How to Bake Ancient Roman Bread Dating Back to 79 AD: A Video Primer

Ecce panis—try your hand at the kind of loaf that Mel Brooks’ 2000-year-old manmight have sunk his teeth into. Literally.

In 1930 a loaf of bread dating to AD 79 (the year Vesuvius claimed two prosperous Roman towns) was excavated from the site of a bakery in Herculaneum.

Eighty-three years later, the British Museum invited London chef Giorgio Locatelli, above, to take a stab at creating an edible facsimile for its Pompeii Live exhibition.

The assignment wasn’t as easy as he’d anticipated, the telegenic chef confesses before whipping up a lovely brown miche that appears far more mouth watering than the carbonized round found in the Herculaneum oven.

His recipe could be mistaken for modern sourdough, but he also has a go at several details that speak to bread’s role in ancient Roman life:

Its perimeter has a cord baked in to provide for easy transport home. Most Roman homes were without ovens. Those who didn’t buy direct from a bakery took their dough to community ovens, where it was baked for them overnight.

The loaf was scored into eight wedges. This is true of the 80 loaves found in the ovens of the unfortunate baker, Modestus. Locatelli speculates that the wedges could be used as monetary units, but I suspect it’s more a business practice on par with pizza-by-the-slice.

(Nowadays, Roman pizza is sold by weight, but I digress.)

The crust bears a telltale stamp. Locatelli takes the opportunity to brand his with the logo of his Michelin-starred restaurant, Locanda Locatelli. His inspiration is stamped ‘Property of Celer, Slave of Q. Granius Verus.’ To me, this suggests the possibility that the bread was found in a communal oven.

Locatelli also introduces a Flintstonian vision when he alludes to specially-devised labor saving machines to which Roman bakers yoked “animals,” presumably donkeys…or knowing the Romans and their class system, slaves.

His published recipe (a variation of the one in the video) is below.  Here is aconversion chart for those unfamiliar with metric measurements.

INGREDIENTS

400g biga acida (sourdough)

12g yeast

18g gluten

24g salt

532g water

405g spelt flour

405g wholemeal flour

Melt the yeast into the water and add it into the biga. Mix and sieve the flours together with the gluten and add to the water mix. Mix for two minutes, add the salt and keep mixing for another three minutes. Make a round shape with it and leave to rest for one hour. Put some string around it to keep its shape during cooking. Make some cuts on top before cooking to help the bread rise in the oven and cook for 30–45 minutes at 200 degrees.

For an even more artisanal attempt (and extremely detailed instructions) check out the Artisan Pompeii Miche recipe on the Fresh Loaf bread enthusiast community.

True Roman bread for true Romans!

via Metafilter/Make

Related Content:

Cook Real Recipes from Ancient Rome: Ostrich Ragoût, Roast Wild Boar, Nut Tarts & More

Animation Gives You a Glimpse of What Life Was Like for Teenagers in Ancient Rome

Building The Colosseum: The Icon of Rome

Ayun Halliday is an author, illustrator, and Chief Primatologist of the East Village Inky zine. Follow her @AyunHalliday

source: http://www.openculture.com/2015/08/how-to-bake-ancient-roman-bread-dating-back-to-79-ad.html

Varieties for Container Gardening

February 09, 2016 Beth Ryan, Seed Savers Exchange

CHYANN OLIVER

We have previously blogged on the delights of container gardening and it has become so popular, we thought we would give you an update. Here is an all new list of varieties that work well in small spaces. The varieties we chose this year not only provide delicious edibles, they also look lovely and will brighten up small spaces.

'LOLLA ROSSA' LETTUCE

'Lolla Rossa' lettuce has beautiful magenta leaves with tiny frills. This loose leaf lettuce has a mild flavor and soft leaves. It is easy to grow.

Seed Savers Lettuce Mixture contains eight different varieties and will create a beautiful bouquet of green, red, and speckled leaves. These loose leaf varieties can be harvested multiple times.

Arugula adds a peppery bite to sandwiches and salads. It grows quickly and can be replanted multiple times each growing season. These cool weather varieties should be planted in the Spring or Fall and are high in Vitamin C.

'BULL'S BLOOD' BEET

‘Bull's Blood’ beet This variety of beet has red-purple leaves that can add to a mixed container of edible flowers, lettuce, and herbs. Grow it for both the leaves and roots - both are edible! The juice from the beets is used to make the only red food coloring allowed by Swedish law. Deliciously sweet.

‘Rhubarb Red’ Swiss chard is sometimes grown as an ornamental, but its tender, dark red stalks are not to be missed in a saute or soup. If you want to eat it fresh it is better to harvest it when the stalks are under three inches.

‘Bushy’ cucumber has a short season and vines that grow to five feet long.  It needs a very large container and can be trained to climb a trellis. This Russian variety was introduced to American gardeners by Seed Savers Exchange in 1992. The compact nature of the plant made it perfect for small gardens grown at the dachas, or second homes, of Moscow residents.

Peppers grow wonderfully in containers. Here are several varieties to choose from:

'JOE'S ROUND' PEPPER

‘Candlelight’ is a medium hot pepper that grows in beautiful clusters that ripen from green to yellow to orange to brilliant red.The bushy plants measure less than 16" tall.

‘Chinese Ornamental’ These tiny peppers grow to only a ½ inch long. The plant produces vast numbers of  hot fruits that hold for weeks on the plants, providing a beautiful display.

‘Joe's Round’ can go in a smaller pot than most other peppers. These very hot peppers grow in clusters of ¾ inch round fruits. This pepper is from the Sestito family of Troy, New York. They passed the seeds to Dr. Carolyn Male, a long time member of Seed Savers Exchange, who donated it to us.

'SILVERY FIR TREE' TOMATO

Tomatoes often do well in containers, especially determinate varieties.

‘Silvery Fir Tree’ is one of our favorites for container growing. This bright red Russian variety has silvery-gray, carrot-like foliage. The 24 inch plants produce heavy crops of round, slightly flattened 3-3½ inch fruits and can even be grown in hanging baskets!

'Cherry Roma' was introduced to SSE in 1999 by Meilie Moy-Hodnett of Maryland. It has a spicy sweet flavor and is delicious fresh or dried.

CHIVES

Lots of herbs look great in containers and they are great for feeding pollinators! Here are just a few to try:

‘Globe’ or ‘Greek’ basil grow into a 12-18 inch globe with thin leaves.

Chives have an oniony flavor and both the foliage and pink flowers are edible.

Thyme has tiny green leaves on woody stems and the plants are only 6-12 inches tall.

Marjoram grows to 12-24 inches and is great in herb blends.

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Seed Savers Exchange is a non-profit organization located in Decorah, Iowa, with a mission to conserve and promote America's culturally diverse but endangered garden and food crop heritage for future generations by collecting, growing, and sharing heirloom seeds and plants.