Recreating Early Period Breads, 200--1066 CE
Micaela Burnham, aka Magistra Rosemounde of Mercia
Micaela Burnham, aka Magistra Rosemounde of Mercia
Bread has been a part of the human diet since the Neolithic period—ground grains mixed with animal fat were cooked on hot stones near a fire/hearth. Bread later became a staple food in many cultures, the earliest being ancient Sumaria in Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt. Cuneiform tablets from Sumaria with both bread and beer recipes have been found in several sites, and breads, bakeries, beer and brewing equipment have been found in Egypt. Egypt is credited with inventing sourdough, but I suspect the Sumarians may have had that first, and we just can’t prove it yet. Documentation for over 300 kinds of bread have been found in ancient Mesopotamia. Both of these cultures may have baked bread with beer to take advantage of the yeast therein. Bread was a staple in both of these cultures, meaning that bread provided much of the population’s nutrition. Both cultures grew grain and irrigated their farms. The earliest known grains originated in the “fertile crescent,” the area between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in ancient Mesopotamia.
Before going further, you need to understand the chemistry of risen breads. You need two things to make an SCA period risen bread: a grain that contains the right kind of gluten, and yeast. First, not all glutens are the same. Gluten is a protein, and it can be different depending on the type of wheat or other grain. For example, Durham wheat, often called “pasta wheat,” has a lot of gluten, but the type of gluten in Durham wheat cannot form molecular bonds, which is necessary for bread to rise. Durham wheat was used to make unleavened breads in period, especially by the Romans. Also different grains have different amounts of gluten. Those higher in gluten are going to rise faster and higher than those with lesser amounts. Gluten molecules, when activated by kneading, will form molecular bonds with other gluten molecules, forming chains and nets. The yeast, a member of the fungi family, feeds on carbohydrates, and releases carbon dioxide as a waste product. The carbon dioxide gas rises hitting the nets of gluten molecules forcing them upward, thus rising the bread. (As some of you probably know, yeast’s other byproduct is ethanol.)
The original three wheats were einkorn, spelt, and faro. Together as a group, some historians, mostly British, still use the term “emmer wheat,” which is not a type of wheat at all. It’s just a method of referring to all the ancient wheats as a group. You will find this incredibly annoying and frustrating when doing your own research. All of these are still available, although faro is not generally used to make bread because the seeds, called “pearls,” due to the shape, is difficult to grind because the shape and the hardness. Faro was, and still is, used mostly for pottages, porridges, and as an additive to soups and stews. Einkorn and spelt are readily available in both whole grain and all-purpose flours. Contrary to what many people think, period breads were not all whole wheat. Even in early times, the chaff was generally removed to achieve softer bread. They weren’t as good at removing chaff as we are today, so the flour would have a bit of whole grain mixed in. I got my flours from Amazon. Whole Foods generally carries the whole grain versions, but I couldn’t find the all-purpose flours there. Also, all-purpose spelt is called “white spelt” for unknown reasons. Barley, also an ancient grain, was used to make bread as well, and it does contain gluten, though not as much as most wheats. It grows well in almost all climates and produces a lot of grain. In beer making cultures, barley was the choice for beers and ales, and most of the barley crops went into brewing. The only other grain containing gluten is rye, which became widely available during the early Roman period. Because rye is a heavy grain, it is often mixed with wheat for bread, but it can rise on its own. We do not know exactly when common wheat, the wheat most often grown and used today came into being, but it has been found in breads left in early Roman tombs. Common wheat is also a close cousin of spelt, and is considered a naturally occurring hybrid of spelt.
Early period breads can be leavened or unleavened—risen with yeast or not risen at all. It is much easier to make unleavened breads, but even in early times leavened breads were preferred by all who could make and/or afford them. Unleavened breads are grain mixed with water and usually some kind of fat. They can be fried, grilled, baked, or boiled. Even without leavening, air can be folded into the dough to make it lighter. Tortillas are an example of a fried unleavened bread. In Rome, the bread in the phrase “bread and circuses” referred to the unleavened flat bread fed to the poor. This bread was made from Durham wheat imported from Egypt. It is high in protein, as well as carbohydrates, both necessary for the health of humans. The Romans also got much of their nutrition from bread, making it a staple food. It’s estimated that 70%-80% of the average Roman’s nutrition came from grains.
