The bread trencher

[Woods Dweller]

The trencher of bread is a thing of the past. Many, many, many years ago Bread trenches was a comon bowl or plate used by all people at one time.

When king and Nobel men would put on a feast, the Royalty would eat from a bread trench were many flavored foods with herbs & spices would have been eaten from. Latter these bread trenchers that would have been soaked full of these flavored foods herbs & spices would have been pasted out to the peasants in order to give them a taste of the herbs & spices that only the royalty could afford.


These days it is made to be eaten, but if you want, you too can eat your stew or other meal in a plate or bowl made from bread.

You can buy a ready made loaf and hollow it out to create a bowl. Round loaves of crusty bread work best.
Or, you can make your own.

Bread Bowl Recipe2 (.25 ounce)

packages active dry yeast
2 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
7 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon cornmeal
1 egg white
1 tablespoon water

1. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.

2. Add salt, oil and 4 cups flour to the yeast mixture; beat well. Stir in the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, beating well with an electric mixer at medium speed after each addition.

3. When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 6 minutes. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 40 minutes.

4. Punch dough down, and divide into 8 equal portions. Shape each portion into a 4 inch round loaf. Place loaves on lightly greased baking sheets sprinkled with cornmeal. Cover and let rise in a warm place, free from drafts, until doubled in bulk, about 35 minutes.

5. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). In a small bowl, beat together egg white and 1 tablespoon water; lightly brush the loaves with half of this egg wash.

6. Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes. Brush with remaining egg mixture, and bake 10 to 15 more minutes or until golden. Cool on wire racks.

7. To make bowls: Cut a 1/2 inch thick slice from top of each loaf; scoop out centers, leaving 3/4-inch-thick shells. Fill bread bowls with hot soup and serve immediately.

 

[Billnpatti]

Yep, fun to make and fun to eat. Especially with a good hearty soup like potato soup or a good chowder.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

"After its importance as food, the most useful role bread played at table was as a plate, or trencher. A trencher could be made of many different materials, earthenware, wood, or metal, but well into the sixteenth century it was often made of bread. The word is derived from the French verb trenchier or trancher, to cut, and the plate was made freshly for each meal by cutting off a slice from the loaf. It soaked up gravy, and could be eaten by the diner, tossed to a favorite dog, or tidied away with all the other remains and given to the poor. A clean trencher was prepared once or twice during an elaborate meal as the table was swept clean between each course, the servants removing 'all broke cromys, bonys and trenchours before the secunde cours and servise be served."

Any man who ate his own trencher must have been particularly hungry, as the bread used was rather coarse and stale, to make it solid enough for the purpose. The flour was unbolted and the loaf itself several days old: 'trencher bred iii dayes [old] is convenyent and agreable.' The Goodman of Paris adds the information that a trencher should be 'half a foot wide and four inches high.' In texture it was close and firm enough to be used sometimes as a candle holder[/i]

From Fast and Feast by Bridget Ann Henisch

So trenchers would certainly make an interesting addition to a Renaissance or Medieval banquet. By the colonial era beginning in the first decade of the 17th century they appear to have faded away to wooden and metal plates. I've gone through about two dozen period cook books and never found a recipe for bread to be used as a trencher, nor advise on letting bread sit and go stale to be better used as a trencher.

The above recipe is a very nice bread; quite a departure from the bread used was rather coarse and stale, to make it solid enough for the purpose. The flour was unbolted and the loaf itself several days old. :wink:

LD

 

[George]

By the colonial era beginning in the first decade of the 17th century they appear to have faded away to wooden and metal plates. I've gone through about two dozen period cook books and never found a recipe for bread to be used as a trencher, nor advise on letting bread sit and go stale to be better used as a trencher.

In 18th century and earlier it was common to make a shell of hard baked dough called a standing crust, fill it and bake it, discard or reuse the crust. It wasn't intended to be eaten. It sorta served the same purpose as the bread trencher. But, food inside bread didn't disappear. Here's an excellent video of making such a dish, from a cookbook by Hannah Glass, 1774. Putting food inside other food, what we call stuffing, was called forcing at that time, and this is for 'asparagus forced in a French roll'. It would be perfect for Woods Dweller's bread bowl recipe.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8R-w0uhNGU

Spence

 

[Blizzard of '93]

interesting baked bean and bread/asparagus recipes there.
maybe they ate better at camps that we give credit for

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Well in a camp it depends on what you had for ingredients, and what you had for cooking utensils. :grin: We eat much better in camp, be it as soldiers or as hunters, than they probably did. More like in a permanent barracks or in town....

