Food The Inn at the Crossroads (medieval cooking blog)

ace0spades · Aug 6, 2011

For fans of HBO's "A Game of Thrones" or George R. R. Martin's fantasy drama series A Song of Ice and Fire comes the Inn at the Crossroads cooking blog. Our household has been devouring both the book series (I'm part way through book five) and the TV show (epic Sean Bean ftw), and we were delighted someone took the time to bring George R. R. Martin's love of food into the real world.

Here's the link to the blog.

My favourite recipe so far:

The fresh baked bread (it's simple and awesome)

Ingredients:

3 cups of water

1 1/2 Tablespoons of Coarse Salt

1 /1/2 Tablespoons of Yeast (2 packets)

1-2 Tbs. honey

6 1/2 cups of all purpose flour

Flour to dust dough ball

Run your tap until the water is warm, just about body temperature. If it is too hot, it will kill the yeast.
Add the yeast and honey to the water and mix it up. Don’t worry if all the yeast does not dissolve; it will finish mixing in the flour. At this point, add the flour and salt and begin working into the mixture. You can use a spoon, but will probably have to dig in with your hands to finish the job.
Shake some extra flour out on the counter. To knead the dough, dump it out onto a clean, floured countertop. Knead for around 5 minutes, pushing with the heel of your hand, then gathering the dough back into a lump. Add a little flour at a time as needed if the dough is too sticky. Knead until the dough becomes one big mass; You will know when the dough is ready by poking it: if the dough bounces back, you’re all set.
Now place your dough into a clean bowl, cover with a towel, and let sit in a warm place for about 2 hours. You can also let it rise overnight by putting it in the refrigerator, where it will rise more slowly. You can even let the dough sit in the fridge for a couple of days, at which point it will begin to take on a slight sourdough taste.
Once your dough has at least doubled in size you are ready to form it into loaves. Divide the dough into thirds. This is the only time you really handle the dough. You need to pull it down to form a ball, tucking all the ends in at the bottom. The ball should be semi smooth.
Now place this on a baking sheet and allow to rise for about 40 minutes. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.
Before putting the bread in the oven, dust the top with a bit of flour and make some light slices into the dough for that artisan look. You can make the loaves any shape you like, although a larger loaf will take longer to bake
One final trick to a nice loaf of rustic bread is to make the crust crusty. To achieve this, fill a second baking dish or a broiler pan with water and place it under the rack where your bread will go. The steam from the water adds a nice crunch to the loaf. Place your risen loaves in the oven, close the door, and bake for around 30 minutes to start. The crust should have a dark brown color, and the loaves should sound hollow when you tap them.
You will be tempted to break into the hot bread, but if you can stand to wait, it will give the bread a chance to really settle into perfection. Serve the bread sliced, plain, with seasoned olive oil, honey, or your favorite butter.

Click to expand...

The key with this recipe is to not over-knead the bread. Five minutes was a bit long for me, I just knead it till everything is uniform and the bread is springy. It. Is. Amazing...

CinnamonGirl · Oct 1, 2011

I love this blog, but I have yet to make anything on it... maybe I'll try the lemon cakes recipe soon

Baraka_Guru · Oct 1, 2011

I'm reminded of actual medieval cookbooks, of which I looked at whilst studying Chaucer in university.

As an example, below is a recipe for "flampens" from the Fourme of Curye.

I'm quite amazed at how many recipes are basically fish in white sauce, so here is one with pork.

For to make flampens.

Take clene pork & boyle hit tendre
& thanne hewe hit smale, & thanne
bray hit smale in a morter, take
fyges & boyle hem tendre in smal
ale and bray hem & tender these ther
with, thanne waysche hem in water and
thenne bray hem alle to gider with
ayroun, thenne take poudour of peper
or elles marchaunt & ayroun & a
porcioun of safroun & salt, & thenne
take blank suger & ayroun & flour &
make a past with a rollere, thenne
make ther of smale peletes & frye
hem browne in clene grece & set
hem asyde, than make of that other
del of that past long coffyns & do
that comade therinne & close hem fayre with
a countour & pynche hem smale a
boute, thenne kitt above four other
wayes, thenne take every of that
kittyng up, & thanne colour hit
with yolkes of ayroun & plaunt hem
thicke in to the flaumpeuns above
ther thou kittest hem & sette hem in
an ovene & lat hem bake eselich
& thenne serve hem forth.
Click to expand...

Levite · Oct 2, 2011

Great find. Historical recipe recreation is one of my hobbies.....

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Food The Inn at the Crossroads (medieval cooking blog)

ace0spades Slightly Tilted

CinnamonGirl The Cheat is GROUNDED!

Baraka_Guru Möderätor Staff Member

Levite Levitical Yet Funky

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Food The Inn at the Crossroads (medieval cooking blog)

ace0spades Slightly Tilted

CinnamonGirl The Cheat is GROUNDED!

Baraka_Guru Möderätor Staff Member

Levite Levitical Yet Funky

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