Leavened breads in early periods could achieve their rise in a number of ways. If beer was used as the liquid to make bread, the yeast in the beer could provide the rise. In beer making cultures, such as Britain, Gaul, Germania, and others, yeast could be obtained from the barm on the top of the beer vats, or from the dregs in the bottom of the vat. Pliny the Elder acknowledged this in his writings, “In Gaul and Spain, where they make a drink by steeping grain, they employ the foam which thickens upon the surface as a leaven: hence it is that the bread in those countries is lighter than that made elsewhere.” However, most cultures, and even those with access to live yeast, sourdoughs were the most common form of leavening. This could be as simple as reserving some of yesterdays bread dough to use as leaven the next day, or the more complex sourdough where wild yeast is captured and kept in a starter as most people do today. (There is some documentation for using potash as a leaven, but given that it is the first cousin of lye, and can be explosive under certain conditions, I cannot recommend any experimentation with it.)
In many cultures, particularly in Rome, bread was most often bought from bakeries. Even the poor could take their grain dole to a bakery and have bread made from it for a small portion of the grain. In the cities, cooking was often not allowed in large apartment complexes inhabited by the poor/laboring classes because of the constant danger of fire. So in the city of Rome, home baked bread was a privilege of the wealthy. In other areas of the empire, bread was generally prepared in the traditional manner of the area prior to Roman occupation. In Anglo-Saxon England, both bakeries and home baking existed. Britain has always had rich soil and a lot of rain, and as a result grain grows well there. The Britons exported grain, and one of the things the Vikings took when the raids on Britain started, was the contents of their granaries. When the Romans conquered Britain, the people there were already growing common wheat as well as einkorn. The Vikings/Scandinavian peoples did not depend on bread as a staple food. There it was a privilege of the wealthy, though they did have bread ovens in each settlement that were used communally. Much of their caloric intake came from beer and ale brewed from barley. The area they inhabited wasn’t well suited to the production of grain. Their predominant bread grain was einkorn wheat, which actually does well in poor soils and colder temperatures. The Anglo-Saxons, on the other hand, did consider bread the staple of their diets. They had both einkorn early on, and common wheat. The Romans planted spelt in Britain after the conquest, but once the Romans left, the Britons returned to growing common wheat.
There were a number of methods for cooking bread. Baking was probably the most common method. Even very early period ovens in Rome strongly resemble, and work the same as, medieval “beehive” ovens. Likewise, the bread ovens found in Viking settlements and Anglo-Saxon ovens were much the same. They are generally domed in shape—the dome fosters air circulation within the oven through convection currents. Roman soldiers cooked some of their bread in the fire on a clay plate covered by a clay dome with a handle, sub testu, under the pot. This type of baking was also used to make bread at home by those who had home kitchens. In Germania and other Northern areas, baking was done, but boiled breads, boiled in a cloth bag, were common. These were possibly similar to steamed puddings that we have today. The Vikings also baked bread in pans directly in the fire. Pans of iron, soapstone and pottery have been found at various archeological sites. Grilling bread on a gridiron or flat top grill, were common in many areas of the Middle-East and Northern Africa as well as Rome. Wood, dried dung, and charcoal were available for fuel depending on where you were.
The earliest bread that I have recreated is bread of the Roman Empire c. 200 CE. Several of my compatriots and I recreated 7 breads of the Roman period from different parts of the empire. I also have recreated breads of the Viking/Anglo-Saxon period in Northern Europe. This class is based on those experiments. Because the most common method of rising breads in these periods was sourdoughs, I recommend that you experiment with those. If you are a brewer or have access to a brewer, you might want to experiment with using barm, or a period style beer or ale as a yeast source.
