Bisket Bread

 

 Recipe from Country contentments, or The English huswife. by Gervase Markham, published 1623. Above you can see a scan of the original text. The book can be read at archive.org

 

Very unusual for a historic recipe to have specific quantities listed, so that is helpful. I based my baking instructions on an analysis of the recipe found on cupcakeproject.com  This is known to be the oldest found recipe for pound cake.

 

I cut the recipe in half because it is huge, and I used only whole eggs, for the sake of convenience. To be more medieval, the flour should be whole wheat but soft and finely milled. (I used to be able to buy whole wheat pastry flour. It was perfect for medieval recipes. I miss it.) The sugar should be raw sugar, or brown sugar if that is more available. Sugar was crystallized in this time period, but from what I can tell it was another 100 years or so before sugar was so purified that it resembles the white granulated sugar of today.

 

1/2 lb flour

1/2 lb sugar

6 eggs

1/4 oz fennel seeds or star anise

1/4 oz coriander

1/8 oz dried orange peel 

Grind the fennel/star anise, coriander, and orange peel in a mortar with a pestle, until the spices are as fine as you can get them.

 

In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, and spices. 

In a large bowl, beat the eggs until mixed. Slowly add the flour mixture while beating on medium-high speed with an egg beater. (A stand mixer is good too, probably better.) Continue to beat for 10-20 minutes (my egg beater was getting worryingly hot at 10 minutes, so I stopped).

 

Grease a 9"-10" circular cake pan and preheat oven to 350 F. Bake cake for 35-40 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.

Goblin Bread

 

 

2 cups spinach, cooked or frozen

1/4 cup dried fruit 

1/2 cup warm milk

3 cups flour

2 tsp instant yeast

1 tsp salt

1-2 tsp herbs or spices as desired

2 Tbls oil

1 egg

 

If your spinach is frozen, warm it up before mixing. Combine the spinach, dried fruit, and milk in a blender and puree until smooth. Take out 1 1/2 cups of puree (add more milk if necessary).

 

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, yeast, salt, and seasoning. In a small bowl, lightly beat the egg with the oil.

 

Stir the spinach mixture and egg mixture into the flour mixture. Knead it thoroughly. It will seem dry but the spinach will continue releasing moisture as it is kneaded, so don't add more liquid until you're sure it needs it.

 

Put the dough in a bowl coated in oil, cover it, and let rise until doubled (about 45-60 minutes).

 

Lightly knead the dough, then form it into rolls and place on a baking sheet. Cover and let rise for 30 minutes or until doubled. While rising, preheat oven to  375 F.

 

Bake for 17-20 minutes.

Perfect Brownies

 

1 cup white sugar

3/4 cup flour

2/3 cup cocoa powder

1/2 cup powdered sugar

3/4 tsp salt

2 eggs

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 Tbls water or fruit juice

1/2 tsp almond extract

Optional: 1/2 cup mix-ins (chocolate chips, fruit, nuts, marshmallows, etc)

Preheat oven to 325F. Line an 8" cake pan with baking parchment and spray the parchment with cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, stir together all ingredients until mixed. It is a very thick batter. Pour the batter into the baking pan and spread it out with a spatula.

Bake for 30 minutes if your pan is a little larger. For smaller pans (thicker brownies) go up to 40-45 minutes. If a toothpick comes out mostly clean, it is done. It's better to take them out of the oven sooner than later, as they will repose and firm further in the hot pan.