During the Renaissance, bakeries were considered the epicenter of many larger towns.  The townsfolk would buy their breads on a daily basis and they could catch up on the news and gossip of the town at the bakery.  Unlike our modern bakeries with electrical or gas ovens, the bakers’ ovens were usually heated with wood or peat and were often built into the bakery’s architecture.

Rustic peasant bread before slicing

This past year, I became very familiar with the art of wood-fired baking. I had recently acquired a wood-burning oven to practice my baking skills.  The oven provided some fairly accurate experiences of working in a bakery during the Renaissance.  Each morning, I would heat the oven with birch and oak wood and would gradually warm up the oven.  Once the oven was hot enough, I had the option of pushing back the hot coals to keep the heat longer or rake them out to cool the oven faster and then bake directly on the oven’s stone hearth.

There were many challenges in baking with traditional methods.  From our modern perspective, the largest challenge Renaissance era bakers faced were the lack of prepackaged yeast.  Bakers would have to create yeast naturally or find another baker to purchase or acquire live yeast.  The live yeast was also known as wild yeast and grows naturally nearly everywhere, but it takes about a week to develop.

With patience wild yeast can be grown at home, but it takes a time.  Below is one of my traditional methods of growing wild yeast.

Recipe for Wild Yeast
Combine 1/2 cup unflavored yogurt and two tablespoons of flour in a clean bowl. Cover with a cloth and let it rest for 24 hours.

Peasant bread after slicing

Remove any liquid that develops over the yeast.  Add two tablespoons flour and two tablespoons of water and stir every morning for a week.   Make sure that you are removing any extra liquid before adding more flour and water to the mixture.

If too much starter grows, throw away half and replace it with an equal volume of the flour and water mixture.  If bubbles develop, begin feeding the yeast every six hours with the flour and water mixture. Continue to pour off any water.   Feed the yeast with the flour and water mixture about an hour before you plan to use in a recipe.

A Traditional Bread Recipe
Now the yeast that is grown would be traded or sold to other bakers.  It can be messy and time consuming and the ease and the availability of dry yeast allow for tasty, and yet fairly easy bread recipes.  The recipe below is for rustic peasant bread and has been tested and written for modern ovens and equipment

Rustic Peasant Bread
1 package dry yeast
2 cups warm (not hot) water
1 tablespoon sugar
(honey was used during the Renaissance, but it doesn’t rise as much as using sugar)
2 teaspoons salt
4 cups flour
Cornmeal
Melted butter

Place yeast, water, and sugar in a bowl and stir until dissolved.  The sugar will help feed the yeast and help the process along.

Blend the flour and salt together.  Add the liquid yeast to the dry ingredients and stir until well blended. Do not knead.

Cover with a warm damp cloth and let it rise until double its original size (approximately 1 hour).

Remove the dough from the bowl, divide it, and place in 2 rounds on a greased cookie sheet sprinkled with cornmeal; the cornmeal will help stop the bread from sticking to the pan. Let the dough rise an additional hour.

Brush top on dough with melted butter and bake at 425 degrees for 10 minutes.  Reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees and cook for an additional 15 minutes.

Serve warm.

Tags: Food, historical cooking, recipe, Renaissance Magazine

Rice was introduced to the Italians and Spaniards by the Arabs during the Middle Ages. The weather along the Mediterranean Sea was ideal for growing the shorter grained rice, like the Arborio, and the merchants in Genoa, Venice and surrounding towns were able to profit from the rice growing industry that catered to the wealthy.

Citrus Lamb with Risotto

As interest in trade with the Mediterranean increased, others discovered the Italian delicacy and the demand increased for the short-grained rice. The Italian merchants’ profits grew as only the wealthy could afford the rice and other merchants took interest in this profitable product and began providing it as well. The increased availability flooded the market and lowered the price of the rice, making it more affordable.

Southern Italians had used the rice as a staple and slow-cooking (cooking over a low heat source for a long period of time) was predominantly used to prepare the daily meals. When slow-cooking the meals with the short-grained rice, it would combine the rice’s naturally occurring starch with rich stock or broth and create a creamy sauce; this practice would create risotto.

