5 of these.

David/Cariadoc
http://www.best.com/~ddfr/


Date: Fri, 19 Sep 1997 15:05:04 -0500
From: L Herr-Gelatt and J R Gelatt <liontamr at ptd.net>
Subject: SC - oat recipe

Oatcakes are traditional Scottish fare, somewhat descended from bannocks,
which are thicker and softer. Contemporary accounts say that medieval
Scotts merchants would bring their own bake-stone and oats with them when
traveling south, since they didn't trust the "sissy" white bread of England.

There is a traditional story of an old woman who heard about a Scotts Army
defeat. Hearing that the retreat was through her neck of the woods, she
gathered her supplies together and made oatcakes which she gave to the weary
soldiers as soon as they were baked, right by the side of the road.

It is said by contemporary accounts also that the Scotts soldiers were
hardier and stronger because they carried their own oatcake supplies and a
bakestone with them, rather than eat stale camp bread.

While these are not documented recipes, Cheese and other food was potted in
late period, and oatcakes are so simple to make that I am unaware of an
historical example of their recipe, although I have read accounts of their
existence.  Somewhere on a disc in Word Perfect I have a paper about
Scottish food. It's such an old version that my 'puter can't interpret it
now. Sigh.


Oatcakes, Potted Stilton   adapted from Farmhouse Cookery...Recipes from the
Country kitchen, Reader's Digest, London 1980.

Oatcakes
1 lb. fine oatmeal (NOT ROLLED OATS...THEY WON"T WORK)
1/2 tsp. salt
4 tbsp. melted bacon fat
1/2 pint boiling water

Mix together oats and salt. Combine bacon fat and water. Pour over the oats
and quickly mix  to combine. Let sit a few minutes under a towel to cool
slightly. When just barely cool enough to handle, knead quickly and turn
onto a board dusted with more oatmeal. Give a top-coating of oatmeal and
roll out as thin as possible, dusting with oatmeal all the while. Pinch any
cracks together. Use an oat-dusted glass to cut into rounds (re-roll scraps
if necessary), or make one large round and cut into triangle wedges
(traditional).

Bake at 375 degrees on an ungreased baking sheet 20-30 minutes turning once,
or longer if it's humid out, until they are gently toasted. It may be
necessary to turn off the oven and leave them to dry in order to get the
proper crisp texture/fawn color. Sprinkle liberally with salt when finished.
Serve warm or cold with potted cheese. Store in an airtight container as
they take on moisture readily. Do not pack away hot.

<snip>

And that, folks, is what makes Oats an Artform.

Aoife


Date: Wed, 24 Sep 1997 23:31:12 -0700 (PDT)
From: rousseau at scn.org (Anne-Marie Rousseau)
Subject: SC - Ruzzige cake: A german foccacia, sorta.

Hi all from Anne-Marie. Here's the recipe you asked for. Remember the 
first rendition is from Alia/Caterina ("german girl" in Carolingia, Ijust 
tweaked it a bit. So if you want to publish it anywhere, you should ask her.

from _Das guch von guter spise_ (1340, German)
52. A Good Filling
He who wants to make a good dish chops parsley and sage, exactly as much. 
And fry them in butter and beat eggs soft. And mix that together. And 
grate cheese and bread therein. And make a loaf from eggs. And pour 
batter thereunder. And pour this thereon. Give it flowers on top. And let 
it bake. This is Ruzzige Cake.

1 1/4c. grated mozzerella
1 1/4c. grated provolone or cheddar
3 eggs
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/2 cup chopped fresh sage
2 tsp butter
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1 loaf unbaked bread dough
fresh edible flowers for garnish.

Preheat the oven to 350o. Sautee the parsley and sage in the butter for 
about 5 minutes. Mix the eggs, cheeses and bread crumbs, then add the 
herbs. Roll the bread dough out and place in foillined, AND oiled baking 
pan. Spread the cheesy stuff evenly on the dough. Dot with edible 
flowers. Bake for 30 min or until the cheese is all brown and toasty looking.

Reconstruction notes: One could interpret this to use a batter like cake, 
rather than bread dough. Also, I usually double the filling:bread ratio 
(I like cheese). Pansies are espeicially pretty on this.

enjoy!
- --ANne-Marie


Date: Wed, 29 Oct 1997 22:51:53 -0600
From: "Decker, Terry D." <TerryD at Health.State.OK.US>
Subject: SC - Galette Persane - OOP

Sitting here enjoying the fruits of two days of patience, I though I
would share the recipe for what the Parisians call Persian Flatbread
(bappi (sic?) it ain't).

The bread produced is a medium brown loaf about nine inches in diameter
and an inch and a half high with a hard crust and a lovely soft
interior.  It is a very flavorful bread without a single overpowering
taste.  Served hot from the oven with butter, it was worth the wait.

Enjoy
Bear

                   Galette Persane  (Persian Flatbread)

Recipe By     : Bernard Clayton Jr., The Breads of France
Serving Size  : 3 
 
  Amount  Measure       Ingredient -- Preparation Method
- --------  ------------  --------------------------------
   				STARTER
   1      package       dry yeast
   1      cup           water (70-75 F)
   1 1/2  cups          whole wheat flour
                        ------
				SPONGE
                        all of the starter
   1      cup           water (70-75 F)
   1 1/2  cups          whole wheat flour
                        ------
				DOUGH
                        all of the sponge
   2      teaspoons     salt
     1/2  cup           water (70-75 F)
   1      tablespoon    olive oil
     1/3  cup           wheat germ
   2 1/2  cups          unbleached flour

READ THE NOTES BEFORE YOU START

Starter:
Dissolve the yeast in the water.
Pour in the flour and blend to make a thick batter.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature (70-75 F)
for 24 hours.

Sponge:
Pour all of the starter in a large bowl.
Add water and whole wheat flour to make a thick batter.
Cover bowl with plastic wrap  and leave at room temperature (70-75 F)
for a minimum of 12 hours to a maximum of 24 hours.  The longer the
rise, the more robust the flavor.

Dough:
Stir down sponge.
Add salt, water, olive oil and wheat germ.  Blend with sponge.
Add flour 1/2 cup at a time.  Stir with wooden spoon or plastic scraper.
When the dough gets to stiff to stir, sprinkle with flour and work it
with the hands.
When the dough is a solid body, remove it from the bowl to a lightly
floured kneading surface.
Knead with a push-turn-fold motion.  Add sprinkles of flour if the dough
is sticky.  Knead about 7 minutes.

Return the dough to a clean, greased bowl. 
Cover and allow to rise until double in volume.  About 1 1/2 hours.

Grease a baking sheet or use a non-stick baking sheet.
Punch down dough.  Knead to press out bubbles.
Divide into three equal pieces.
Roll each piece into a ball.
Press each ball into a disk roughly 6 inches in diameter and 3/4 of an
inch thick.  Put on baking sheet.
Cover the galettes and leave at room temperature (70-75 F) until double
in volue.  About 40 minutes.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
With a sharp blade (razor) make 4 1/2 inch deep cuts across each loaf.
Make 4 more cuts 90 degrees to the first cuts.
Bake on middle shelf until golden brown.  About 40 minutes.
Remove and cool on a metal rack.
To serve, break galette along the cuts.   

                   - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

NOTES : This recipe takes two days and a couple of hours to prepare.  It
creates a starter to make a sponge to make the dough.  

Make sure the bowls are large enough.  The starter and the sponge will
rise and fall during their  rises.  In particular, the starter may be
more than three times its original size.

The dough is soft and very sticky.  Keep your flour sprinkler handy.
Use it sparingly, but regularly.


Date: Mon, 16 Mar 1998 10:14:16 -0600
From: "Decker, Terry D." <TerryD at Health.State.OK.US>
Subject: RE: SC - Palladius, tamarind, buckwheat, soap

> 3.  Is buckwheat (and presumably its relation, rhubarb) period?
> Found myself wondering the other day as I failed dismally to remember
> my favourite recipe for buckwheat/buttermilk pancakes.  Does anyone
> have access to the Sunday Times' Book of Real Bread?  Or else another
> good suitable recipe?  My preference is for yeast-risen, not carb
> soda.
>
> Cairistiona

I believe buckwheat is period, but that the use may have been primarily as
animal fodder.  It is used in some parts of England and France to make
pancakes, but the major use appears to have been in the US.

There is a yeast based recipe for buckwheat cakes in Modern Domestic Cookery
& Useful Receipt Book by Elizabeth Hammond, 1817.  But I would use Elizabeth
David's recipe, which follows.

Buckwheat Cakes

2/3 Cup buckwheat
2/3 Cup unbleached flour
1 tsp salt
1 1/4 Cup milk (body temperature)
1 tsp yeast
4 eggs
1/2 Cup milk (room temperature)

Sift flour and salt together in a bowl.
Turn the yeast to a thick cream with some of the warm milk.
Add to the flour, stir in the rest of the warm milk.
Cover and let rise (about 1 hour).
Stir in the 4 eggs and the 1/2 cup of milk (as needed).  Keeping the batter
fairly thick.
Cover and let rise (about 1 hour).
Make into small pancakes like blinis.