Making the breads:
The first step is obtaining your period flours. Einkorn, spelt, and common wheat are all widely available. Because our modern common wheat flour has less chaff and more gluten than period flours, I recommend that you modify it to bring it closer to what was used in early periods. You can reduce the gluten amount by mixing is some cake or pastry flour, which are much lower in gluten, add a small amount of whole wheat since they did not sift as well as we do, and possibly add very small amounts of other flours because the grindstones were never cleaned, and were used for other grains. I use a recipe for making period common wheat flour from the book War Fare by Bonnie Feinberg and Marian Walke, two pioneers of SCA period cooking. It’s not expensive, and we should all support their contribution to the SCA. There are lots of great recipes in the book as well. When using spelt or einkorn, just add some whole grain in with the all-purpose.
I did not build a period oven in my back yard. (Fire codes, etc.) I used a modern oven, but tried to bake in containers similar to those found in period. For my spelt and common wheat risen loaf, after seven loaves, I found that a cast iron Dutch oven produced the best results. For my spelt flat breads, I cooked them on a grill. I used the outdoor gas grill for one batch and an indoor grill pan for another to compare and contrast the techniques. (There are recipes for both of these breads in the handout and a recipe for my sourdough starter.) If you want to build an oven, go for it. There are people at Pennsic who do a hands on class on building a medieval beehive oven every year. I took the class and it was great. If this is not something you want to attempt, you are not alone. Baking bread in a container that simulates the conditions of baking in an early period method is just fine. I found that cast iron consistently did a better job of baking than pottery or other metals. Most commercial tagines are pottery, but they are for low and slow cooking and cannot handle the temperatures needed for baking. They do make cast iron tagines, which would probably do well. Roman re-enactors have the sub testu pots. I’ve seen them used in videos on line, so they may be making them or they can recommend a potter. I have not attempted boiled breads yet, but they sound like fun.
Making a sourdough is actually easier than I thought it would be. It does take some time and effort. My recipe for sourdough starter is in your handout. This is a recipe for catching wild yeast, rather than adding purchased yeast. It does take a full week to get a sourdough starter going, especially when using low gluten flours. They have to be fed once a week. It is important to use a healthy sourdough for leavened breads. I did not have any significant issues with mine, but some of my friends had mold get into them. To avoid this, use glass jars that seal and keep them in the coolest part of your refrigerator, where they won’t freeze. I also recommend using filtered water with your sourdough starters.
Expect very long rising times. Some breads may need to rise overnight or even for a full 24 hours. You won’t need to knead as much. Less gluten means less gluten that needs to be activated by kneading. Be careful about rising the bread in the pan you are going to cook it in for a long rise. I did that twice, once in a glazed pottery container and once in cast iron. Both of the containers had been greased, and both of those loaves had to be chiseled out of the pans after baking. If it is for a short rise, there is less likelihood of a problem, but never rise overnight in the cooking pan. These doughs are going to be stickier than most modern doughs. If you have made modern enriched breads, like a babka, that contain a lot of butter, milk, and sugar, these breads will be at least that sticky. Do not be tempted to dust with flour. This will screw up your flour ratio and the bread won’t rise properly. Have a cup of water handy to wet your hands. Don’t put water on the dough, but keep your hands damp. When working your dough use a slick surface like stone to prevent it from sticking. I used Silpats with the doughs that were very sticky. In period, breads were generally kneaded in special bowls kept for kneading bread that were probably kept well seasoned with fat or oil.
I have included my recipes for the three breads that I made. All of these started with modern recipes that I modified to make them fit the parameters of the periods I was working with. Those recipes are cited so you can go on line and look at them, and see how I modified them. The modification process involved a lot of trial and error. The only recipe that came out perfect the first time was the flat breads. I baked nine loaves of Viking bread before I got one that I was happy with. And the Saffron bread was the seventh that I baked. There will be lots of trial and error, and that’s OK. That’s how we learn.