The recipe below utilizes the same principles of items found in southern Italy – lamb, citrus (lemons and oranges), olive oil, Arborio rice, and lemon basil. Although lamb is not commonly combined with citrus, but in this case it complements the risotto. Thus, creating a rich meal that tastes like it would be made for a special occasion, but is relatively easy to make.

Citrus Lamb with Risotto
Ingredients
2 lbs of lamb cubed
1 whole lemon (juice and zest)
1 tsp of orange zest
2 cups of lamb stock (veal or beef stock can be used instead)
1 cup Arborio rice (uncooked)
1 tsp of lemon basil, minced
1 tbsp olive oil
Sea salt (to taste)
Black pepper (to taste)

Remove the zest (skin) from the entire lemon and cut the lemon in half. You may use a zester (like a smaller cheese grater) or hand-shave the zest with a sharp knife; make sure you do not include the white pith (the area between the zest and the fruit). Once shaved, mince the zest and hold aside; the zest will provide most of the citrus flavor in this dish. You may do the same thing with an orange to get fresh orange zest.

Use a fork to pierce the lemon and squeeze the juice into a cup. The piercing will help remove the juice more efficiently. Make sure there are no seeds in the juice and set aside for later. Dispose of the lemon once the zest and juice have been harvested.

Add medium heat to a large skillet or pot and add the olive oil; add the lamb and a teaspoon of the lemon zest to brown slightly. Remove from the lamb from the pot and put aside, but leave the remaining fat and oil in the pan.

Place the pot back onto the medium heat and add the rice; brown the rice in the lamb fat and olive oil. Once browned, begin slowly adding the stock on medium heat while constantly stirring. Add the juice from the lemon to the rice. Add a lid to the sauce pan and continue to cook until both the rice has puffed up and a most of the stock has evaporated.

Add the lamb and the remaining lemon and a half teaspoon of the orange zest and lemon basil. The remaining orange zest and lemon basil will be used as a garnish prior to serving. Continue to cook the lamb and add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve family style on a single plate or bowl and sprinkle the remaining orange zest and lemon basil on top of the dish as a garnish. For the photo, small orange slices were added for additional color.

Tags: Dairy Free, gluten free, historical cooking, recipe, Renaissance Magazine

Vegetable Pie, photograph taken by Alice the Cook on June 24, 2012

When the crops were ready for harvesting, communities would come together as a community to help reap the crops and celebrate their bounty. Vegetables were plentiful and they readily became part of the feast. Similar to the American Thanksgiving, these feasts celebrated the family, the community, and the harvest.

Feasts were different for economic classes: noble’s feasts included venison, pheasant, and other wild game while the  other classes enjoyed wild hare, fresh fish, and forged items like wild mushrooms, berries, and other scavenged delicacies.  Recipes were created that used the harvested items and often included items that weren’t normally available, but were saved for special occasions.

The recipe below is one such recipe – vegetable pie.  The filling used items that were readily found during harvest time.  This particular dish may be served as a main course, an alternative to a meat option, or served as a side dish.  The provided pastry crust recipe is a standard and has been used by my family for generations. Although people will often create shortcuts to any recipe and store bought pie crust and heat-and-serve soups can be used.  However, the recipe I am providing has no shortcuts.

Pie Crust
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling
1 cup (2 sticks or 8 ounces) unsalted butter, semi soft and cut into cubes
1 tsp salt
6 to 8 tbsp ice water

Combine flour, salt, and sugar together and mix thoroughly. Add butter and crush into the flour mixture with a fork until it resembles coarse meal, with pea size pieces of butter. Add ice water a tablespoon at a time, blending until mixture just begins to clump together. Don’t add too much water as it will make the crust tough.

Vegetable Pie that is ready to eat.

Place the dough on a clean surface such as a cutting board.  Press down on the dough a few times to help flatten the dough between the layers of flour which will help make the crust flaky. Shape the dough mixture into two parts.  Sprinkle a little flour around the mounds of dough and wrap each disk in wax paper and refrigerate at least 1 hour, and up to 2 days to cure the dough.

