Medieval Walnut Bread

Italiano Today we prepare a medieval walnut bread, selected from Anonimo Veneziano, an anonymous 14th-century Venetian cookbook. It is an aromatic and spiced bread, seasoned with many spices, onion, and fresh herbs, intended for a banquet, not as a common people’s everyday meal. We know from the sources, both medical and culinary, that there were many kinds of bread during the Middle Ages, made with wheat, millet, barley, with or without leaven. Unleavened bread, prepared also by ancient Greek and Romans, was considered more difficult to digest than well-leavened white bread. In this recipe, as common for ancient, medieval and Renaissance recipes, the author says nothing about the leaven, but it is probably a leavened bread, seasoned and then shaped like a fugaza: focaccia. Otherwise, with this method, the outcome would be an indigestible, heavy preparation, unlikely for a dish meant for noble people. We chose to use sourdough, one of the most used leavening since the Antiquity. Another leavening used by ancient Romans and possibly survived during the Middle Ages, as described by Pliny and Palladius, was prepared with grape must mixed with bran or wheat flour and dried, but in the Antiquity people also used as a starter the bread dough conserved from the previous day. We suggest pairing this bread with a meat dish, for example, roast lamb, chicken with fennel flowers, quails with sumac, or tripe. Enjoy! If you want to know more about historical pasta, read our book Early Italian Recipes. Cereals, bread, pasta, and pies, where you will find historical information about cereals and their preparations from the Antiquity to the end of the Renaissance, with 114 recipes for pasta, bread, pizza, pies, and more, newly translated and explained. If you are interested in late-medieval cuisine, we recommend Libro de la Cocina. Medieval Tuscan Recipes and Registrum Coquine. A medieval cookbook. To learn about the transition between ancient and medieval cooking, check out De Observatione Ciborum, written by the physician Anthimus to the king of the Franks Theuderic. If you are interested in recipes for vegetables from the Antiquity to the beginning of the Modern Era in Early Italian Recipes. Vegetables, fruit, herbs, and flowers available in English and Italian. For information about ancient cuisine, read Ancient Roman Cooking. Ingredients, Recipes, Sources. Moreover, full translations of historical sources and articles on ancient and medieval cooking are available on Patreon. To support our work, you can buy us a beer or purchase our merchandise. Ingredients white wheat flour sourdough walnuts 1/4 onion white cane sugar spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, black and long pepper, ginger, cinnamon leaves) fresh herbs (mint, rosemary, thyme) sea salt Method Prepare the dough, mixing the flour, sourdough, two pinches of sea salt with warm water until it reaches a smooth and elastic consistency. Let the dough rest for at least one hour in a warm place. Meanwhile, prepare the other ingredients. Pound in the mortar the spices and a bit of sugar, then add the ginger, peeled and minced, and the grated onion. Now, you can add the walnuts. Mince finely the fresh herbs and mix them in the mortar with the walnut paste, grinding everything together. When the dough is well leavened, flour and roll it into a sheet. Coat it with the walnut paste and knead mixing all well. Form a round bread and flatten it. Let the bread rest for 15-20 minutes, then put it in the oven for about 20 minutes. When it is done, let it cool for a while and serve. Spices and aromatic herbs The medieval author recommends using sweet and strong spices for this recipe. Luckily, in the same cookbook, we find the recipes for both the mix of spices. Sweet spices, wrote the anonymous author, are cloves, ginger, cinnamon, and cinnamon leaves; strong spices are instead cloves, nutmeg, round pepper, and long pepper. Clearly, you don’t need to use all of them: you can choose some spices from the one and the other spice mix according to your taste. The author says nothing about what kinds of fresh herbs we have to use, just that we need to choose good herbs. Basing on other recipes, we selected mint, rosemary, and thyme, but you can use the aromatic herbs of the Old World you prefer: marjoram, savory, sage, bay leaves, lesser calamint, dill, cilantro, pennyroyal, oregano, and others. Original text Pane de noxe maravigliosso e bone. Se tu voy fare pan de noce, toy le noce e mondalle e pestale, e toy de herbe bone e un poco de cevola gratà e specie dolze e forte e uno pocho de zucharo, e miti in lo mortaro con le noxe e fa pastume. Poy toy fior de farina e fane un folglio a modo de lasagne