Bibliography
Books
An Early Meal—A Viking Cookbook & Culinary Odyssey, Daniel Serra and Hanna Tunberg, 2013, ISBN 978-91-981056-0-5
A Handbook of Anglo-Saxon Food, Volume I, Ann Hagen, 1994 edition, ISBN 0-9516209-8-3
A Handbook of Anglo-Saxon Food, Volume II, Ann Hagen, 1995 2nd edition, ISBN 1-898281-12-2
“Breads from Birka: An Experiment.” Marshal Taylor, Tournaments Illuminated, Issue 213, 2020, pg. 25
The Complete Bread Cookbook, Ted and Jean Kaufman, 1969, Gramercy Publishing Co., USA
War Fare, Bonnie Feinberg and Marian Walke, 2010, ISBN 978-0-578-06232-7
The Oxford Handbook of History and Material Culture, Ivan Gaskell and Sarah Anne Carter, eds., “Chronology and Time: Northern European Coastal Settlements and Societies, c. 500-1050,” Christopher Loveluck, 2020, ISBN 978-0-19-934176-4
Around the Roman Table, Patrick Faas, 2003 ed., ISBN 0-312-23958-0
Appicius, Christopher Grocock and Sally Grainger, 2006, ISBN 1-903018-13-7
Byzantine Cuisine, Henry Marks, 2002, privately published
The Life of Luxury, Archestratus, 4th C. BCE, John Wilkins and Shaun Hill trans., 1994, ISBN 090732553X
“Taste and Digestion: Archeology and Medicine in Roman Italy,” Patricia Baker, Taste and the Ancient Senses, Kelli C. Rudolph, ed.. 2018, ISBN 9781844658695
Food in Antiquity, Don Brothwell and Patricia Brothwell, 1998 ed., ISBN 0-8018-5740-6
The Classical Cookbook, Andrew Dalby and Sally Grainger, 1`996, ISBN 0-89236-394-0
The Frugal Gourmet Keeps the Feast, Jeff Smith, 1995, ISBN 0-688-11568-3
Websites
“Pre- and Protohistoric Bread in Sweden, a Definition and Review,” Ann-Marie Hanson, Civilizations, no. 49, 2002, at http://Journals.openedition.org/civilisations/1432
www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-31648990
www.thoughtco.com/wheat-domestication-the-history-170669
http://dontwastethecrumbs.com/einkorn-sourdough-sandwhich-bread/
https://www.professorshouse.com/caraway/
www.lesleftsblogspot.com/2015/01/french-bread-history-bread-of-gauls.html
http://www.lexico.com/en/definition/emmer
https://www.definitions.net/definition/emmer
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/emmer
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/ovelg%C3%B6nne_bread_roll
https://www.iraqicookbook.com
http://www.quoara.com
http://rawi-magazine.com/articles/bread-in-egypt
www.roman-reenactor.com/roman%20military%20bread%20making.html
https://www.mot.be/en/opzoeken/bakeovens/geschiedenis/geschiedenis-van-de-bakoven
https://www.jstor/stable/428709
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cura-Annonae
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agriculture_in_ancient_Rome
www.britanica.com/place/Africa-Roman-territory
http://en.wikipedia/wiki/Common_wheat/
www.world-foodhistory.com/2018/10/history-of-wheat-in-roman-empire.html
www.thoughtco.com/wheat-domestication-the-history-170669
www.arabamerica.com/aish-baladi-bread-ancient-Egypt/
www.science.mag.org/news/2015/dna-recovered-unerwater-british-site-may-rewrite-history-farming-europe
www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-31648990
www.sustainlife.org/ancient-and-heirloom-wheat-trial-varieties
www.researchgate.net/publication/226772598_the_history_of_rye_cultivation_in_Europe
www.notjustdormice.wordpress.com/2015/05/06/millet-in-the-Roman-diet
www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millet
www.medicaldaily.com/brief-history-of-gluten-protein-baked-goods-how-wheat-intolerance-has-risen-over-years-353244
http://Breadopedia.com/highest-gluten-content-flour
www.thescienceofbreadmaking.com/
www.lesleftsblogspot.com/2015/01/french-bread-history-bread-of-gauls.html
www.africanexponent.com/post/7644-hr-is-how-aftrica-built-the-roman-empire-through-agriculture-and-food-supplies
www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africa_(Roman province)
http://www.professorshouse.com/caraway/