Bear


Date: Mon, 16 Mar 1998 13:17:55 -0600
From: "Decker, Terry D." <TerryD at Health.State.OK.US>
Subject: RE: SC - Palladius, tamarind, buckwheat, soap

> Where is the end of the recipe for Buckwheat Cakes, after forming them
> into pancakes? The cooking procedure, time, and temperature is not given.
>
> Arlene Silikovitz
> West Orange, NJ

Since no special cooking instructions were with the recipe, I assume the
instructions are covered by the term pancake.  Pan or griddle cakes are
cooked in a frying pan or on a griddle, usually at medium or lower heat,
depending on the heat source.  Heat the pan, then lightly oil it.  Let the
oil warm then pour some of the batter into the pan to form a pancake.  Cook
until the outer edge sets up then turn and complete the cooking.  I favor
cooking just below the smoking point of the oil.

I haven't tried this recipe, so I don't know how to tell if the yeast rising
pancake is setting up properly.  The following comments may not apply to
this recipe.

Chemical rising pancakes develop bubbles in the batter which work their way
up to the uncooked top of the pancake.  When a bubble breaks and the hole it
makes fills with batter, the cake is still under done.  When the bubble
breaks and leaves a hole, the batter has set up.  The outer edges of the
cake are thinner and tend to set up faster, so turning the cake helps even
the cooking of the center of the cake and helps prevent burning.

David suggests serving them with butter and a sprinkling of brown sugar.
I'd probably grab for the maple syrup.

Bear


Date: Wed, 3 Jun 1998 21:56:20 -0700
From: david friedman <ddfr at best.com>
Subject: RE: SC - Need advice...

It occurred to me that I had another recipes that might be of interest.

the following is my conjectural recipe for oatcakes, as they might have
been eaten by Scottish troopers c. 1400:

1/2 c  "Scottish Oatmeal" --very coarsely ground whole oats.
1/4 t salt
1/4 c water

Put the oatmeal in a spice grinder and process for about 20 seconds,
producing something intermediate between what you started with and bread
flour. Add salt and water and let the mixture stand for about fifteen
minutes. Make flat cakes 1/4" to 3/8" in thickness,  cook  on a medium hot
griddle, without oil, about 3-5 minutes.

The result is a reasonably tasty flat bread. In scaling the recipe up for a
meal or a feast, you would probably want to experiment with grinding whole
oats into meal, or find a source for a finer (and less expensive) oatmeal
than the gourmet product, intended for making porridge, that I was using.

David/Cariadoc
http://www.best.com/~ddfr/


Date: Fri, 5 Jun 1998 16:10:04 -0400
From: "marilyn traber" <mtraber at email.msn.com>
Subject: Re: SC - pita

POCKET BREAD Recipe By   : New International Cookbook
Serving Size  : 6    Preparation Time :0:00
Categories    : Bread, Biscuits & Muffins
  Amount  Measure       Ingredient -- Preparation Method
- --------  ------------  --------------------------------
   1      package       active dry yeast
   1 1/3  cups          warm water (105-115F)
   1      tablespoon    vegetable oil   1      teaspoon      sugar
   1      teaspoon      salt
   3      cups          all-purpose flour (up to 1/2 cup more -- if needed)
Dissolve yeast in warm water in large bowl.  Stir in oil, sugar, salt and 2
cups of the flour.  Beat until smooth.  Stir in enough remaining flour to
make dough easy to handle.
Turn dough onto lightly floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic,
about 10 minutes.  Place in greased bowl; turn grease side up.  Cover; let
rise in warm place until double, about 1 hour.  (Dough is ready when
indentation remains when touched.)
Punch down dough; divide into 6 equal parts.  Shape into balls.  Cover; let
rise 30 minutes.  Roll each ball into a 6-7" circle 1/8" thick on floured
surface.  Place 2 circles in opposite corners of each of 3 cookie sheets.
 Cover; let rise 30 minutes.
Heat oven to 450F degrees.  Bake until loaves are puffed and golden brown,
about 10 minutes.                   - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
NOTES : There are many Middle Eastern names for this bread:  Pita, Arab
bread, Israeli flatbread and Armenian bread.  It's a bread very handy for
stuffing, and like the tortillas of Mexico, it can be cut into wedges for
scooping, too.


Date: Thu, 4 Jun 1998 19:31:01 -0500
From: "Decker, Terry D." <TerryD at Health.State.OK.US>
Subject: SC - Naan

Someone say naan?  I haven't done Indian in years, but here's one out of
those delightful days.

Bear

Naan (makes 6)

2/3 cup warm milk
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp dry active yeast
3 3/4 cup unbleached flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
2 Tbs vegetable oil
2/3 cup yogurt, lightly beaten
1 large egg lightly beaten

Put milk in a bowl with 1 tsp sugar and the yeast.  Let stand until the
yeast dissolves and the mixture becomes frothy.
Sift flour, salt and baking powder together in a large bowl.  Add remaining
sugar, yeast mixture, oil, yogurt and egg.  Work the mixture into a ball.
Turn out dough on a lightly floured surface until the dough becomes smooth
and satiny.
Form the dough into a ball and put it in a lightly oiled bowl.
Cover and let rise until double (about 1 hour).
Punch down the dough and divide into six equal balls.
Shape a ball of dough into a flat tear drop about 10 inches long by 5 inches
at the widest point.
Slap onto the wall of the tandoori and bake until brown.

Okay, okay.  You don't have a tandoori.  Put a rack low in your oven and a
rack high in your oven.
Set the oven to broil.  Preheat a baking sheet on the high rack.
Put a naan on the preheated baking sheet and put it on the low rack for
about 3 minutes while the dough puffs up nicely.  Move the baking sheet to
the top rack for about 30 seconds while the top browns.
Remove the naan.  Wrap it in a napkin. Repeat the process.

I've never done this on a griddle, so here's a guess.
Rest your griddle on some stones two to three inches above your bed of
coals.  Let it get good and hot.
Drop the naan on the griddle for about 3 minutes.  Turn over and cook for 3
minutes on the other side.
This method may require additional time on the griddle, so use the first
naan as a test to work out your timing.
If you are using a stove, you should have more even heat and better timing.

A couple of notes:

The baking powder is added for more kick.  It would not have been in period
naan.  You should be able to leave it out without much effect on the final
product.

If you want to leave out the egg, add 4 more Tablespoons of yogurt.


Date: Thu, 11 Jun 1998 08:42:06 -0700
From: david friedman <ddfr at best.com>
Subject: Re: Frying Pan  Pastry Recipe [was: SC - Need advice...]

At 5:32 PM -0400 6/4/98, Micaylah wrote:
>Cariadoc said...

>>We also have two frying pan
>>pastry recipies, if you are interested in those.
>
>Yes please and much appreciated.

From the _Miscellany_:

Recipe for Murakkaba, a Dish which is Made in the Region of Constantine and
is Called Kutâmiyya
Andalusian p. A-62

Knead a well-made dough from semolina like the "sponge" dough with yeast,
and break in it as many eggs as you can, and knead the dough with them
until it is slack. Then set up a frying pan of clay [hantam] on a hot fire,
and when it has heated, grease it with clarified butter or oil. Put in a
thin flat loaf of the dough and when the bread is done, turn over. Take
some of the dough in the hand and smear the surface of the bread with it.
Then turn the smeared surface to the pan, changing the lower part with the
upper, and smear this side with dough too. Then turn it over in the pan and
smear it, and keep smearing it with dough and turning it over in the
tajine, and pile it up and raise it until it becomes a great, tall loaf.
Then turn it by the edges a few times in the tajine until it is done on the
sides, and when it is done, as it is desired, put it in a serving dish and
make large holes with a stick, and pour into them melted butter and plenty
of honey, so that it covers the bread, and present it.

>From "Making of Elegant Isfunja ("Sponge")," Andalusian: You take clear and
clean semolina and knead it with lukewarm water and yeast and knead again.
When it has risen, turn the dough, knead fine and moisten with water,
little by little, so that it becomes like tar after the second kneading,
until it becomes leavened or is nearly risen. ...

2 1/4 c semolina flour  2 eggs  1/2 c butter
1/2 c water     1/4 c more water        3/8 c honey
1/2 c sourdough (for starter)   1-2 T oil for frying

Combine flour, 1/2 c water, and sourdough and knead smooth. Cover with a
damp cloth and leave overnight to rise. In the morning knead in an
additional 1/4 c water, making it into a sticky mess, and leave another few
hours in a warm place to rise. Add the eggs, and stir until they are
absorbed into the dough.

