Post by spence on Jun 20, 2019 7:12:00 GMT -7
The people of the 18th century didn't understand about yeast and how it worked in their cooking, but they knew how to use it. Typically they got barm, the foam from fermenting beer, which contained the yeast, from the local brewer and used that as liquid yeast in their baking. They developed quite a few innovative ways to preserve the yeast for later use. They sometimes kept a liquid batch going and fed it as we do sourdough starter. Other times they added flour to the barm to make a stiff dough and let that dry, then soaked it when wanting to bake.
I have collected a few of their recipes for preserving yeast, and have tried some of them, they actually work. Watching an episode of the Jon Townsend Eighteenth Century Cooking series from Conner Prairie in 2016 I got one I hadn't heard of before. They added flour to the barm and let it work, then mixed in cornmeal until it made a fairly stiff dough. They rolled that out and cut it into biscuit-size chunks and dried those for later use.
I got bored a couple of days ago and decided to make some of those yeast biscuits. I started with regular active dry yeast instead of barm, of course. Once the yeast was activated in a little warm water and sugar I stirred in white flour to make a very thin, wet batter and let that ferment until well expanded and bubbly. I then mixed in the cornmeal, rolled and cut the biscuits, a couple of inches square and 3/8-inch thick. They have dried, and in a couple of weeks I plan to reconstitute one for a batch of Rye & Indian, bread made with rye flour and cornmeal. Film at eleven.
I expect this will work. Many years ago I took my family to Quebec on a wilderness fishing trip. I took sourdough starter along and made tons of sourdough pancakes for the boys. For the return I mixed flour into some sourdough until very stiff, rolled it into a golf ball-sized ball and buried it in the flour. It stayed there for several days in the very hot trunk of the car. When we got home the ball was hard and brittle. I reconstituted it and baked a nice loaf of bread. I don't know any reason these cornmeal ones shouldn't work the same.
Spence
I have collected a few of their recipes for preserving yeast, and have tried some of them, they actually work. Watching an episode of the Jon Townsend Eighteenth Century Cooking series from Conner Prairie in 2016 I got one I hadn't heard of before. They added flour to the barm and let it work, then mixed in cornmeal until it made a fairly stiff dough. They rolled that out and cut it into biscuit-size chunks and dried those for later use.
I got bored a couple of days ago and decided to make some of those yeast biscuits. I started with regular active dry yeast instead of barm, of course. Once the yeast was activated in a little warm water and sugar I stirred in white flour to make a very thin, wet batter and let that ferment until well expanded and bubbly. I then mixed in the cornmeal, rolled and cut the biscuits, a couple of inches square and 3/8-inch thick. They have dried, and in a couple of weeks I plan to reconstitute one for a batch of Rye & Indian, bread made with rye flour and cornmeal. Film at eleven.
I expect this will work. Many years ago I took my family to Quebec on a wilderness fishing trip. I took sourdough starter along and made tons of sourdough pancakes for the boys. For the return I mixed flour into some sourdough until very stiff, rolled it into a golf ball-sized ball and buried it in the flour. It stayed there for several days in the very hot trunk of the car. When we got home the ball was hard and brittle. I reconstituted it and baked a nice loaf of bread. I don't know any reason these cornmeal ones shouldn't work the same.
Spence
