How to Bake Spiced Sweet Bread

This is quite an easy recipe to make if you don't mind spending a couple of pleasant hours in the kitchen. The end result is a pleasantly unusual bread that tastes great with a slice of ham or even just spread with soft butter. The recipe was inspired by, and similar to, a recipe found on www.greneboke.com and is believed to have originated in the 16th Century. Here is how I made my spiced sweet bread.

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons dried yeast
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 3 cups plain flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 3 egg yolks
• Spice

Preparation

• Dissolve the yeast in the warm water and leave in a warm place to activate the yeast
• Warm the egg yolks, milk, butter and spice in a small saucepan until the mix just begins to thicken. Be sure to remove from the heat before the egg sets in the liquid
• Mix the flour and sugar together and beat in the yeast, then add the egg mixture
• Knead to form a stiff dough, adding water or flour as necessary to make a dry, stiff dough
• Leave in a warm place for about an hour until the dough has doubled in size
• Knead the dough again and shape into a loaf or cut into rolls and leave the dough for a little longer to rise again
• Bake at 350F for about 20 minutes

John's Notes
What spice to use? I used cardamom because it has a delicate, sweet flavour but cinnamon, nutmeg or even mace would work well too. I have the advantage of an electronically controlled range with a bread proofing oven and a "Bread" setting for the main oven. I am sure the same fine result could be obtained, with a little care, using a regular oven.

Buttered Beer Recipe

While browsing recipe websites I came across this one at medievalcookery.com. In medieval times everything was cooked from scratch; it would have been quite unusual for anybody to take horse to their local supermarket to buy convenience food in a microwaveable package. Very unusual indeed. And "unusual" would be a good way to describe this recipe. However, it was a particularly cold day today and hot "buttered beer" sounded like just the kind of internal warmer I needed when I got back from walking the dogs. Here is how I made it.

Ingredients

• 12oz beer
• 1 egg yolk
• Sugar to taste
• Spices (a pinch each of nutmeg, cloves, ginger)
• 2 tablespoons butter

Preparation

• Whisk the beer into a beaten egg yolk until smooth
• Stir in the sugar and spices
• Bring almost to the boil then remove from heat
• Stir in the butter and serve while still hot

John's Notes
There are more recipes out there on the Internet than you can shake a rolling pin at. Unfortunately, many of them are reproduced by people who have never actually tried the recipe themselves. I did not have a picture to work with so I wasn't sure how this recipe was supposed to look. The recipe that I found commented on the flavour (so I assume the original author did actually make it) but not the texture.

My buttered beer was a rich, spicy, full-bodied drink. It had the kind of flavour that makes you feel good without wanting a second helping. Since the cooking process is too brief to boil off the alcohol you should treat this as an adult beverage.

I suspect the recipe was originally made with a rich, dark, malty English ale. I happened to have a 21st Century rich, dark, malty English ale lying around the house which lent its natural flavour very well to this recipe. The thin, light products churned out by the big Canadian beer factories would probably not work very well in this recipe.

Recommended for cold, winter evenings in front of a log fire.

Mulberry Frumenty Recipe

This week's recipe is well and truly in keeping with this blog's "traditional British recipes" theme. Frumenty (or "Furmity " as it is also known) is a porridge made with wheat that was standard fare for the peasantry from Saxon times until perhaps a century ago.

I have made two versions of it for this recipe: a sweet version and a savoury version. The sweet version makes an excellent breakfast or a filling dessert. It was made famous in Thomas Hardy's classic novel, "The Mayor of Casterbridge". The principal character in the novel becomes drunk on the rum which was added to frumenty in days of yore. While drunk he sells his wife, but upon sobering up he regrets his action, forswears drink for 21 years and goes on to become mayor of the town of Casterbridge. It is a good story but we won't dwell on it here. Instead we will make frumenty; here is how I prepared it.

Ingredients

• 1 cup bulgur wheat (available in bulk food stores)
• 2 cups water
• 1 cup milk
• 2 eggs yolks
• Mulberries (or raisins, or your choice of fruit)
• Seasoning (mace, nutmeg)
• Your choice of sweetener
• Oxo cubes (only required for savoury version)

Preparation
Sweet Version

• Boil the bulgur wheat in the water until it is soft
• Remove from heat and let stand for 15 minutes to thicken
• Whisk the egg yolks with a tiny bit of the milk
• Stir in the rest of the milk, fruit, egg yolks, seasoning and sweetener and gently reheat but do not reboil

Savoury Version

• Make 4 cups of beef stock using 4 Oxo cubes in water
• Boil the bulgur wheat in the stock until soft
• Remove from heat and allow to thicken
• Season with ground white pepper or cayenne and Worcestershire sauce

John's Notes
What does it taste like? I would describe the sweet version as similar in flavour and texture to oatmeal. The egg yolks add a hint of custard. I didn't have any rum in my kitchen so I made an alcohol free version (my wife is very relieved to hear that) but rum is definitely, by tradition, an essential ingredient.

I found dried mulberries at my local bulk food supplier. They taste delicious but they are extravagantly expensive. Substitute whatever small soft fruit your prefer; raisins and sultanas work well in this recipe.

The savoury version would have been the entire meal for the Saxon peasantry. Instead of beef stock it might have been prepared using mutton (old sheep), rabbit or whatever other meat was to hand. I made mine as an accompaniment to an excellent vegeterian curry upon which my lady and I dined in the castle this evening.

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