Heat a frying pan over medium to high heat and grease it with oil or ghee
(clarified butter). Pour on enough batter to make a thick pancake about 7"
in diameter. When one side is cooked (about 2 minutes) turn it over. Put
onto the cooked side about 1/4 c more batter, spreading it out to cover.
When the second side is done (1-2 minutes more), turn it over, so that the
side smeared with batter is now down. Cook another 1-2 minutes. Repeat.
Continue until the batter is all used up, giving you about 8-10
layers--like a stack of pancakes about 3" thick, all stuck together. Turn
the loaf on its side and roll it around the frying pan like a wheel, in
order to be sure the edges are cooked.

Punch lots of holes in the top with the handle of a wooden spoon, being
careful not to get through the bottom layer. Pour in honey and melted
butter, letting it soak into the loaf. Serve.

Note: Scale the recipe up as desired to suit your ambition and frying pan.
If you don't have sourdough you could use yeast instead, with shorter
rising times.

Preparation of Musammana [Buttered] Which Is Muwarraqa [Leafy]
Andalusian p. A-60 - A-61

Take pure semolina or wheat flour and knead a stiff dough without yeast.
Moisten it little by little and don't stop kneading it until it relaxes and
is ready and is softened so that you can stretch a piece without severing
it. Then put it in a new frying pan on a moderate fire. When the pan has
heated, take a piece of the dough and roll it out thin on marble or a
board. Smear it with melted clarified butter or fresh butter liquified over
water. Then roll it up like a cloth until it becomes like a reed. Then
twist it and beat it with your palm until it becomes like a round thin
bread, and if you want, fold it over also. Then roll it out and beat it
with your palm a second time until it becomes round and thin. Then put it
in a heated frying pan after you have greased the frying pan with clarified
butter, and whenever the clarified butter dries out, moisten [with butter]
little by little, and turn it around until it binds, and then take it away
and make more until you finish the amount you need. Then pound them between
your palms and toss on butter and boiling honey. When it has cooled, dust
it with ground sugar and serve it.

2 c semolina flour
aprox 5/8 c water
1/4 c = 1/8 lb butter, melted
1/4 c clarified butter for frying
1 T+ sugar
1/4 c butter at the end
1/4 c honey at the end (or more)

Stir the water into the flour, knead together, then gradually knead in the
rest of the water. Knead for about 5-10 minutes until you have a smooth,
elastic and slightly sticky dough that stretches instead of breaking when
you pull it a little. Divide in four equal parts. Roll out on a floured
board, or better floured marble, to at least 13"x15". Smear it with about 4
t melted butter. Roll it up. Twist it. Squeeze it together, flatten with
your hands to about a 5-6" diameter circle. If you wish, fold that in
quarters and flatten again to about a 5-6" circle. Melt about 1 T of
clarified butter in a frying pan and fry the dough about 8 minutes, turning
about every 1 1/2 to 2 minutes (shorter times towards the end). Repeat with
the other three, adding more clarified butter as needed. Melt 1/4 c butter,
heat 1/4 c honey. Beat the cooked circles between your hands to loosen the
layers, put in a bowl, pour the honey and butter over them, dust with
sugar, and serve.  If you are going to give it time to really soak, you
might use more butter and honey.

For regular flour, everything is the same except that you may need slightly
more water. You can substitute cooking oil for the clarified butter (which
withstands heat better than plain butter)  if necessary.

Elizabeth/Betty Cook


Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1998 15:48:29 -0500
From: "Decker, Terry D." <TerryD at Health.State.OK.US>
Subject: RE: SC - Namron event

The bread is Tuscan Almond Bread and is not
provably period, but I've stuck the recipe on at the end of the message.
This recipe is one of the more elaborate Italian flat breads.  

Bear

SCHIACCIATA

Schiacciata is an Italian flat bread.  This particular version is a dessert
bread from  Tuscany.  The recipe is modern.  The origin of the bread may be
as early as the Renaissance when the region was known for its innovations in
pastries.

1 teaspoon (1 pkg) dry active yeast
1/4 cup warm water (110 degrees F)
3/4 cup butter (room temperature)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup milk (room temperature)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon grated orange peel
1 Tablespoon anise seeds
4 eggs
1 egg yolk (reserve white)
4-5 cups flour
1 cup raisins
1 cup diced candied orange peel
1 egg white beaten with 1 Tablespoon of water
7 ounces almond paste
1 cup sliced almonds

Dissolve a small pinch of the sugar in the warm water.  Dissolve the yeast
in the water and let stand for 5 to 10 minutes to activate.
Stir in butter, sugar, milk, salt, grated orange peel, anise seeds, eggs and
egg yolk.
Stir in flour a little at a time until a dough ball forms, continue adding
flour until the dough  stops being sticky (about 4 3/4 cups of flour total).
Turn dough out on a lightly floured surface and knead lightly.
Place the dough in a covered bowl and allow it to rise until doubled (1 1/2
to 2 hours).
Flatten the dough and cover with raisins and diced orange peel.  Fold the
fruit into the dough.
Divide the dough into two equal parts and shape each into a ball.
Put the balls on a lightly greased baking sheet and press down gently to
form a flattened round loaf.
Cover with plastic and allow the loaves to rise in a warm place until they
look puffy (about 40 to 45 minutes).
Uncover and brush the loaves with the egg-white and water glaze.
Crumble the almond paste into 1/2 inch chunks and spread them over the
loaves.
Sprinkle half of the almonds onto each loaf.
Press almond paste and almonds lightly into the dough.

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.  Bake loaves on the middle rack for about 30
minutes or until golden brown.
Remove and cool on wire racks.

The loaves can be dusted with powdered sugar if desired, but I normally eat
them without. 


Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1998 20:23:54 -0500
From: "Decker, Terry D." <TerryD at Health.State.OK.US>
Subject: SC - Biscotti, brodo of chickpeas, chard poree

I was off board at Namron Protectorate (Northern Ansteorra) this weekend,
helping some fellow cooks prepare a small celebratory dinner for the 10th
wedding anniversary of Baroness Gwyneth of Ramsey Mere.  I handled the
breads, producing cheese bread for casual snacking, and wheat bread, Tuscan
almond schiacciata and biscotti.

The recipes follow.

Bear

Biscotti

2 cups sugar
1 cup margarine or butter, melted
1/4 cup each anise seed and anisette
3 tablespoons of whiskey or 2 teaspoons of vanilla and 2 tablespoons of
water
6 eggs
5 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 cups coarsely chopped almonds or walnuts

In  a bowl, mix sugar, butter, anise seed, anisette, and whiskey.  (I
replaced the anisette with a teaspoon of anise flavoring in a 1/4 cup of
water and the whiskey with brandy.)
Beat in eggs.
Mix baking powder with two cups of flour.  Stir it into the sugar mixture,
then add the remaining flour and stir in thoroughly.
Stir in the nuts. (Since one of the diners is anaphylactic where nuts are
concerned, I replaced this with approximately 1 1/2 cups of oven roasted
flour, sifted into the mixture to remove the lumps.)
Cover and refrigerate for 2 to 3 hours.

On greased baking sheets, form flat loaves the length of the sheet, two
inches wide and 1/2 inch thick.  Two loaves will fit easily on a standard
baking sheet.
In a pre heated oven, bake the loaves at 375 degrees F for 20 minutes or
until lightly browned.
Remove from the oven and let the loaves cool on the baking sheets until you
can touch them.
Cut them into diagonal slices 1/2 to 3/4 of a inch thick.
Place slices close together cut side down on baking sheets bake in 375 F
oven for 15 more minutes or until lightly toasted.
Cool on wire racks and store in air tight containers.


Date: Sat, 19 Dec 1998 14:03:17 -0600
From: "Decker, Terry D." <TerryD at Health.State.OK.US>
Subject: RE: SC - bread experiment

> I just got done with making a loaf of spelt bread filled with chestnut puree.
> I used the recipe for bread from the back of the package of
> arrowhead mills spelt flour, with the optional honey but without the salt.
> great raves, and a few people over said it was better than
> whole wheat[it is about the same dark color of pure whole
> wheat flour bread] but with a much richer taste.
> now, anybody have a clue on a possible recipe for the spelt
> based mustum cookies served for special occasions in Rome?
> margali

I think you are talking about mustacei.  Here's a recipe from Cato by way of
Giacosa.  I wonder if the must was used as flavoring or as a leavening in
this case.  Spelt may be a little rough for this recipe, but it is worth a
try.  Bear

Mustacei

Mustaceos sic facito:  Farinae siligineae modium unum musto conspargito.
Anesum, cuminum, adipis. P.II, casei libram, et de virga lauri deradito,
eadem addito, et ubi definxeris, lauri folia subtus addito, coques.

Prepare mustcei thus:  Moisten a modius of fine flour with must.  Add anise,
cumin, 2 librae of fat, 1 librae of cheese, and grate bay twig.  When you
have shaped them, place bay leaves beneath; cook.

For each 3/4 cup flour:
1 Tbsp. lard
1/2 Tbsp. ricotta
1 tsp. total anise and cumin
1 small piece of bay bark, grated
1 Tbsp. must (to make a soft dough similar to that for a pie crust)
bay leaves

Cut the flour with the lard and ricotta; add the anise and cumin, and, if
you can find it, the bay bark.  Add enough must to form a ball (remember
that flour doesn't always absorb the same amount of liquid).  Form small
flat focaccias from this dough; or roll out the dough to 1/4 inch thickness
and cut into shapes.  Place 1 or 2 bay leaves beneath each one, and cook on
a griddle over low flame, turning then so they cook evenly on both sides.

The name of this dessert survives in cookies that are still made in various
regions of Italy:  mustazzit in Lombardy, mostaccioli in Calabria,
mustazzola di Missina in Sicily, and mustazzueli in Apulia.  But curiously,
the must has disappeared from all of them over the centuries.


Date: Thu, 6 May 1999 21:43:21 -0500
From: "Decker, Terry D." <TerryD at Health.State.OK.US>
Subject: RE: Libum (was RE: SC - OT Dogs vs Cats...)

As earlier promised, the recipe for Libum.

A testo is a covered terracotta baking dish used like a cloche oven.  The
closest thing to it today is Romertopf.  Using a covered dish for baking
will probably help retain moisture in the loaf.

Looking at the recipe, I think Giacosa is compensating for not using the
covered dish by adding an additional egg and reducing the flour by 1/3 ( a
cup of sifted flour is approximately 4 oz.).  I may experiment with this
when I have some time.

Bear

Libum  (Cato 75)

Libum hoc modo facito.  Casei P. II bene disterat in mortario.  Ubi bene
destriverit, farinae siligineae libram, aut, si voles tenerius esse,
semilibram semilaginis eodem indito, permiscetoque cum caseo bene.  Ovum
unum addito et una permisceto bene.  Inde panem facito, folia laurea
subdito:  in foco caldo sub testu coquito leniter.

Make a libum thus:  Thoroughly grind 2 librae of cheese in a mortar,  When
it is well ground, add 1 libra of fine flour or, if you want [the loaf to
be] softer still, 1/2 libra of the finest flour; mix well with the cheese.
Add 1 egg and mix well.  Then form a loaf, placing the bay leaves beneath.
Cook slowly under a testo on a hot hearth.

1 1/2 lb. ricotta or other soft cheese
2 cups flour
2 eggs
2-3 bay leaves per loaf

Mix the ingredients as prescribed in the recipe and form small loaves,
placing bay leaves beneath each one.  Bake in a medium oven (350 degrees F)
for around 30 minutes.

This bread is called libum (related to libare, to make an offering) because
it was also used as a sacrificial offering.  The farmer, for whom Cato wrote
these recipes, was expected to make ritual sacrifices to the Lares, the
guardian gods of home and property, " for the feast of the Compitalia,
either at the crossroads or the hearth."  We may thus assume that what was
once good enough for the gods should certainly be appealing to us as well.

Giacosa, A Taste of Ancient Rome, pp. 169-170.


Date: Mon, 16 Aug 1999 09:08:34 -0400
From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
Subject: Re: SC - bread recipes--??

Phefner at aol.com wrote:
> Does anyone know where I might find some period bread recipes? Also, does
> anyone know what you're supposed to do with rolled oats to make oatcakes?

Somewhere in the "Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery Books" there is, I
think, a recipe for rastons, which are essentially loaves of bread with
the innards taken out, buttered a bit like a bread-and-butter pudding,
and packed back into the crusts for service. The recipe tells you how to
make the bread, too. There's also a good manchet recipe in Gervase
Markham's "The English Hus-Wife", and a bread recipe in Platina's "De
Honesta Voluptate et Valetudinae".

As for oatcakes, yes, you can make them with rolled oats, but you have
to grind them into proper meal. Maybe not quite as fine as flour, but
much finer than the rolled oats. Actually, this is probably the best
thing you can do with rolled oats, as it is no longer apparent that they
_are_ rolled oats after you grind them. I've done it a cup at a time in
a clean electric coffee grinder. Just whiz the bejeezus out of them (my
aplogies for such technical jargon) until they resemble sand or very
fine breadcrumbs. Most oatcake recipes seem to call for oat meal (as in
oats ground into flour of a not-very-well-defined grade), or pinhead
oats, which are steel-cut oats somewhat finer than we get in the USA,
maybe like fine bulgur in texture, or even finer.

Adamantius


Date: Mon, 23 Aug 1999 14:04:02 -0700
From: david friedman <ddfr at best.com>
Subject: Re: SC - oat cakes

At 6:24 PM -0500 8/17/99, Wajdi wrote:
>OK, I got a problem.  I got diagnosed with high blood pressure,
>and got put on a low fat diet.  Somebody told me oatmeal was good
>for this, so I took a cup and a half of regular oat meal, and
>ground it fine, into a flour like consistancy.  Added one egg and
>beat 'em together.  Then thinned it out a bit with water, to
>about the consistency of a loose cookie dough.  Heated a
>cast-iron skillet, and pressed it out into a patty-like thing
>about a quarter of an inch thick.  Cooked it a few minutes, then
>flipped it; and kept flipping it until it felt done.  It wasn't
>bad; next time I'll add a little bit of salt.  It was kind of the
>consistancy of a thick middle eastern type bread, a little
>heavier than pita.  I dunno if its perioid or not, but it ought
>to help with the blood pressure.  Any comments??

Try it without the egg. I did oat cakes (using a fancy Irish oatmeal, not
rolled oats), water, and salt, and they were pretty good--and egg yolk has
fat.

David/Cariadoc
http://www.best.com/~ddfr/


Date: Fri, 3 Sep 1999 11:53:11 EDT
From: Elysant at aol.com
Subject: SC - SC: Panisses and other flat breads

>  The fact that there are some things that people today won't eat really
>   doesn't prove that these things weren't eaten by our period forebears.
>   Flour-and-water dough is one of them. Note that I'm not saying such
>   dough was regularly eaten. But if it was, so what?

In one of the modern cookbooks I have there is piece somewhat related to this
topic.  I had seen the author several times on the TV and heard her talk
about some of the evolution of various dishes.  Sadly in the book she does
not give a bibliography :-(

"In all the cuisines of the world you will find wonderful things made with
bread dough.  In  France we call them gallettes, and they are made mostly
with a handful of bread dough topped with whatever is available.  (One of the
most curious is the Savoie gallette covered with la-crutz (skimming of the
butter one would melt for winter storage) mixed with a bit of honey.  In
Provence, the panisses are made of chick pea flour and bread dough and
flavored with wonderful Mediterranean flavorings such as orange-flower water
and anise.  In Brittany, they refine unleavened bread dough to make sweet
gallettes, first cousins to the Celtic and Viking butter shortbreads....  The
panisses of Provence may very well have been created ten thousand years ago
in one of the many early settlements along the Mediterranean that have been
studied".


Panisses with Honey and Olive Oil (OOP)
Yields apporximately 8 pannisses

3 cups sifted flour
3/4 cup olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons orange-flower water
2 teaspoons dried orange peel
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup honey
1/4 teaspoon thyme
Water as needed (approximately 1 cup)

Make a well in the flour, add the olive oil, orange-flower water, peel, salt,
honey, and dried thyme.  Add 3/4 cup of water and dissolve the honey in it.
Gradually mix all the ingredients, adding more water as needed for
consistency, until the dough holds together or forms a ball and will roll out
 like pie dough.  Put the dough to rest in the refrigerator for thirty
minutes, then roll it onto a large sheet, 1/4 inch thick if you can.  Cut
into three and a half inch circles, pull each circle to elongate it into an
oval and cut three slits in the center.  Bake in a preheated oven until
crisp, about 10 minutes.  Cool and store in tins.

(from Madeleine Cooks by Madeleine Kamman)


Date: Wed, 15 Mar 2000 13:21:02 -0600
From: david friedman <ddfr at best.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Re: Oat cakes

At 10:59 AM -0500 3/15/00, ChannonM at aol.com wrote:
>A short time ago, his Grace, Duke Sir Cariodoc, posted that Froissart
>described an oatcake and it was in the Miscellany.
>
>Beg my idiocy, but for the life of me I can't find it. Would anyone be so
>kind as to point me in the right direction as to where it's located? I have
>the Miscellany, but I'm either blind, stupid or just overloaded with
>information and unable to see the forest for the trees (of leeks that is)

Which edition do you have? I don't believe it is in the (old) webbed 
edition. The article is:
- --

Scottish Oat Cakes: A Conjectural Reconstruction

"the only things they take with them [when riding to war] are a large 
flat stone placed between the saddle and the saddle-cloth and a bag 
of oatmeal strapped behind. When they have lived so long on 
half-cooked meat that their stomachs feel weak and hollow, they lay 
these stones on a fire and, mixing a little of their oatmeal with 
water, they sprinkle the thin paste on the hot stone and make a small 
cake, rather like a wafer, which they eat to help their digestion." 
(Froissart's Chronicles, Penguin Books translation.)

So far as I know, there are no surviving period recipes for oat 
cakes. This article is an attempt to reconstruct them, mainly on the 
basis of Froissart's brief comment.

