medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
At 5:53 PM -0400 7/10/02, Timothy Ladd wrote:
>What sort of beans would be in this black bread, and has anyone tasted
>bean bread? It sounds, um, weird. But then Wonder bread is pretty hard
>to take to with it sticking to the roof of your mouth.
I'd say most beans are pretty blah as flavor goes. As a bread baker
<g> I can tell you that adding beans to bread tends to make it rather
heavy and dense -- but then, for the purposes of carrying hunks of
bread around, this is probably a Good Thing, since there is then more
nourishment per bite. The current recommendation from the best bakers
I know is to add them right at the end of the first kneading, when
the gluten is already well developed. (And not to put in more than a
cup per loaf.)
BTW (wrenching this back to something verging on religion :) my
friend Heather Rose Jones is currently preparing a lecture on "the
shepherd's purse," which appears in various medieval illuminations of
the Nativity, and also in seasonal pictures in Books of Hours. It
seems to be used as one of the visual signals that "this person is a
shepherd."
It's fascinating, because she can trace its evolution -- to begin
with, it was just a long piece of cloth or netting, into which one's
lunch was rolled up, and tied around the waist. (Clearly it required
solid, sturdy bread and cheese to stand up to this treatment!)
Eventually it became a sewed-together arrangement, more like a pouch
with straps, that looks an awful lot like the modern "belt pouch" (if
you're American it's a "fanny pack").
--
_________________________________________________________
O Chris Laning
| <[log in to unmask]>
+ Davis, California
_________________________________________________________
**********************************************************************
To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME
to: [log in to unmask]
To send a message to the list, address it to:
[log in to unmask]
To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion
to: [log in to unmask]
In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to:
[log in to unmask]
For further information, visit our web site:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html
|