grande e largo e sotile, e miti questo batuto suso, e muolzilo tuto insembre e falo a modo de uno pane, e poy lo caricha ch’ el vengna sotille a modo de una fugaza; metilo a choxere in lo forno, e quando l’ è cocto, trailo fuora e laselo afredare. Translation Marvelous and good walnut bread. To prepare walnut bread, shell and pound the walnuts [in the mortar]. Add in the mortar with the walnuts good herbs, a little of grated onion, sweet and strong spices, and a little sugar to make a paste. Prepare a dough with white flour and roll it into a big, large, thin sheet as you do when you make lasagne. Spread the walnut paste on the dough, then knead everything together preparing a bread. Afterward, flatten it to make the bread as thin as focaccia. Cook it in the oven and when it is done, remove from the oven and let it cool. Buy me a coffee Patreon Medieval Tuscan Recipes Playlist Ancient Roman Recipes Playlist Ancient Greek Recipes Playlist Medieval Recipes Playlist YouTube Channel Merchandise Books Early Italian Recipes. Cereals, bread, pasta, and pies Libro de la Cocina by Anonimo Toscano. Medieval Tuscan Recipes Early Italian Recipes. Vegetables, fruit, herbs, and flowers De Observatione Ciborum by Anthimus. Early-medieval recipes at the court of the Franks. Registrum Coquine by Johannes Bockenheim. A medieval cookbook Ancient Roman Cooking. Ingredients, Sources, Recipes Translations of Historical Sources De Agri Cultura by Cato – first part (2nd century BCE) De Re Coquinaria by Apicius (Ancient Rome) Apicii Excerpta by Vinidarius (5th or 6th century) De Observatione Ciborum by Anthimus (6^th century) Appendicula de Condituris Variis by Johannes Damascenus (8th or 9th century) De Flore Dietarum (11th century) Tractatus de Modo Preparandi et Condiendi Omnia Cibaria (13th or 14th century) Liber de Coquina – first part (14th century) Enseignemenz (14th century) Opusculum de Saporibus by Mainus de Maineris (14th century) Libro de la Cocina by Anonimo Toscano (14th century) Anonimo Veneziano (14th century) Registrum Coquine by Johannes von Bockenheim (15th century) Libro de Arte Coquinaria by Maestro Martino – parts 1-4 (15th century) Recipes Tuscan Chicken Soup with Unripe Grapes Early-medieval Kohlrabi Stew Tuscan Fried Leek Rings Pork Ribs Tuscan Pancakes with Wild Flowers Hop Shoots Shrimp – Savore de Gambari Orange Frittata – Fritata de Pomerantiis Tuscan Soup with Hen and Florence Fennel The diet of the Franks – Celery Root and Beef Stew Tuscan Fish Cakes – Salciccie di Pescio Tuscan Stew with Pork Belly and Rutabaga Pork and Onion Soup Tuscan Radish Soup The Diet of the Franks – Endive and Pork Jowl Tuscan Fried Meatballs The Diet of the Franks – Chicken Stew Castagnazzi Renaissance Stuffed Cucumbers Pork Roast with Cherry Sauce Renaissance Fried Tomatoes Herbolata The Diet of the Franks – Beef Stew Fried Chicken Soup Beef Roast with Garlic Sauce Bread Soup Salted Meat and Peas Baghdadi Rice Cream Chicken with White-Pepper Sauce – Piperatum Album Indian Chickpeas and Meat The Diet of the Franks – Pork Stew Chestnut and Mushrooms Lentils with Oregano and Watermint Egyptian Bread with Pistachios and Almonds Veal with Fennel-Flower Sauce Pork Roast with Green Sauce Eggs Poached in Wine Brodium Theutonicum Crispellae – Pancakes with Saffron and Honey Brodium Sarracenium – Chicken Stew Fava Beans and Pork Erbe Minute – Meatballs with Herbs Lettuce and Pork Soup Zanzarelli – Egg and Cheese Soup Turnip and Beef Soup for Servants Cheese Pasta – Vivanda Bona Gratonata – Chicken Stew Chickpea Soup with Poached Eggs Apple Fritters Hippocras and Claretum – Mulled Wine Pastero – Pork Pie 10th-century Goat Roast – A Langobard at the Court of the Byzantine Emperor Romania – A Recipe Between Arabic and Italian Tradition – Medieval Chicken with Pomegranates Emperor’s Fritters Medieval Pizza – The Origin of Pizza Roast Chicken with Salsa Camellina Sweet Rice Afrutum or Spumeum – 6th-century Byzantine recipe A Medieval Breakfast – Wine, Carbonata, and Millet Bread Salviata – Eggs and Sage Tria di Vermicelli Cabbage Soup Frittelle Ubaldine – Pancakes with Flowers and Herbs Saffron Cheesecake Drunken Pork – Early Medieval Pork Stew Medieval Monk’s Stuffed-Egg Soup Apple Pie Onion Soup Gnocchi Lentils and Mustard Greens Chicken soup – Brodo Granato Turnip Soup Beans and Bacon – Black-Eyed Peas Prawn Pie – Pastello de Gambari Foxtail Millet Polenta and Spit-Roasted Goose Beef Stew Blancmange Leek Soup Quail Stew with Coconut Chicken Pie Ravioli Almond Cream Red Mullet Soup Spit Roast Beef with Arugula Seeds Walnut Bread Lasagna Tripe Fried Fish Roast Lamb with Green Sauce Clams Sweet and Sour Sardines Trouts with Green Sauce Lamb Stew Quails with Sumac Chicken with Fennel Flowers Sea Bream