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Medieval Loaf of Bread Photo by: Lord-Williams |
Bread was basic nutrition for the poor and luxury for kings.
It was an indespensible product. A meal was
inconceivable without it. It was used to convey solid ingredients to the mouth
and to sop up liquids. For Christians it is ‘Christ’s body,’ the host or
the wafer. Jews offer the first grains from the harvest to God.
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Bread Rolls By: Lord-Williams |
At first flour was served raw in the Neolithic era.
Gradually methods were found to cook it, which required structural
modifications with the addition of water changing it into paste or dough. With
this evolution, bread was baked with yeast or without. The gluten and the
fermentation together with the inclusion of sugar became a light dough or
digestible bread. For the gluten content, it was added to soups in which
breadcrumbs were boiled or toasted.
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Flatbread Made with Millet Photo by: Lord-Williams |
Berbers of the 12th and 13th C
influenced Al-Andalus dishes. They mixed bread and cakes with milk, honey and
lard and added it to Andalusian soups. Further, the quality of bread consumed
was connected to the social and religious classes. The poor ate bread made with
grains of poor quality while the rich had white bread rolls. As bread was vital
in all meals of all people during the Middle Ages, in Spain, wheat famines
caused unrest and rebellions. See mollete.
Surviving medieval bread recipes in Spain are from the Hispano-Arabs and are for flatbread not loaves. Four recipes are available in Fadalat and a half dozen in Anón, Al-Andalus.
Jewish bread recipe survive from the Middle Ages in Iberia. "Halo bread," an egg bread, was specially prepared for the Jewish Sabbath. This is a round or braided loaf of Jewish bread which
may have raisins inside. The Hebrew word refers
also to the portion of dough reserved for the rabbi. In general, loaves of
bread were round during the Middle Ages. Hispano-Arabs also made halo bread and baked it
under the ashes, not in an oven. In Granada and Cordova, a round loaf was made
that looked like a diadem or halo. The Cordovans baked this cake especially for
the New Year. The process of baking bread under ashes was not an
invention of the Arabs, who invaded Spain in the 8th C, for it is mentioned
four times in The Bible (Kings XIX:6, Lev II:5,
Ezek IV:3 and Chron IX:31). It could have been a method handed down from the
Egyptians, supposedly the first bread bakers. It could be made with or
without oil. Jews, normally, made it unleavened, except for the Sabbath.
Surviving medieval bread recipes in Spain are from the Hispano-Arabs and are for flatbread not loaves. Four recipes are available in Fadalat and a half dozen in Anón, Al-Andalus.
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Braided Jewish Bread Photo by: Lord-Williams |
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Cooking Flatbread on a Griddle Photo by: Lord-Williams |
Search for "bread" in The Medieval Spanish Chef's blogs for numerous recipes for breads.
A RECIPE FOR 13th
CENTURY FLATBREAD COOKED OVER HOT ASHES ON A GRIDDLE ADAPTED FROM MARIN’S
TRANSLATION OF FADALAT #3 RECETA DE PAN COCIDO EN LA PLACA[1] O EN
UNA CAZUELA DE HIERRO, p 79
Ingredients
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Flatbreads Ready to Eat Photo by: Lord-Williams |
[1]
Marin translates the Arabic word malla to
hot plate. Actually, malla means hot
ashes but those without available wood fires today would use a hot plate or
burner.
MARIN’S TRANSLATION OF FADALAT #3
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