Rolled oats--what we today call "oatmeal"--are a modern invention. I 
assume that "oat meal" in the middle ages meant the same thing as 
"meal" in other contexts--a coarse flour. The only other ingredient 
mentioned is water, but salt is frequently omitted in medieval 
recipes--Platina, for instance, explicitly says that he doesn't 
bother to mention it--so I have felt free to include it. The oat 
cakes Froissart describes are field rations, so unlikely to contain 
any perishable ingredients such as butter or lard, although they may 
possibly have been used in other contexts.

Consistent with these comments, the following is my conjectural 
recipe for oatcakes as they might have been made by Scottish troopers 
c. 1400:

1/2 c "Scottish Oatmeal" --very coarsely ground whole oats.	1/4 c water
1/4 t salt

Put the oatmeal in a spice grinder and process for about 20 seconds, 
producing something intermediate between what you started with and 
bread flour. Add salt and water and let the mixture stand for about 
fifteen minutes. Make flat cakes 1/4" to 3/8" in thickness, cook on a 
medium hot griddle, without oil, about 3-5 minutes.

The result is a reasonably tasty flat bread. In scaling the recipe up 
for a meal or a feast, you would want to experiment with grinding 
whole oats into meal or find a finer (and less expensive) oatmeal 
than the gourmet product, intended for making porridge, that I was 
using.

(An earlier version of this article was published in Serve it Forth: 
A Periodical Forum for SCA Cooks, Volume I, Number 2 (April 1996). 
Information on that publication is available from Mary Morman 
(Mistress Elaina de Sinistre), 1245 Allegheny Drive, Colorado 
Springs, CO 80919,  memorman at oldcolo.com.)

David/Cariadoc
http://www.best.com/~ddfr/


Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2000 00:18:15 -0500
From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Re: Oat cakes

david friedman wrote:
> Rolled oats--what we today call "oatmeal"--are a modern invention. I
> assume that "oat meal" in the middle ages meant the same thing as
> "meal" in other contexts--a coarse flour. The only other ingredient
> mentioned is water, but salt is frequently omitted in medieval
> recipes--Platina, for instance, explicitly says that he doesn't
> bother to mention it--so I have felt free to include it. The oat
> cakes Froissart describes are field rations, so unlikely to contain
> any perishable ingredients such as butter or lard, although they may
> possibly have been used in other contexts.
> 
> Consistent with these comments, the following is my conjectural
> recipe for oatcakes as they might have been made by Scottish troopers
> c. 1400:
> 
> 1/2 c "Scottish Oatmeal" --very coarsely ground whole oats.  
> 1/4 c water
> 1/4 t salt
> 
> Put the oatmeal in a spice grinder and process for about 20 seconds,
> producing something intermediate between what you started with and
> bread flour. Add salt and water and let the mixture stand for about
> fifteen minutes. Make flat cakes 1/4" to 3/8" in thickness, cook on a
> medium hot griddle, without oil, about 3-5 minutes.
> 
> The result is a reasonably tasty flat bread. In scaling the recipe up
> for a meal or a feast, you would want to experiment with grinding
> whole oats into meal or find a finer (and less expensive) oatmeal
> than the gourmet product, intended for making porridge, that I was
> using.

The earliest actual recipe (using the term pretty loosely) I have found
is in the 1694 receipt book of Giulielma Penn, wife of William Penn.
Actually, there are two recipes, one for a leavened oaten bannock, the
other for a sgian almost identical to the one described above (the meal
is soaked overnight in water to make the batter).  It also uses no salt,
or at least mentions none, but considering that salt may have been,
under some circumstances, considered too expensive (or insert any other
adjective of your choice) for inclusion in a recipe for a bread to be
eaten with foods that may contain salt. Certainly there's no chemical
reason for including it, as you do with a leavened wheat bread.

I found that I could grind rolled oats in a coffee grinder to a
moderately fine meal, and mix in a small percentage of similarly ground
steel-cut oat groats, to improve the texture. 

I also found that the flavor was improved by a light toasting in the
oven, not inconsistent with the results of some more modern oatcake
processing done recently in England. You take a rather limpish pancakey
oatcake off the griddle, and hang it up to dry before the fire, or just
on a clothesline under the eaves. When dry/toasted it resembles
Scandinavian knackebrot, which makes sense because processing is often
similar, I gather. Also, given the Scottish wedding blessing which
involves breaking an oatcake over the bride's head, that might be hard
to do if the cake wasn't crispy. 

Adamantius


Date: Fri, 09 Jun 2000 10:38:34 PDT
From: "pat fee" <lcatherinemc at hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Help!!! Oatcake recipe-long

  My recipe for oat cakes calls for butter and long pepper.

  The one I use weekly is a slightly modern addaptation of the original.

  Original (translated)

  32 oz ground scotts oatmeal or 1 box rolled oats ground in a blender.
   8 oz melted butter or enough to give the dough some "body"
   2 long pepper ground in a pestle and morter
   Enough water to moisten.

   Mix the oats with  long pepper and enough butter to form lumps.
   slowly add cold water until dough holds togather (sort of like pie 
crust).
  Cover a bread board with a hand full of the ground oats and roll the dough 
out into 8" circles.  Place a scant handfull of the ground oats on a hot 
gridle. Carefully place the oat cake on the oats.  Bake untill dry and 
"crumbly" on the edges and dry and lightly browned on the bottom.  Cut into 
8 wedges.

  This recipe is from my family cook book.  The measurements are what is 
modern and have been worked out over time.

  Lady Katherine McGuire


Date: Thu, 26 Oct 2000 21:06:09 -0700
From: david friedman <ddfr at best.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Scottish oatcakes

The following is my best guess at period oatcakes, from the Miscellany.

- ---

Scottish Oat Cakes: A Conjectural Reconstruction

"the only things they take with them [when riding to war] are a large 
flat stone placed between the saddle and the saddle-cloth and a bag 
of oatmeal strapped behind. When they have lived so long on 
half-cooked meat that their stomachs feel weak and hollow, they lay 
these stones on a fire and, mixing a little of their oatmeal with 
water, they sprinkle the thin paste on the hot stone and make a small 
cake, rather like a wafer, which they eat to help their digestion." 
(Froissart's Chronicles, Penguin Books translation.)

So far as I know, there are no surviving period recipes for oat 
cakes. This article is an attempt to reconstruct them, mainly on the 
basis of Froissart's brief comment.

Rolled oats--what we today call "oatmeal"--are a modern invention. I 
assume that "oat meal" in the middle ages meant the same thing as 
"meal" in other contexts--a coarse flour. The only other ingredient 
mentioned is water, but salt is frequently omitted in medieval 
recipes--Platina, for instance, explicitly says that he doesn't 
bother to mention it--so I have felt free to include it. The oat 
cakes Froissart describes are field rations, so unlikely to contain 
any perishable ingredients such as butter or lard, although they may 
possibly have been used in other contexts.

Consistent with these comments, the following is my conjectural 
recipe for oatcakes as they might have been made by Scottish troopers 
c. 1400:

1/2 c "Scottish Oatmeal" -- coarsely ground whole oats.	1/4 c water 
	1/4 t salt

Put the oatmeal in a spice grinder and process for about 20 seconds, 
producing something intermediate between what you started with and 
bread flour. Add salt and water and let the mixture stand for about 
fifteen minutes. Make flat cakes 1/4" to 3/8" in thickness, cook on a 
medium hot griddle, without oil, about 3-5 minutes.

The result is a reasonably tasty flat bread. In scaling the recipe up 
for a meal or a feast, you would want to experiment with grinding 
whole oats into meal or find a finer (and less expensive) oatmeal 
than the gourmet product, intended for making porridge, that I was 
using.

(An earlier version of this article was published in Serve it Forth: 
A Periodical Forum for SCA Cooks, Volume I, Number 2 (April 1996). 
Information on that publication is available from Mary Morman 
(Mistress Elaina de Sinistre), 1245 Allegheny Drive, Colorado 
Springs, CO 80919,  memorman at oldcolo.com.)
- -- 
David/Cariadoc
http://www.daviddfriedman.com/


Date: Sun, 24 Dec 2000 18:49:12 -0600
From: "Decker, Terry D." <TerryD at Health.State.OK.US>
Subject: RE: SC - Bread question--OOP, but yummy

Since we're kicking around Italian breads, let's take a look at some of the
usual suspects. 

Focaccia is flat bread, usually no more than an inch thick and either round
or rectangular in shape.  Focacce are usually simple breads, flavored with
herbs, spices, cheese, etc.  In Northern Italy, focaccia is often referred
to as schiacciata, a "crushed" loaf.  Schiacciata are often smaller that
other focaccia, with a 6 to 8 inch diameter, and sometimes thicker than one
inch.

Here are some recipes.

Bear


Focaccia alla Genovese  

2 teaspoons dry active yeast
1/4 cup warm water (90 degrees F)
2 1/4 cups water at room temperature (about 70 degrees F)
2 Tablespoons olive oil
7-8 cups all purpose flour
1 Table spoon salt


Dissolve the yeast in the 1/4 cup warm water and allow it to cream.
Add the remaining water and the oil.
Add 2 cups of flour and salt.  Stir until smooth.
Stir in the remaining flour 1 cup at a time until the dough forms a soft ball.
Remove to a floured surface and knead until soft and smooth.
Place the dough in an oiled bowl, cover tightly, and allow the dough to rise
until doubled.
Cut the dough in 3 pieces for making 9 or 10 inch diameter focaccia or two
pieces for 14 to 16 inch rounds or 10 x 15 rectangles.
Shape the dough, flattening it and place it in oiled pans.  Cover the dough
with towels and allow to rise about 30 minutes.
With the fingertips, press indentations about 1/2 inch into the dough.
Cover the pans with moist towels and allow to rise until doubled.
Brush the top of the dough with oil and sprinkle on coarse salt.
Bake at 400 degrees F for 20 to 25 minutes.  Spray water into the oven 3
times during the first 10 minutes.
When done, invert the loaves onto racks to cool to maintain the crispness of
the crust.


Using the above recipe:

Focaccia alla Salvia  

Add about 25 fresh chopped sage leaves or 1 1/2 Tablesspoons crumbled dried
sage to the dough during the first kneading.
The tops loaves can be decorated with fresh sage leaves before baking if
desired.

Focaccia alla Cipolle 

Top with two small finely sliced and sautÈed yellow onions before brushing
with oil and salting.  Brush again with oil after baking.

Focaccia al Rosmarino

As for Focaccia alla Salvia, substituting 1 1/2 Tablespoons fresh chopped
rosemary or 2 teaspoons of crumbled dried rosemary.  Decorate with fresh
sprigs of rosemary, if desired.

Schiacciata alla Fiorentina

2 teaspoons dry active yeast
1/2 teaspoon malt syrup (optional)
1 1/2 cups warm water
2 Tablespoons olive oil
2 1/2 Tablespoons lard (room temperature)
2 1/2 Tablespoons nonfat dry milk
3 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt

If you use milk rather than the nonfat dry milk, reduce the water by 2
Tablespoons.  Let it stand for a little bit to reduce the chill. 
Stir yeast, malt and water together.  Let it stand until it turns creamy.
Stir in oil, lard and dry milk (or milk).
Mix the flour and salt in a large bowl.  Make a well in the middle of the
flour mixture.  Pour the yeast mixture into the well.
Stir the flour into the yeast mixture until everything is thoroughly blended.
Initially knead the flour in the bowl, then move to a lightly floured
surface.  Knead until smooth.
This is a very soft dough, so try not to add much additional flour
Place in an oiled bowl and allow to rise until doubled.
Divide the dough into two pieces.  Shape into balls and allow to stand
covered for 15 minutes.  
Flatten gently into two 8 inch diameter loaves.  Place on parchment lined or
oiled baking sheet.
Cover with towel and let rise until doubled.
Dimple the surface of the loaves lightly with the fingertips.
Sprinkle with salt and brush with oil.  Mist lightly with water.

Top with finely sliced and sautÈed red onion, then sprinkle with 1 Table
spoon torn fresh basil leaf
or
two cups shredded stracchino or Taleggio cheese (I cheat and use shredded
Parmesan, which I can get).

Brush again with oil.  Sprinkle with salt.  Mist with water.
Bake in 425 degree F oven for 20 to 25 minutes. 
Eat hot or cool on racks.


Date: Sat, 24 Mar 2001 22:45:12 -0600
From: "Decker, Terry D." <TerryD at Health.State.OK.US>
Subject: SC - OOP - Moroccan Bread 

Kara  (Moroccan Anise Bread)

2 teaspoons dry yeast
2 1/2 cups warm water
3 cups hard unbleached white flour
2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon anise seed
1/4 cup cornmeal
2 to 2 1/2 cups hard whole wheat flour
Extra flour for kneading.

In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast in the warm water.
Stir in the unbleached flour 1 cup at a time.  After the flour has been
stirred into the batter, stir the batter with a circular motion in the same
direction about 100 times.  
Cover the bowl and let the batter rest for 30 minutes to 2 hours.

Sprinkle the salt and anise seeds on the batter.  Add the cornmeal and stir
into the batter.
Add the whole wheat flour 1 cup at a time until the dough forms a stiff
ball.
Turn out on a lightly floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes, until
the dough is smooth and elastic.
Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl , cover, and allow to rise until
doubled in size, about 1 1/2 hours.
Divide the dough into 2 parts.  Form each part into a ball.
Flatten the ball of dough into a loaf about 9 to 10 inches in diameter and
place on a lightly greased baking sheet.
Cover loaves and let rise for 30 to 40 minutes.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes in a preheated oven at 400 degrees F.

According to "Flatbreads and Flavors," most Moroccan breads are leavened and
vary primarily in the type of flours used.  I modified the recipe given to
match the description of the Moroccan bread preciously discussed on the
list.

My modifications were; omit the cornmeal and the anise seed and use a No. 1
durum semolina flour (coarser than all purpose flour, similar to the grind
of spelt flour) rather than the white and whole wheat flours.  The durum
flour forms gluten strands very easily. producing a yellow loaf that is
light and has a nice texture. 

Dividing the dough into 6 pieces gave me loaves 6 to 7 inches in diameter.
I think next time I will divide the dough into eight pieces and make loaves
about 5 inches in diameter.  Just right for hamburgers or sandwiches.

Bear


Date: Wed, 15 May 2002 09:39:53 -0400
From: johnna holloway <johnna at sitka.engin.umich.edu>
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Re:flatbreads was Cloche Oven Results

The best book still on the subject of flatbreads
is Flatbreads and Flavors : A Baker's Atlas
by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid which came
out in 1995. Elizabeth David's English Bread and
Yeast Cookery has a chapter just on "Bakestone
Cakes or Breads" as well as other recipes for
flat breads.

Johnna Holloway   Johnnae llyn Lewis


Date: Mon, 17 Jun 2002 00:23:16 -0700
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
From: david friedman <ddfr at daviddfriedman.com>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Flatbread (was: Cloche Oven Results)

Kristianne wrote:
>I do love experimenting and if anyone has a fabulous flat bread recipe I'd
>love to hear it, crawled through the florilegium and Cariadoc's site but
>didn't see a flatbread recipe.

It's actually the first recipe in the current version of the
Miscellany, from a late-period Indian source. Note that there is an
old version of the Miscellany webbed in html on Greg Lindahl's site,
and the current (9th) edition webbed in pdf on Cariadoc's site; you
may have been looking at the old one.

Bread
Ain i Akbari

There is a large kind, baked in an oven, made of 10 s. flour; 5 s.
milk; 1 1/2 s. ghi; 1/4 s. salt. They make also smaller ones. The
thin kind is baked on an iron plate. One ser will give fifteen, or
even more. There are various ways of making it; one kind is called
chapati, which is sometimes made of khushka; it tastes very well when
served hot. [see p. 6 of Miscellany 9th edition for units]

1 lb == 3 1/2 c flour
1/2 lb == 1 c milk
2.4 oz ghee (clarified butter) == 3/8-1/2 c
.4 oz salt == 1/2 T

Melt the ghee, stir it into the flour with a fork until there are
only very small lumps. Stir in the milk until thoroughly mixed, knead
briefly. Put the ball of dough in a bowl covered by a damp cloth and
leave for at least an hour. Then knead the dough until it is smooth
and elastic, adding a little extra flour if necessary. Either:

Take a ball of dough about 2" in diameter, roll it out to about a 5"
diameter circle. Cook it in a hot frying pan without grease. After
about 2 minutes it should start to puff up a little in places. Turn
it. Cook another 2 minutes. Turn it. Cook another 2 minutes. It
should be done. The recipe should make about 11 of these. Or ...

Take a ball of dough about 3" in diameter. Roll it down to a circle
about 7" in diameter and 1/4" thick. Heat a baking sheet in a 450=B0
oven. Put the circle of dough on it in the oven. Bake about 6
minutes; it should be puffing up. Turn it over. Bake about 4 minutes
more. Take it out. The recipe should make about 5 of these.

Elizabeth/Betty Cook


Date: Sat, 7 Oct 2006 15:58:36 EDT
From: Sandragood at aol.com
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Smoked Meats in Northern Europe
To: sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org

countgunthar at hotmail.com writes:
<<< As for  pecan, did you know you can just use soaked pecan shells for
smoking and it  comes out wonderful?  >>>

Again not having my books in front of me...

There is an Arabic recipe in Medieval Arab Cookery for a smoked flatbread
that is smoked over burning nut shells.  I can't recall exactly what nut was
used at the moment.  I also want to say that you placed a drop of oil in the
shell, I'll have to go back and look.