Remove the crust from the refrigerator. Let sit at room temperature for 5-10 minutes in order to soften enough to roll out the dough with a rolling pin on a lightly floured surface to a 12-inch circle and about 1/8 of an inch thick. Carefully place each dough segment into two 9-inch pie plates (one in each). Gently press the pie dough down so that it lines the bottom and sides of the pie plate.  Pre-bake the dough at 375 degree until it is half baked.

Vegetable Pie
2 cups vegetable stock
3 large carrots, julienned
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 medium sweet potato, peeled and julienned
1 leek, diced
4 medium red potatoes, thinly cut and then julienned
2 eggs, scrambled (for vegans use 2 tbsp of corn starch or powdered arrowroot instead)
1 can of garbanzo beans/chickpeas, drained and rinsed
4 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp fresh ginger, minced (optional)
1/8 tsp powdered clove

Sauté the vegetables (carrots, garlic, leeks, sweet potatoes, and potatoes) in olive oil. When leeks are transparent, add chickpeas and 2 cups of soup or broth and continue to simmer. When carrots and potatoes are tender, slowly add eggs to thicken pie filling. If eggs are not desired, gradually add corn starch or arrowroot to thicken.

Add pie mixture to crust and continue to bake for 10 minutes until pie crust is golden brown.  Let cool for 5 minutes before serving.

Tags: recipe, Renaissance Magazine, vegetarian

Part II: Flavored Salts and Sugars, Oils, and Extracts
In the previous issue of Renaissance Magazine, I wrote about how a well-stocked pantry or larder was essential to any kitchen.  It doesn’t matter the size of the kitchen, but food preserving helped keep food longer.  In this issue, I will focus on flavor enhancements including flavored sugars, salts, oils and vinegars as well as making your own extracts.  Although some of the enhancements were not widely used until well after the Renaissance period, they can complement any dish from any time period.  In addition, they make lovely gifts to your loved ones.

Flavored Salts and Sugars
Many of us are familiar with cinnamon sugar that topped our toast.  This is a similar process, but instead of blending powdered spices with sugars and salts, an older method is to let the sugar or salts absorb a lot of the essential oils from the fresh herbs and spices.

This is a fairly easy process.  You will need a ceramic dish such as ramekins.  Place a layer of salt or sugar at the bottom of the dish.   Sweet things should be applied to the sugar (nutmeg, ginger, vanilla, clove, citrus zest, or cinnamon) and savory things would be applied to the salt (garlic, rosemary, chilies, etc.)  Place the chosen flavor on top of the bottom layer of salt or sugar and begin layering.

Once the layering is finished, place the dish in a low heat area so the flavor infuses with the salt or sugar.  Salt requires a higher heat (200 degrees) for an hour and sugar requires a lower heat (100 – 150 degrees) for two hours.  The flavoring would need to be stirred occasionally within the sugar or salt to ensure thorough blending.  Place in an airtight container and serve as needed; it is important that the flavored sugars and salts are not cooled, as it will halt the flavor from disbursing evenly.

Extracts
Like the sugars, extracts are easy to make.  Finding a sweet spice (nutmeg, ginger, vanilla, clove, citrus zest, or cinnamon) and placing it into a clean bottle that can be sealed.  The ingredients will need to be either cracked (cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, or ginger) or sliced thinly (vanilla and citrus zest.  Add a strong flavorless liquor such as Everclear or Vodka and seal shut in a dark place.  The longer the combined ingredients sit sealed with occasional shaking, the stronger the extract will become. Through this process, I have made vanilla, ginger, and various citrus extracts.

Flavored Oils & Vinegars
Flavored vinegars and oils require heating the liquid before adding the herbs or spices.  By using savory herbs such as rosemary, basil, thyme, or peppers, one can create a wonderful addition to their kitchen. To begin, slowly heat the vinegar or oil.  While it heats up, chop the herbs into large pieces and add them to the mixture.  It is important that you do not let the pot boil.  By simmering it and bottling it in small amounts, it prevents waste.  The flavored oils should be chilled as they spoil very quickly and should be used within 2 – 3 weeks.  The acids in the vinegars will keep longer than the oils and can be kept for months.  The flavored vinegars make a nice addition to olive oil for dressings and marinades.

Tags: Dairy Free, gluten free, Renaissance Magazine, vegetarian