8 September 2014: Historical Recipe Reconstruction - Bisket Bread

HRR_presentation.pdf
HRRBysketBread-notes.docx

BATCH NO. 1
Plastic bowl (not earthenware, as specified in recipe)

• 225 gr. pastry flour – sifted (more added for what was sifted out)
• 225 gr. sugar (not sifted)
  • ‘mingled’ using a small wooden spoon

• 54 gr. anise seeds
• 2 eggs
• with wooden spoon mixing it, switched to large wooden spoon after 5 min.
• consistency very sticky, glossy, heavy to ‘beat’
  • ‘beating’ = mixing in what way? Kneading? What was a wooden slice?
  • Heavier pot (e.g., “earthenware”) might stay more still, require less energy to beat

• Number of ingredients is quite small, so little room for variation, except in the specific identification of what ingredients were
  • necessarily wheat flour? Could have been barley/rye/other grain

• Large amount of anise seeds: because sugar was more expensive? Enhance flavor with locally grown ingredient
  • Where might sugar have come from? Large amount; was recipe a delicacy?

• Accuracy of proportions of ingredients measured with a digital food scale
  • Probably far more accurate than would have been possible

• Mixture doesn’t get easier to mix – has stayed sticky & thick
  • Thickens and hardens the more we ‘beat’ it
  • 2 hours of mixing with spoon - thick and dry mass as result

• Recipe specifies “molds must be of tin”
  • cake pans look to be made of coated stainless steel
  • tin as a cooking material has apparently fallen out of favor for health reasons
  • put into loaf tin with difficulty, since batter is much closer to solid than liquid

• If assumption is correct that recipe is intended for wealthy/relatively well-stocked kitchens, who is doing the work to prepare recipe? Requires large amount of manual energy and labor
  • Surprisingly labor intensive, which prompts question as to how often it might have been prepared (as well as by whom); intended to be dried out in much lower heat than for baking, presumably for longer duration of storage
  • Difficult to know whether recipe is being followed accurately without representation or description of what “bisket bread” is supposed to look or taste like (besides concise definition in titles of recipes)
  • No definite version to compare against

• Would term “bisket” connote dryness of result?
• Deliberated over oven heat; instructions are “so hot as it were for cheat bread”
  • Elizabeth Jacob’s recipe says “indifferently heated,” which we took to mean middle & constant heat; decided to begin at 350 F
  • No instruction either about where in oven to place pans; decided on middle shelf

BATCH NO. 2
Plastic bowl

• 225 gr. pastry flour - sifted (although not specified in recipe)
• 225 gr. sugar - sifted (‘finely beaten and serced’)
• 4 eggs - whisked until very frothy and almost doubled in volume (20 min.)
  • eggs put in with the sugar and flour and mixed with wooden spoon
  • beaten for 10 min., last 2 min. of which including 30 gr. caraway seeds
  • put into buttered loaf tin (poured relatively easily), into oven, together with batch no. 1

• Much easier to mix than first batch, presumably because of more egg/liquid (4 eggs instead of 2) and eggs whisked separately
  • Mixed using small wooden spoon

• Mixed with dry ingredients (flour and sugar) after liquidy, frothy
  • Sequence of actions in recipe are made clear by conjunctions “and” and “then,” as explained in Alonso-Almeida, “Genre conventions in English recipes, 1600-1800”
  • likewise, Dawson’s recipe from sixteenth century uses more ambiguous language - “mix” is presumably replaced in Hirst’s, from one hundred years later, by the more precise term “whisk”

• Resembles batter for pancakes or cake
• Cooking time/heat are unspecified

BAKING
350 F, on roster in middle oven

• 1st check at 30 min = Dawson’s not moving, Hirst’s rises (and lighter color). Both browning on the edges -- oven turned down to 300 F
  • Browning on edges may be because of material from which pans are made; thinner/thicker “tin” might have an effect on baking time and depth of temperature inside of mixture

• 2nd check at 60 min. = idem, bit more brown on the edges
• after 80 min. total both taken out
  • Dawson’s is still dry, appears very dense; intended to sit in oven at low temperature to be dried for some more time
  • Cut in half to dry out some, not all
  • Hirst’s is clearly more moist, retains frothy/airy character of whisked eggs

REWRITTEN RECIPE

FINE BISCUIT BREAD

Recipe makes two loaves in 3/4 lb. 4”x8” bread pans.
1 lb. whole wheat stoneground pastry flour, sifted
1 lb. cane sugar, coarsely ground
4 large eggs
2 1/2 tbsp. rosewater
2 tbs lightly salted butter

Combine flour and sugar in a heavy ceramic bowl until thoroughly mixed, stirring together with large wooden mixing spoon. Add eggs and rosewater, stirring vigorously. Batter will become very dry, and gradually tougher. Beat mixture until well blended (90-120 minutes). It should be nearly unworkable.
When batter is approaching a state of solidity, preheat oven to 300°F. Butter pans. Continue to mix batter. When batter has achieved a state of complete solidity, scrape from mixing bowl into pans. Place in oven for 90 minutes, checking occasionally.
Remove from oven and cut into 3/4" slices.
For storage, let oven cool to 100°F and place slices of biscuit bread in oven for 30 minutes to remove any remaining moisture.