Before going further, you need to understand the chemistry of risen breads. You need two things to make an SCA period risen bread: a grain that contains the right kind of gluten, and yeast. First, not all glutens are the same. Gluten is a protein, and it can be different depending on the type of wheat or other grain. For example, Durham wheat, often called “pasta wheat,” has a lot of gluten, but the type of gluten in Durham wheat cannot form molecular bonds, which is necessary for bread to rise. Durham wheat was used to make unleavened breads in period, especially by the Romans. Also different grains have different amounts of gluten. Those higher in gluten are going to rise faster and higher than those with lesser amounts. Gluten molecules, when activated by kneading, will form molecular bonds with other gluten molecules, forming chains and nets. The yeast, a member of the fungi family, feeds on carbohydrates, and releases carbon dioxide as a waste product. The carbon dioxide gas rises hitting the nets of gluten molecules forcing them upward, thus rising the bread. (As some of you probably know, yeast’s other byproduct is ethanol.)
The original three wheats were einkorn, spelt, and faro. Together as a group, some historians, mostly British, still use the term “emmer wheat,” which is not a type of wheat at all. It’s just a method of referring to all the ancient wheats as a group. You will find this incredibly annoying and frustrating when doing your own research. All of these are still available, although faro is not generally used to make bread because the seeds, called “pearls,” due to the shape, is difficult to grind because the shape and the hardness. Faro was, and still is, used mostly for pottages, porridges, and as an additive to soups and stews. Einkorn and spelt are readily available in both whole grain and all-purpose flours. Contrary to what many people think, period breads were not all whole wheat. Even in early times, the chaff was generally removed to achieve softer bread. They weren’t as good at removing chaff as we are today, so the flour would have a bit of whole grain mixed in. I got my flours from Amazon. Whole Foods generally carries the whole grain versions, but I couldn’t find the all-purpose flours there. Also, all-purpose spelt is called “white spelt” for unknown reasons. Barley, also an ancient grain, was used to make bread as well, and it does contain gluten, though not as much as most wheats. It grows well in almost all climates and produces a lot of grain. In beer making cultures, barley was the choice for beers and ales, and most of the barley crops went into brewing. The only other grain containing gluten is rye, which became widely available during the early Roman period. Because rye is a heavy grain, it is often mixed with wheat for bread, but it can rise on its own. We do not know exactly when common wheat, the wheat most often grown and used today came into being, but it has been found in breads left in early Roman tombs. Common wheat is also a close cousin of spelt, and is considered a naturally occurring hybrid of spelt.
Early period breads can be leavened or unleavened—risen with yeast or not risen at all. It is much easier to make unleavened breads, but even in early times leavened breads were preferred by all who could make and/or afford them. Unleavened breads are grain mixed with water and usually some kind of fat. They can be fried, grilled, baked, or boiled. Even without leavening, air can be folded into the dough to make it lighter. Tortillas are an example of a fried unleavened bread. In Rome, the bread in the phrase “bread and circuses” referred to the unleavened flat bread fed to the poor. This bread was made from Durham wheat imported from Egypt. It is high in protein, as well as carbohydrates, both necessary for the health of humans. The Romans also got much of their nutrition from bread, making it a staple food. It’s estimated that 70%-80% of the average Roman’s nutrition came from grains.