Liz


Date: Sat, 19 Jan 2008 23:40:04 -0500
From: Robin Carroll-Mann <rcmann4 at earthlink.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Ok and now for my quick question...
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

rattkitten wrote:
> Are Indian/Turkish/Algerian flatbreads anywhere remotely period?
>
> Nichola

Yes, they are period.
http://www.godecookery.com/friends/frec111.htm
--
Brighid ni Chiarain


Date: Thu, 7 Feb 2008 23:03:11 -0800
From: David Friedman <ddfr at daviddfriedman.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] flat bread
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

Flatbread recipe from the Andalusian, with our worked out version:

Recipe for Folded Bread from Ifriqiyya
Andalusian p. A-59

Take coarsely ground good semolina and divide it
into three parts. Leave one third aside and knead
the other two well and it is made from it. Roll
out thin bread and grease it. Sprinkle some of
the remaining semolina on top and fold over it
and roll it up. Then roll it out a second time
and grease it, sprinkle some semolina on top and
fold it over like muwarraqa (puff pastry). Do
this several times until you use up the remaining
third of the semolina. Then put it in the oven
and leave it until it sets. Remove it when tender
but not excessively so. If you want, cook the
flatbreads at home in the tajine. Then crumble it
and with the crumbs make a tharid like fatir,
either with milk like tharid laban, which is
eaten with butter and sugar, or with chicken or
other meat broth, upon which you put fried meat
and a lot of fat. Dust it with cinnamon and serve
it.

3 c semolina	~ 1/4 c olive oil	2/3 c water

Knead 2 c of semolina with the water for about 10
minutes, until smooth. Roll out to about 12"x12".
Spread with about 2 t oil, sprinkle on 2-3 T
semolina. Fold in half, roll up, mash together.
Repeat about five more times, until all the last
cup of semolina is used up.

Roll out to about 12"x10". Bake in 300? oven for
about 50 minutes, until baked but not crisp
(except thin parts).


Date: Thu, 28 Jan 2010 13:08:19 -0500
From: Kerri Martinsen <kerri.martinsen at gmail.com>
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] freezing flat bread

I'm making flat bread for an upcoming feast from the following recipe:

2 cups white flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
oil
water

Mix dry ingredients well. Add 1 tablespoon of oil to the flour mixture
and mix in with your hands until flour feels a little bit like sand.
Add enough water to form an elastic dough.

Divide the dough into 4 equal parts. Roll out 1 ball into a circle and
spread 1/2 teaspoon oil over it. Roll the circle up, like a jelly
roll, then roll it up again. It should resemble a snail shell. Do the
same for the other three balls.

Let the dough sit 20 minutes to 8 hours, depending on when you make them.
Roll out into circles 10 to 12 inches in diameter.
Melt a bit of shortening in a frying pan (I prefer a cast iron pan)
and wait until it is hot to cook the chapati.
Cook rapidly and watch them bubble up.
----
Due to things out of my control, I can't make them the night before
the feast (120 of them).

Has anyone had experience in freezing flatbread?
I'm planning on making them on Thursday for feast on Saturday.

Vitha


Date: Thu, 28 Jan 2010 13:26:48 -0500
From: "Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius" <adamantius1 at verizon.net>
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] freezing flat bread

On Jan 28, 2010, at 1:08 PM, Kerri Martinsen wrote:
<<< Due to things out of my control, I can't make them the night before
the feast (120 of them).

Has anyone had experience in freezing flatbread?
I'm planning on making them on Thursday for feast on Saturday. >>>

You should be able to freeze them with no problem; roti and paratha and chapatis can be purchased frozen. It'll just a question of raw, lightly cooked and then cooked again, or fully cooked, and how they are packed. I'm a big proponent of parchment paper in between the layers.

Adamantius


Date: Thu, 28 Jan 2010 14:58:47 -0500
From: "Vandy J. Simpson" <vsimpson at gto.net>
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] freezing flat bread

Are these soft flatbreads, or the crispier ones?
I regularly make the harder breads, and either dry them to something more crackerlike, or freeze them in a leathery state. They either seem to last forever (a long time anyway) or the people I feed them to don't know any better.

vandy/mortraeth


Date: Fri, 2 Apr 2010 20:16:20 -0700 (PDT)
From: Pat Griffin <ldyannedubosc at yahoo.com>
To: SCA Cooks <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Injera (an Ethiopian flat bread)

Got this from a friend on another list.? Have no idea of it's time of origin, but it sounds like a lot of period flat breads, except for the refrigeration.:
Injera
D'vorah Bint Al-Attar commented on her status:

"I don't really use a recipe, but the basic idea is:

A couple cups of teff flour
A little salt (1/4 teaspoon? teaspoon and a half?)
A pinch of yeast

Stir together. Add in as much water as all the rest put together, for starters, and stir. It should look a lot like a runny pancake batter.

Let it sit overnight, loosely covered, or 2-3 days covered in the fridge. This way the yeast will grow and develop really slowly, and thus become much more flavorful.

Fry on a griddle or a big skillet, preferably cast-iron, just like you'd do with a pancake, except that you only fry one side rather than both. LET COOL, unfried-side-up, on one plate, then transfer to another plate, with layers of wax paper between each one. The cooling is important, because that helps it develop the spongy texture that is so important with injera. 

To serve: spread them all out in a single layer with just a bit of overlap in a big plate or bowl. Ladle thick soup or stew on top, preferably an Ethiopian or Indian variety, as those taste especially good with injera.

If you don't care about keeping it gluten-free, you can replace up to half of the teff with flour from wheat, spelt, barley, or rye. That helps it get a stronger texture that can be used as a wrap, whereas normal teff-only injera is going to fall apart a bit more."

Lady Anne du Bosc, Called Mordonna
Thorngill, Meridies


Date: Thu, 18 Mar 2010 21:29:01 -0500
From: "Terry Decker" <t.d.decker at att.net>
To: <yaini0625 at yahoo.com>,	"Cooks within the SCA"
	<sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Irish Soda Bread

<<< Is there a difference between Irish soda bread and flat bread?
Aelina >>>

It depends on what you mean by flatbread.  In general, flatbreads are 
deliberately shaped to be flat and usually require less cooking time than 
traditional oven baked breads.  The Irish soda bread I produce doesn't meet 
either of these criteria and I wouldn't consider it a flatbread.  Yet by 
flattening the loaf and maybe changing the ratios of the ingredients to 
shorten the baking time, it would definitely be a flatbread.

My opinion is that it is a traditional style bread using a chemical leaven 
to shorten preparation time.

Bear


Date: Sat, 3 Apr 2010 10:28:55 -0500
From: "Terry Decker" <t.d.decker at att.net>
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Injera (an Ethiopian flat bread)

The Ethiopians don't worry about refrigeration.  The recipe leaves out a few 
things.

The salt is optional.  The traditional recipe I have doesn't use it and I 
wouldn't add more than a 1/4 teaspoon to two cups of flour.

You use 2 1/2 cups of warm water to 2 cups teff flour to make the sponge. 
You use 1/2 cup warm water to proof the yeast.  Then combine the flour and 
yeast  mixtures.  After the fermentation, decant any standing liquid on top 
of the sponge.  Take 1/2 cup of the sponge and add it to 1 cup boiling 
water.  Reduce the heat and stir until thickened.  Cool pan until warm to 
the touch.  Add the remaining sponge and blend.  Add warm water, if 
necessary, to thin the batter.  Let stand for 30 to 60 minutes.  Cook on the 
griddle.

The key issue in the cooling is keeping the moisture in the bread.  It's a 
thin bread and it will dry out faster than a French baguette.

Batter breads have a fairly early origin and this particular bread is 
obviously related to some Yemini breads, suggesting cultural transfer 
between 700-900 CE, if not earlier.  Rather than saying that this sounds 
like a lot of period flat breads (which is not necessarily true), I would 
say that it is a batter bread which makes it similar to all other batter 
breads including period batter breads.

Bear

<<< Got this from a friend on another list. Have no idea of it's time of origin, 
but it sounds like a lot of period flat breads, except for the 
refrigeration.:
Injera
D'vorah Bint Al-Attar commented on her status:

"I don't really use a recipe, but the basic idea is:

A couple cups of teff flour
A little salt (1/4 teaspoon? teaspoon and a half?)
A pinch of yeast >>>


Date: Sun, 1 Aug 2010 10:41:59 -0700
From: lilinah at earthlink.net
To: sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] cuskynoles

Katherine wrote:
<<< How interesting that the way to cut out the dough was as small circles.  I
think she is telling us parenthetically that the word 'nan' implies a
circular shape.  Modernly does nan/naan mean this?  Or could it be also
translated as loaf? >>>

Then and now "nan" is Persian for "bread" - the word is used in 
cognate languages, and was borrowed by other unrelated South and 
Central Asian languages. In Persian it is written with an alif, which 
is a strong "a", so is pronounced almost like "non". Nan bread does 
not come in loaves. It comes in breads: one nan, two nan (whatever 
the plural is, nan-i (?)), three nan, etc.

Nan can be cooked slapped onto the sides of a tannur (the original 
Arabic word; So. Asian word "tandoor" comes from "tundur", the Turkic 
pronunciation of tannur), on the floor of a tannur on a tray of hot 
pebbles, on a pan on a charcoal fire, etc.

