BREAD

What is a meal without bread? At the Deacon Graves house, Natalie is known as the bread baker, so she dove right in with the receipt from W.M The Compleat Cook, 1658. Cathy and Natalie have both been to my workshops before, so I carefully picked bread they had not made, Cheese Loaf.

The dough needs to rise twice, so it was important to start this right away. Cheese bread dough is a bit shaggy, and you do not want to overwork it. Natalie took the sticky dough and put it on the bread board while we cleaned the bowl.

With the bowl clean, the dough was put back in and put by the fire with a damp towel on it so it could rise for an hour and a half. Everyone took turns turning the bowl and the dough rose nicely. Natalie took the dough out and it seemed a bit too shaggy, so more flour was added.

The dough was placed by the fire, was covered, and needed to rise another 30 minutes. Once again, they were turned and checked, this time by Lynn.

The cheese bread was popped into the oven, and, after 40 minutes, we rapped on the top and it sounded done. There is nothing like the aroma of hot bread right out of the oven. The shaggy dough produces a loaf of bread with a very moist center and light crust.

POTATOES

In the 18th century, white potatoes was a startling novelty, frightening to some, bewildering to others. However, its popularity rose, and soon receipts were being added to cookery books. One of my favorite receipts is that of Elizabeth Raffald in the Experience English House-keeper, 1769. “To Scollop Potatoes.” If your mind is conjuring up visions of bubbly hot, dark-crusted slices of potatoes with onions and cream you’re mistaken. The surprise is in the name.

I have a great many scallop shells for baking sea food dishes and I picked out a few for our workshop.

When the potatoes were boiled and soft, they were drained at the pantry sink. Mary put them in a large wooden bowl and added butter, cream, salt and pepper and began mashing them until all the lumps were gone. Like many cooks, sometimes you want to think out of the box, or receipt, so to speak. The gals chopped some parsley and added it to the mix. Lynn scooped out the mashed potatoes with her bare hands and followed Raffald’s directions that said “… put them into Scollp’d Shells make them smooth on Top, score them with a knife, lay thin slices of butter on the top….” .  After cleaning off her hands, the shells went onto a tin and went into the bake oven. The bake oven was starting to get a bit cool so when the 15-minute baking time was up they were not as brown on top as were would have liked, yet they were cooked. I suggested we get Allan’s blow torch out, however, we thought better of that and let them be.

The scalloped potatoes had a very velvety texture and the herbs and spices transformed them to epicurean heights. What a great way of serving something so simple. The scallop shells added refinement to the lowly potatoes served on the plate.

Sandie

“Learn how to cook – try new recipes, learn from your mistakes, be fearless, and above all have fun!”

 Julia Child