Leavened breads in early periods could achieve their rise in a number of ways. If beer was used as the liquid to make bread, the yeast in the beer could provide the rise. In beer making cultures, such as Britain, Gaul, Germania, and others, yeast could be obtained from the barm on the top of the beer vats, or from the dregs in the bottom of the vat. Pliny the Elder acknowledged this in his writings, “In Gaul and Spain, where they make a drink by steeping grain, they employ the foam which thickens upon the surface as a leaven: hence it is that the bread in those countries is lighter than that made elsewhere.” However, most cultures, and even those with access to live yeast, sourdoughs were the most common form of leavening. This could be as simple as reserving some of yesterdays bread dough to use as leaven the next day, or the more complex sourdough where wild yeast is captured and kept in a starter as most people do today. (There is some documentation for using potash as a leaven, but given that it is the first cousin of lye, and can be explosive under certain conditions, I cannot recommend any experimentation with it.)
In many cultures, particularly in Rome, bread was most often bought from bakeries. Even the poor could take their grain dole to a bakery and have bread made from it for a small portion of the grain. In the cities, cooking was often not allowed in large apartment complexes inhabited by the poor/laboring classes because of the constant danger of fire. So in the city of Rome, home baked bread was a privilege of the wealthy. In other areas of the empire, bread was generally prepared in the traditional manner of the area prior to Roman occupation. In Anglo-Saxon England, both bakeries and home baking existed. Britain has always had rich soil and a lot of rain, and as a result grain grows well there. The Britons exported grain, and one of the things the Vikings took when the raids on Britain started, was the contents of their granaries. When the Romans conquered Britain, the people there were already growing common wheat as well as einkorn. The Vikings/Scandinavian peoples did not depend on bread as a staple food. There it was a privilege of the wealthy, though they did have bread ovens in each settlement that were used communally. Much of their caloric intake came from beer and ale brewed from barley. The area they inhabited wasn’t well suited to the production of grain. Their predominant bread grain was einkorn wheat, which actually does well in poor soils and colder temperatures. The Anglo-Saxons, on the other hand, did consider bread the staple of their diets. They had both einkorn early on, and common wheat. The Romans planted spelt in Britain after the conquest, but once the Romans left, the Britons returned to growing common wheat.
There were a number of methods for cooking bread. Baking was probably the most common method. Even very early period ovens in Rome strongly resemble, and work the same as, medieval “beehive” ovens. Likewise, the bread ovens found in Viking settlements and Anglo-Saxon ovens were much the same. They are generally domed in shape—the dome fosters air circulation within the oven through convection currents. Roman soldiers cooked some of their bread in the fire on a clay plate covered by a clay dome with a handle, sub testu, under the pot. This type of baking was also used to make bread at home by those who had home kitchens. In Germania and other Northern areas, baking was done, but boiled breads, boiled in a cloth bag, were common. These were possibly similar to steamed puddings that we have today. The Vikings also baked bread in pans directly in the fire. Pans of iron, soapstone and pottery have been found at various archeological sites. Grilling bread on a gridiron or flat top grill, were common in many areas of the Middle-East and Northern Africa as well as Rome. Wood, dried dung, and charcoal were available for fuel depending on where you were.
The earliest bread that I have recreated is bread of the Roman Empire c. 200 CE. Several of my compatriots and I recreated 7 breads of the Roman period from different parts of the empire. I also have recreated breads of the Viking/Anglo-Saxon period in Northern Europe. This class is based on those experiments. Because the most common method of rising breads in these periods was sourdoughs, I recommend that you experiment with those. If you are a brewer or have access to a brewer, you might want to experiment with using barm, or a period style beer or ale as a yeast source.
Making the breads:
The first step is obtaining your period flours. Einkorn, spelt, and common wheat are all widely available. Because our modern common wheat flour has less chaff and more gluten than period flours, I recommend that you modify it to bring it closer to what was used in early periods. You can reduce the gluten amount by mixing is some cake or pastry flour, which are much lower in gluten, add a small amount of whole wheat since they did not sift as well as we do, and possibly add very small amounts of other flours because the grindstones were never cleaned, and were used for other grains. I use a recipe for making period common wheat flour from the book War Fare by Bonnie Feinberg and Marian Walke, two pioneers of SCA period cooking. It’s not expensive, and we should all support their contribution to the SCA. There are lots of great recipes in the book as well. When using spelt or einkorn, just add some whole grain in with the all-purpose.