I don't know of many records where the soldiers had a nice, iron, two-quart, footed kettle with a metal lid, or a bean pot. More like a large gallon size unlidded soldier's kettle, and their knives, and maybe a spoon.

Onions, sugar, and beans?

A British Ration was supposed to be:

The complete ration in every specie is,
flour or bread 1 1/2 lb.
beef 1 lb. or pork 1/2 lb.
pease [peas - dried] 1/4 pint
butter or cheese 1 oz. or rice 1 oz.

But when the small species are not issued,
1 1/2 lb. of bread or flour,
and 1 1/2 lb. of beef, or 10 oz. of pork make a complete ration:

when nothing but flour or bread can be distributed,
1 lb. of flour or bread is a ration, as are also 3 lb. of beef, 2 lb. of cheese, or 1 1/2 lb. of rice.

Exclusive of the ration, the officers and soldiers are commonly supplied, in North America, with three pints of spruce beer each per diem, gratis.

During the F&I British General Forbes issued the following:

Eight Pounds of Beef or Five Pounds of Pork per week;
Seven Pounds of Flour baked into loaves [or previously cooked biscuit] per week;
One Pint Rice in lieu of one pound more flour per week.

IF you were a Continental Soldier you got much worse.

True, one doesn't have to be a soldier, AND during the summer and fall the soldiers could forage, could buy fresh food to supplement their ration, and one doesn't have to play a poor soldier or poor civilian, as I am sure the leaders of a hunting party or military officers fared much better at table. They could, of course, lug around more supplies and gear to cook.

IF you really want good eating, down to the lowest man in the pecking order...

ROYAL NAVY!

:thumbsup:

LD

 

[Karl Helweg]

I was just complaining last week about reenactors eating off paper plates here since one of our favorite sites has no potable water for miles (except in the rangers' office ) I completely forgot about trenchers the "historic paper plates."
http://www.ehow.com/how_5619092_make-medieval-trenchers.html

 

[Karl Helweg]

http://www.medievalists.net/2013/07/04/bread-in-the-middle-ages/

Wroclaw Trencher Bread

In Poland, the use of trenchers was popular in the Middle Ages. The Polish city of Wroclaw kept bread laws that specified how this bread would be made. In her book Food and Drink in Medieval Poland, Maria Dembinska has used their records to recreate the recipe for this bread:

Ingredients:
8 cups (1kg) of stone ground rye flour
7 cups (875g) of stone ground spelt or whole club wheat flour
2 cups (500ml) thick beer
1 cup (250 ml) active beer barm or 1/2 ounce (14g) dry yeast proofed in 1 cup (250 ml) lukewarm water
4 cups (1 litre) water at room temperature
2 tablespoons of salt

Directions: Combine the flours in a mixing bowl. Measure out 7 1/2 cups (950g) and put this in a large work bowl or bread through. Combine the thick beer, yeast and water. Add this to the flour and stir to create a slurry. Cover and let stand overnight until foamy. Combine the salt with the remaining flour, and stir down the slurry. Add the salted flour to the slurry and knead into a ball of dough on a well-floured work surface. Knead for at least 20 minutes, vigorously striking the dough from time to time with a bat or long rolling pin to break down the glutten. Set aside, cover, and let the dough rise until doubled in bulk. When it is fully risen, knock down and knead again, breaking it with a bat or rolling pin as before. When the dough is soft and spongy, mold it out into 9 or 10 round loaves (each about 12 ounces or 375 g to allow for water loss during baking). Cover and let the loaves rise in a warm place until they are roughly 6 inches (15 cm) in diameter.

While the loaves are rising, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (250 degrees C). When the loaves are fully risen, set them on a greased pizza sheets and cut a small sign of the cross or some other preferred pattern into the top of each loaf. Set the loaves in the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Then reduce the temperature to 375 degrees F and finish baking the bread for 10 to 20 minutes or until it sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom. Cool on a rack. Do not cut the bread until it is room temperature.