I think this is the first time I have shared a recipe on my blog. I usually try to stick with fiber art and artists, but my family and I had such a good time with dinner tonight that I am compelled to share.My youngest son is in the fourth grade and right now he is studying the middle ages. We decided that this weekend we should have a medieval feast! I love some of the stories and sayings that have come from this time period, so we tried to incorporate those into our experience.
For example, dishes like our roast chicken were often served on a mess. Mess was the bread under a meal that would absorb the meat juices and keep them from running out on the table. The mess was not eaten, so at the end of the meal, you had to clean up the mess!
Tonight we ate our meals out of trenchers which is the hollowed out bread loaf you see in the picture. No forks and knives. They were not commonly used. Tonight we ate with our fingers. The kids loved it! In medieval times the trencher would have probably sat on a mess, but I decided to only make one mess (I used pizza dough) and use it as a platter for our roast chicken.
The goblet is filled with mead. When I lived in Virginia, I used to do a lot of craft shows. I became friends with a potter and had her make these goblets for me. My husband is a mazer. All I can say to that is YUM! It's so awesome to be able to say, "Hey Honey, let's have a glass of mead tonight!" With our medieval feast we enjoyed a 2 year old Blueberry Melomel.
To the right of my goblet is our Rose Petal Bread made by my husband and my son. (I helped a little.) Today we often use the words "upper crust" to refer to socially important people. This saying actually came from medieval times. The first course in a feast was a loaf of artfully decorated bread. The decorated top crust of the bread was carved off first and served to the most important noble at the high table. My son, Sir Westen, received the upper crust this evening.
Candle light, Celtic music and a vase of roses rounded out our experience. It was the most fun we've had at a family dinner in a long time. I think it was even more special because we all chipped in and helped to make the feast. At the end of the meal, each of the kids shared three facts about the middle ages. We toasted their knowledge and off they went!
I know, I know. What about the recipe? Here it is! It's called Rose Petal Bread and the recipe comes from the book Knights and Castles by Avery Hart and Paul Mantell.
Rose Petal Bread
You will need:
1 package of active dry yeast
1.5 cups lukewarm rose water
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons salt
3-4 cups flour
Cornmeal and butter
Food Dye
1 egg white
To begin, make the rose water by simmering rose petals in a small amount of water. Remove the petals.
In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast in the rose water. Stir sugar, salt and some flour into the yeast. With clean hands, knead the dough. Add more and more flour until it won't take anymore.
Push the dough around on a floured board. When the dough becomes smooth and elastic, cover the bowl with a clean cloth and go play for an hour!
When you return, the dough will be bigger. Punch down the dough, and divide in half. (we made ours into one larger loaf) Form each half into a circle, oval, heart or long loaf. Place the loaves on separate buttered baking sheets that are sprinkled with cornmeal. (We just placed ours on a silicone baking mat on top of a cookie sheet.)
Next comes the art part. Mix a food color with a little bit of egg white to make "paint." Paint vines, leaves, flowers or any other art on the top of the loaves. (my son chose blue food coloring. We painted the whole top of the loaf and then decorated with rosemary and chives.)
Bake in a preheated oven for 40 minutes at 400ºF. Delicious!
FAQs
It was made by grinding cereal grains, such as wheat, millet or barley, into flour, then kneading it with a liquid, perhaps adding yeast to make the dough rise and lighten, and finally baking.
What did medieval people eat with bread? ›
Peasants, on the other hand, often ate their coarser black bread with raw apples or cheese for breakfast or a working lunch in the fields. [9] [See Breughel unit.] The staple food for the broadest section of society at the main meal was a soup or stew — the French potage — made of beans and/or game.
How to make a medieval banquet? ›
Offer your guests bowls of dried fruits such as cherries, apricots, dates, and figs, and others filled with walnuts, almonds, and hazelnuts. Serve trays of medieval cookies from Italy studded with almonds, or fruit-filled tarts. Throughout your meal, keep your guests well supplied with medieval grog.
