17th Century Bread

[cshenk]

MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.05

Title: 17th Century Bread
Categories: Breads
Yield: 1 Servings

1 tb Sugar
2 c Warm water
1 tb Dry active yeast
1 1/2 c White flour
1 c Whole wheat flour
1 ts Salt
1/2 c Rye flour
1 c Corn flour
1 tb Vegetable oil

Stir the sugar into the water. Sprinkle in the yeast. Let the mixture
stand until the yeast bubbles to the surface. Stir in the white
flour and 1/2 whole wheat flour. Mix well. Cover the batter with
waxed paper and a towel. Let it sit until it is bubbly, 30 minutes to
1 hour.

Stir down the batter, and add the salt, the rye flour and the corn
flour.

Spread the remaining 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour over a work
surface, and turn the dough onto it. Knead the wheat flour into the
dough, sprinkling with more white flour if the dough is still too
sticky. Knead until the dough is firm but springy.

Grease a clean bowl with the vegetable oil. Set the dough in the
bowl, and turn the dough over to coat it completely with the oil.
Cover the dough with waxed paper and a towel, and set it to rise
until it is double in bulk, about 1 hour, or overnight in the
refridgerator.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Punch down the dough, and divide in two. Knead it into two round
loaves. With a sharp knife, cut a slash around the circumference of
each loaf and prick the top. Set the loaves on a lightly floured
cookie sheet. The dough need not rise again for baking.

Bake the bread for 45 minutes, or until a tap on the bottom of the
loaf produces a hollow sound. Set the loaves on racks to cool.

File
ftp://ftp.idiscover.co.uk/pub/food/mealmaster/recipes/mmkah001.zip

MMMMM

I've not tried this one, (can't due to mixing) but I think this is very
intriguing in the use of 4 types of flour. I suspect a white flour
stretching method and probably USA/Canada derived due to the use of
corn flour but then, we used the name 'corn' based on it looking a bit
like other grains of Europe then so, not sure! Looks like it would
make a fairly different and interesting boule!

Suggest not doing a full round of this in an ABM (can do dough mode
part though) as it's a hydration level that isnt apt to work right once
you hit the bake mode. All directions are by hand as you would expect
of this era. The layered incorporation may also be important to the
final product being 'just right'. If not wanting to make this by hand
all the way, I suspect a dough hook might be best alternative?

I'd love it if someone with the right gear, tried this and told me how
it worked out!

--

[graham]

As it is a UK recipe check the "cornflour" part!!! If it is UK
cornflour, the US equivalent is cornstarch.

[Roy]

On Wednesday, February 15, 2017 at 1:00:44 PM UTC-7, graham wrote:
> As it is a UK recipe check the "cornflour" part!!! If it is UK
> cornflour, the US equivalent is cornstarch.

I would say that you are probably correct in your assumption.
====

[cshenk]

graham wrote in alt.bread.recipes:

Grin, I see the UK in the URL but that's not too definitive in MM
recipies to country of origin.

Humm, cornstarch as i know it, I do not think would work here? I could
see a fairly fine ground corn flour (made of USA/Canada/Mexico type
corn).

--

[graham]

I think "UK.pub food" should be a clue:-)

[cshenk]

Hehe maybe, but that's just a URL. They would have other 'pub foods'
there not neccesarily of UK origin.

I searched and can't find any recipes in my database that use
cornstarch for bread. It's used as a thickener for soups, or loaded
into some warm water to spritz on linens when ironing.

I can tell the recipe 'reads right' if using corn flour (USA type).
Proportions all match up pretty well.

Interesting! I might try it both ways just as an experiment.

--

[U.S. Janet B.]

On Wed, 15 Feb 2017 13:00:42 -0700, graham <gst...@shaw.ca> wrote:

snip

>As it is a UK recipe check the "cornflour" part!!! If it is UK
>cornflour, the US equivalent is cornstarch.

Google is our friend.

http://www.differencebetween.net/object/difference-between-corn-meal-and-corn-flour/
http://www.differencebetween.com/difference-between-cornstarch-and-vs-corn-flour/
https://www.reference.com/food/difference-between-corn-flour-cornstarch-d2bea09d3552af8f
the first reference may be the best one. I am able to get corn flour
at my food co-op.

Janet

[~misfit~]

Once upon a time on usenet cshenk wrote:
[snipped]

> I've not tried this one, (can't due to mixing) but I think this is
> very intriguing in the use of 4 types of flour. I suspect a white
> flour stretching method and probably USA/Canada derived due to the
> use of corn flour but then, we used the name 'corn' based on it
> looking a bit like other grains of Europe then so, not sure!

Actually in England (the source of the English langauge <g>) 'corn' is a
general term that encompasses all edible grains. What US citizens call
'corn' is actually a subset of corn proper and is actually called 'maize' in
other English-speaking countries.

My father used to operate a 'corn drier' in Gloucstershire in the 1960s. It
was a semi-industrial thing made of conveyor belts, tumblers and a hot-air
source that filled an entire barn by itself. They tended to be based on the
local lords farm (my father operated one belonging to his employer, Lord
Vestey) which was used to reduce the moisture content of various grains so
that they wouldn't spoil - very important in a country where the 'climate'
is measured in inches. ;)

I remember him explaining to me how different corns (mainly wheat and barley
but different varieties of each) needed to be dried to different levels and
how the target moisture content of the grain depended on how long it was to
be stored for. Also it couldn't be allowed to get too hot as often it was
seed grain for next years crop so quite wet grain could take quite a while
and often he worked through the night. It was really high-tech - he would
bite it as a test of the moisture content. Very interesting stuff for a
young lad eager to learn as much as he could about the world. ;)
--
Shaun.

"Humans will have advanced a long, long way when religious belief has a cozy
little classification in the DSM*."
David Melville (in r.a.s.f1)
(*Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders)