Friday, April 28, 2006


charming

"well, if you're an old-fashioned body. . ."

long-time readers know i'm big fan of elizabeth david's books (i'm not alone in this), including her book on bread. you may recall this is where the recipe for the irish shooting cake comes from.

so as i was looking around recently for bread recipes, i found a charming bit of oral history.

here's a woman born in 1890 describing how she made traditional english white, whole-wheat (whole-meal), and raisin bread in a wood-fired oven. the cheerful, elderly speaker -- i imagine this is how dickens' miss flite must have talked -- has quite a strong accent to my american ears, but with careful listening i can make out her method.

it starts with a clean bowl! if you've read david's bread book, you will recognize these recipes immediately.

it's quite a testament to david's accuracy -- you'll even hear the strange, old-fashioned measurements, like a "quartern" of butter. and the bread sounds as if it would be delicious.

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posted by fortune | 10:00 PM | top | link to this | email this: | | | 2 comments