I did not build a period oven in my back yard. (Fire codes, etc.) I used a modern oven, but tried to bake in containers similar to those found in period. For my spelt and common wheat risen loaf, after seven loaves, I found that a cast iron Dutch oven produced the best results. For my spelt flat breads, I cooked them on a grill. I used the outdoor gas grill for one batch and an indoor grill pan for another to compare and contrast the techniques. (There are recipes for both of these breads in the handout and a recipe for my sourdough starter.) If you want to build an oven, go for it. There are people at Pennsic who do a hands on class on building a medieval beehive oven every year. I took the class and it was great. If this is not something you want to attempt, you are not alone. Baking bread in a container that simulates the conditions of baking in an early period method is just fine. I found that cast iron consistently did a better job of baking than pottery or other metals. Most commercial tagines are pottery, but they are for low and slow cooking and cannot handle the temperatures needed for baking. They do make cast iron tagines, which would probably do well. Roman re-enactors have the sub testu pots. I’ve seen them used in videos on line, so they may be making them or they can recommend a potter. I have not attempted boiled breads yet, but they sound like fun.
Making a sourdough is actually easier than I thought it would be. It does take some time and effort. My recipe for sourdough starter is in your handout. This is a recipe for catching wild yeast, rather than adding purchased yeast. It does take a full week to get a sourdough starter going, especially when using low gluten flours. They have to be fed once a week. It is important to use a healthy sourdough for leavened breads. I did not have any significant issues with mine, but some of my friends had mold get into them. To avoid this, use glass jars that seal and keep them in the coolest part of your refrigerator, where they won’t freeze. I also recommend using filtered water with your sourdough starters.
Expect very long rising times. Some breads may need to rise overnight or even for a full 24 hours. You won’t need to knead as much. Less gluten means less gluten that needs to be activated by kneading. Be careful about rising the bread in the pan you are going to cook it in for a long rise. I did that twice, once in a glazed pottery container and once in cast iron. Both of the containers had been greased, and both of those loaves had to be chiseled out of the pans after baking. If it is for a short rise, there is less likelihood of a problem, but never rise overnight in the cooking pan. These doughs are going to be stickier than most modern doughs. If you have made modern enriched breads, like a babka, that contain a lot of butter, milk, and sugar, these breads will be at least that sticky. Do not be tempted to dust with flour. This will screw up your flour ratio and the bread won’t rise properly. Have a cup of water handy to wet your hands. Don’t put water on the dough, but keep your hands damp. When working your dough use a slick surface like stone to prevent it from sticking. I used Silpats with the doughs that were very sticky. In period, breads were generally kneaded in special bowls kept for kneading bread that were probably kept well seasoned with fat or oil.
I have included my recipes for the three breads that I made. All of these started with modern recipes that I modified to make them fit the parameters of the periods I was working with. Those recipes are cited so you can go on line and look at them, and see how I modified them. The modification process involved a lot of trial and error. The only recipe that came out perfect the first time was the flat breads. I baked nine loaves of Viking bread before I got one that I was happy with. And the Saffron bread was the seventh that I baked. There will be lots of trial and error, and that’s OK. That’s how we learn.