I haven't heard of an historical humpy lumpy Persian loaf cooked in an oven.

Now, the Arabic khubz (means "bread") can be flat and cooked on the 
walls of a tannur, or in a tray on the floor of a tannur, or on a 
convex iron pan on a charcoal fire, or in some other type of pan on a 
charcoal fire, AND it CAN be humpy lumpy and cooked in a more 
European style oven, "furn", in which case it is rounded, somewhat 
like a French boule, but quite unlike it in texture and flavor. This 
Arabic word goes back to Medieval times in al-Andalus, borrowed from 
the Spanish or Catalan for oven.

Historically nan and most forms of khubz are flatbreads and I just 
don't think of flatbreads like ruqaq (which is like lavash) or nan 
(some of which are can be 3 feet long but about 3/4 inch high) as 
"loaves".

BTW, in kushknanaj/kushkananaj, the stress is on the syllable "-nan".
-- 
Urtatim [that's err-tah-TEEM]
the persona formerly known as Anahita


Date: Mon, 06 Sep 2010 08:52:34 -0400
From: Johnna Holloway <johnnae at mac.com>
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>,
	scabakers at yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Grilled Lebanese flatbreads

Meant to mention the NYT featured a grilled flatbread last Wed. 9/1
that can be made on a grill. Suitable for an outdoor camping event.
The Minimalist, Mark Bittman's article and recipe "Grill That Dough,  
Stack That Bread"
appears at
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/01/dining/01mini.html?ref=dining

There's even a video to show you how:
Grilled Lebanese Flatbread

The Minimalist With Mark Bittman

Johnnae


Date: Mon, 21 Mar 2011 15:47:34 -0600
From: Deborah Hammons <mistressaldyth at gmail.com>
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Spanish flatbread in period

When I was in Elizondo, Spain in the 70's a very nice fella in a local
bakery gave me a recipe.  He called it his pan de campo.  It probably is
closer to the pan de orno (horno) that you see now.  After spending 5 years
in Texas, the pan de campo took on a whole other meaning.  (Seems it is the
"mexican' bread)

Here is the recipe.

Almost 2 TBSP dry bread yeast
3 cups warm water
6-7 cups white flour (I use half bread white and barley)
1 TBSP salt
1/4-1/2 cup olive oil

In a medium bowl, mix the yeast and water.  Leave for 15 minutes.  In a
larger bowl, mix the salt and flour and sift it together.  Mix the oil into
the flour mixture with your fingers, lightly like you would make pastry.
Then start pouring the yeast water into the flour, mixing it by hand until
it becomes a firm dough.

Oil a large bowl and set it aside

Knead the dough until it becomes firm and elastic, on a board with flour on
it. Put it in the oiled bowl, turning it over a couple of times.  Cover it
with a wet cloth and let it double.

Pre heat the oven to 450.

Knead the dough again until it is free from bubbles and elastic.  Put it
back in the oiled bowl and let it rest for 15 minutes.

Grease your pans or flour your stones.  Cut the dough into bars, loaves or
balls and place them on the pans or stones.  You can cut slits in the tops
if you want.  Let the bread rise for 30 minutes, or until the tops start to
get flat..  Put them in the oven.  After 30 minutes spray the bread with
water.  Check every 5 minutes after that for the crust to be hard and the
loaf to sound hollow.  Then take them out and let them cool.

(I can get 2 regular loaves from this recipe, or 4-6 smaller round ones)

Aldyth


Date: Mon, 21 Mar 2011 19:58:13 +0100
From: "Susanne Mayer" <susanne.mayer5 at chello.at>
To: <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Spanish flatbread in period

What about Pane Carasau (or carta de musica) not spanish but italian 
(Sardinian to be exact) but unfortunately I have no idea how old, it's 
referenced  as to be *very anncient, baked by the sheperds in brick ovens*

The Saracens  raided Sardinia in the 9th cent and the Spanish (Catalan) 
occupied southern Sardenia in the 14th cent, this could be old enough to 
qualify and have been made elsewhere also.

there is a nice video, and it does look like a version of  flat bread still 
baked by the Beduines

http://www.sardegnadigitallibrary.it/index.php?xsl=626&id=190962

in my (modern) sardinian Cookbook I have two recipes for Panae carasau 
(dough with yeast), one for a flat bread from chickpea flour just with olive 
oil, salt and pepper and one with only durum wheat semolina with water and 
salt.

If anybody wants them just ask, and I'll typ the stuff in.

I just found THAT in the Academia Barrillia pages:

http://www.academiabarilla.com/italian-culinary-tradition/bread-pasta-starchy-foods/pane-carasau.aspx
THE HISTORY

Pane carasau is ancient flat bread also known as "carta musica" (sheet 
music) due to its resemblance to the parchment paper that sacred music was 
written on. Traces of the bread were found in the nuraghi (traditional 
Sardinian stone buildings) and it was therefore already in existence before 
1000 BC.

PANE CARASAU

Pane carasau, from the Sardinian "carasare", which refers to the crush of 
bread, is without a doubt the most famous Sardinian bread in the world. Made 
from hard wheat bran (or semola di grano duro in Italian), salt, yeast and 
water, it was originally made using a labor intensive process that require 
the work of three women.

After having prepared the dough, it had to be rolled out into very thin 
sheets that were baked in a very hot oven (840?-930?F) until it puffed up 
like a ball.

Still today, these disks of bread have to be removed from the oven, and with 
great skill, cut along their circumference and divided into sheets. The 
sheets are then stacked one on top of another with the pourous side facing 
the outside. The bread is then baked another time to obtain its crispiness 
and characteristic color, or carasatura.

In the past, having been prepared for the sheepherders that had to attend 
their herds, the bread was folded in half during cooking, when the bread was 
still flexible, to reduce its size and allowing for it to fit in a knap 
sack.

Katharina

From the FB " SCA Library of Alexandria - A&S discussions with the Laurels of our Realms" group

11/8/13
David Friedman 
I just mixed up the dough for a batch of al-Warraq flat breads. Almost out of white flour, but there was a bag of emmer flour almost full, so I used some of that. It will be interesting to see how it comes out.

Stefan Li Rous 
Cariadoc, Did you mix the white flour and the emmer flour together? Or make the same breads out of each?

David Friedman 
Stefan: This batch was all emmer flour--it's out now but I haven't eaten it yet. I was largely experimenting on varying thicknesses, from something like a pita to something like Iranian lavash. I suspect the latter is what should be used in judhaba but the former may work better for serving with food. 

I was also experimenting, so far unsuccessfully, with brushing the bread with a paste of flour, baking soda, and water. According to Nasrallah's notes in her translation of al-Warraq, bakers' borax was used to make bread glossy by brushing on the surface, as well as used as a chemical leavening. Baking powder fits what I know about bakers' borax other than the glossy part. Nasrallah sent me a modern Persian bread recipe where it seems to be used more or less that way, but so far I haven't made it work.

Also experimenting with bread of Abu Hamsa. One batch I made a while back was much better than others I've made, so I'm trying to figure out how to reproduce it.

I've also gotten curious about an implement called a saj or tawa or tava, used to make flat breads on a stove or fire. Some descriptions make it sound like a convex griddle, but the ones on Amazon are concave. I plan to check the local Iranian and Indian stores to see if they carry one. I like the idea of being able to easily bake flat breads over the fire at Pennsic, and although I could do it with an ordinary frying pan or griddle, an implement designed for the purpose might be better.


Date: Mon, 1 Sep 2014 08:11:17 -0500
From: "Terry Decker" <t.d.decker at att.net>
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Side Dishes for al-Warraq

You don't need a tannur to make flat breads.  Most of the recipes can be 
baked on a hot rock in the embers, so use a griddle.  There are supposed to 
be six bread recipes in al-Warraq (I haven't checked that so it's 
questionable until confirmed).

If you are interested in the subject, you might take a look at 
https://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/199505/on.the.flatbread.trail.htm . 
I do recommend the Flatbreads and Flavors mentioned in the article as a good 
modern text on flatbreads.

Now, why do you consider plain rice as "somewhat out of period."

Bear

-----Original Message----- 
<<< Greetings to the assembled cooks from Aodh ? Siadhail!

I'm cooking a feast for our Coronet Tourney in November. I'm planning to
work from Nawal Nasrallah's translation of al-Warraq, and indeed, I've been
trying out a few of the dishes in recent months, with some success.

However, almost every dish listed is what we would think of as a "main
dish". There are mentions in the text of side-dishes and smaller dishes
served alongside, but I can't see what these might be.

I'll be serving a somewhat out-of-period plain rice in any case, and I'll
acquire flatbreads of various kinds from local Middle Eastern shops (I'd
love to make these myself, but I won't have access to a tannur - nor do I
have the skills to use one), but I'd like to have a few non-main-meal
vegetable dishes to go alongside. What would be appropriate?

Aodh >>>

<the end>
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