How did medieval people get yeast for bread? ›
Researchers speculate that a mixture of flour meal and water was left longer than usual on a warm day and the yeasts that occur in natural contaminants of the flour caused it to ferment before baking. The resulting bread would have been lighter and tastier than the previous hard flatbreads.
What were bakers called in medieval times? ›
The French term boulanger, began to appear in the 13th century and refers to someone who makes loaves of bread and bakes them in their oven. The first forms of fermented and baked bread appeared in Egypt. The process of making such bread was passed on to the Greeks and then the Romans.
What are 3 medieval foods? ›
Food & Drink in the Medieval Village
Everyday food for the poor in the Middle Ages consisted of cabbage, beans, eggs, oats and brown bread. Sometimes, as a specialty, they would have cheese, bacon or poultry. All classes commonly drank ale or beer. Milk was also available, but usually reserved for younger people.
What was the most popular main meal in medieval times? ›
The findings demonstrated that stews (or pottages) of meat (beef and mutton) and vegetables such as cabbage and leek, were the mainstay of the medieval peasant diet. The research also showed that dairy products, likely the 'green cheeses' known to be eaten by the peasantry, also played an important role in their diet.
What's for dessert at medieval times? ›
- Dessert in the Middle Ages corresponds to the third or fourth course before leaving the table with:
- -sweet dishes : pudding, tarts, crustards, patties, wafers, doughnuts, pancakes, marzipan cakes (almond cakes), compotes, creams and fruit cooked in hyppocras.
Medieval Bread - Clapbread, Pandemain, Wastel, co*cket.
What did poor people eat in medieval times? ›
Barley, oats, and rye were eaten by the poor while wheat was generally more expensive. These were consumed as bread, porridge, gruel, and pasta by people of all classes. Cheese, fruits, and vegetables were important supplements for the lower orders while meat was more expensive and generally more prestigious.
During the Medieval times, many of the cheeses we know today were being made by monks in the monasteries – Brie de Meux, Epoisse, Comté (along with other less well known cheeses like Marroilles, Blue de Gex, and more).
What food would be served at a medieval banquet? ›
Medieval Banquet Foods & Drink
King Richard II gave a banquet for the Duke of Lancaster which featured venison, frumenty, and a meat potage first, then an assortment of roasted meats from boars heads to pigs and swans, followed by a sweet custard, and a surprise dish (sotelty).
What was medieval bread like? ›
Horsebread was a type of bread produced and consumed in medieval Europe. At the time, it was considered to be of low quality, made from a seasonal mix of legumes, such as dry split peas, and bran along with other non-wheat cereal grains such as oats, rye, and acorns. It was one of the cheapest breads available.
What did they drink in medieval times? ›
What did medieval people drink?
- Water–Yes, people drank water in the Middle Ages! ...
- Milk–among the Celts and later the Welsh and English, milk was drunk as well as eaten in great quantity as cheese, butter, cream, etc. ...
- Wine–Wine was drunk all over France and the Mediterranean where grapes were grown.
Horsebread was a type of bread produced and consumed in medieval Europe. At the time, it was considered to be of low quality, made from a seasonal mix of legumes, such as dry split peas, and bran along with other non-wheat cereal grains such as oats, rye, and acorns. It was one of the cheapest breads available.
What were the ancient methods of baking bread? ›
The ancient Egyptians are credited with developing the first leavened bread (made of yeast to rise) around 3000 BC. They discovered that mixing flour and water together and leaving it to sit for several days would cause wild yeasts to start fermenting, resulting in a risen dough.
How was bread originally made? ›
The first bread was made in Neolithic times, nearly 12,000 years ago, probably of coarsely crushed grain mixed with water, with the resulting dough probably laid on heated stones and baked by covering with hot ashes.
How did Egyptians bake their bread? ›
Ancient Egyptian bread was probably a type of sourdough. The experiments recreated show how bread for the pyramid workers was baked in clay pots (bedja moulds). Dough was placed in pots set in hot ash, with heated lids on top, forming individual 'ovens' to bake the loaves.