Bibliography
Books
An Early Meal—A Viking Cookbook & Culinary Odyssey, Daniel Serra and Hanna Tunberg, 2013, ISBN 978-91-981056-0-5
A Handbook of Anglo-Saxon Food, Volume I, Ann Hagen, 1994 edition, ISBN 0-9516209-8-3
A Handbook of Anglo-Saxon Food, Volume II, Ann Hagen, 1995 2nd edition, ISBN 1-898281-12-2
“Breads from Birka: An Experiment.” Marshal Taylor, Tournaments Illuminated, Issue 213, 2020, pg. 25
The Complete Bread Cookbook, Ted and Jean Kaufman, 1969, Gramercy Publishing Co., USA
War Fare, Bonnie Feinberg and Marian Walke, 2010, ISBN 978-0-578-06232-7
The Oxford Handbook of History and Material Culture, Ivan Gaskell and Sarah Anne Carter, eds., “Chronology and Time: Northern European Coastal Settlements and Societies, c. 500-1050,” Christopher Loveluck, 2020, ISBN 978-0-19-934176-4
Around the Roman Table, Patrick Faas, 2003 ed., ISBN 0-312-23958-0
Appicius, Christopher Grocock and Sally Grainger, 2006, ISBN 1-903018-13-7
Byzantine Cuisine, Henry Marks, 2002, privately published
The Life of Luxury, Archestratus, 4th C. BCE, John Wilkins and Shaun Hill trans., 1994, ISBN 090732553X
“Taste and Digestion: Archeology and Medicine in Roman Italy,” Patricia Baker, Taste and the Ancient Senses, Kelli C. Rudolph, ed.. 2018, ISBN 9781844658695
Food in Antiquity, Don Brothwell and Patricia Brothwell, 1998 ed., ISBN 0-8018-5740-6
The Classical Cookbook, Andrew Dalby and Sally Grainger, 1`996, ISBN 0-89236-394-0
The Frugal Gourmet Keeps the Feast, Jeff Smith, 1995, ISBN 0-688-11568-3
Websites
“Pre- and Protohistoric Bread in Sweden, a Definition and Review,” Ann-Marie Hanson, Civilizations, no. 49, 2002, at http://Journals.openedition.org/civilisations/1432
www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-31648990
www.thoughtco.com/wheat-domestication-the-history-170669
http://dontwastethecrumbs.com/einkorn-sourdough-sandwhich-bread/
https://www.professorshouse.com/caraway/
www.lesleftsblogspot.com/2015/01/french-bread-history-bread-of-gauls.html
http://www.lexico.com/en/definition/emmer
https://www.definitions.net/definition/emmer
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/emmer
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/ovelg%C3%B6nne_bread_roll
https://www.iraqicookbook.com
http://www.quoara.com
http://rawi-magazine.com/articles/bread-in-egypt
www.roman-reenactor.com/roman%20military%20bread%20making.html
https://www.mot.be/en/opzoeken/bakeovens/geschiedenis/geschiedenis-van-de-bakoven
https://www.jstor/stable/428709
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cura-Annonae
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agriculture_in_ancient_Rome
www.britanica.com/place/Africa-Roman-territory
http://en.wikipedia/wiki/Common_wheat/
www.world-foodhistory.com/2018/10/history-of-wheat-in-roman-empire.html
www.thoughtco.com/wheat-domestication-the-history-170669
www.arabamerica.com/aish-baladi-bread-ancient-Egypt/
www.science.mag.org/news/2015/dna-recovered-unerwater-british-site-may-rewrite-history-farming-europe
www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-31648990
www.sustainlife.org/ancient-and-heirloom-wheat-trial-varieties
www.researchgate.net/publication/226772598_the_history_of_rye_cultivation_in_Europe
www.notjustdormice.wordpress.com/2015/05/06/millet-in-the-Roman-diet
www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millet
www.medicaldaily.com/brief-history-of-gluten-protein-baked-goods-how-wheat-intolerance-has-risen-over-years-353244
http://Breadopedia.com/highest-gluten-content-flour
www.thescienceofbreadmaking.com/
www.lesleftsblogspot.com/2015/01/french-bread-history-bread-of-gauls.html
www.africanexponent.com/post/7644-hr-is-how-aftrica-built-the-roman-empire-through-agriculture-and-food-supplies
www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africa_(Roman province)
http://www.professorshouse.com/caraway/
