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 food was served at medieval feasts? ›
Medieval Banquet Foods & Drink
A potage, stew, and more meat dishes, including quails and larks, together with a jelly, sweet curd, and egg fritters formed the third course that again concluded with a sotelty. The preferred drink at medieval banquets was wine, drunk either pure or diluted with water.
What is the history of peasant bread? ›
In the past, peasant bread was made with what was available to the farmers who were considered poor. These farmers managed the whole process of growing wheat, milling flour, and baking bread.
What is medieval bread called? ›
Medieval Bread - Clapbread, Pandemain, Wastel, co*cket.
What kind of bread did they eat in the Middle Ages? ›
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.
How to create a medieval feast? ›
Preparing the Feast
To replicate a peasant meal in medieval times, simply serve your guests a large bowl of gruel, a watery mixture of grains and flour that was drunk rather than eaten. Or… maybe not. If you prefer something a bit more substantial and celebratory, consider roasting a whole pig, goat, or deer on a spit.
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 did medieval royalty eat for dinner? ›
Food for a King
Dishes included game, roasted or served in pies, lamb, venison and swan. For banquets, more unusual items, such as conger eel and porpoise could be on the menu. Sweet dishes were often served along with savoury.
What were medieval finger foods? ›
Easy medieval finger foods include bread, apples, hard boiled eggs, tarts filled with meat, cheese or fruit (or a combo of these), and other small food items.
What did they eat for dessert in medieval times? ›
English sweets included many types of cakes, custards, and fritters such as funnel cake. They used strawberries, apples, figs, raisins, currants and almonds.
MEDIEVAL BANQUETS. Banquets during the European Middle Ages were often given on such important ecclesiastical feast days as New Year and Pentecost. But the greatest ones for which we have records were given for weddings and the coronation of kings or installation of bishops.
What was the most common bread in the Middle Ages? ›
Wheat could only be grown on good soil, so it was usually only the lord of the manor who ate white bread. Maslin was the bread eaten by most people. It was made from wheat and rye flour mixed together. Rye was used on its own to make a darker loaf.
What is clapbread? ›
: oatmeal cake clapped or patted out thin and baked.
What is the oldest known bread? ›
The 8,600-year-old bread was found at the Neolithic archeological site of Çatalhöyük, a UNESCO World Heritage site, at Cumra district in Konya, Turkey. Sign up for CNN's Wonder Theory science newsletter.
What did medieval bakers use to make bread? ›
Maslin was the bread that most people ate which was (most popularly) mixed with both wheat and rye flours. Rye flour could be used as a standalone as well which produced a darker loaf. These types of breads were most popular among the lower class.
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 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.
