
Baking Bread with the Romans: Part II – Panis Quadratus - samclemens
http://tavolamediterranea.com/2017/09/05/baking-bread-romans-part-ii-panis-quadratus/
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Isamu
> Now, we can debate whether these sections were made by a knife, by a cutter,
> or by twine but it is difficult to determine this from the carbonised loaves
> that have been excavated. It is probable that bakers may have used twine to
> define each of the eight sections of the panis quadratus but it does seem
> like a fairly intricate and tricky job to complete, requiring knots or loops
> at eight junctions on the twine that encircles the loaf horizontally.

I really think that scoring the loaf after raising (their method) looks
nothing like the either the carbonized loaf from Pompeii or the fresco shown.
What they look like is more akin to sectioning with something blunt, either
with twine or a piece of wood.

Not to cut the sections, but to divide them so it can be pulled apart easily
without a knife. It would be undesirable to actually cut the "skin" of the
loaf. Then as they suggest, wrap twine around the circumference to pull it
back together. The result would be more like a batch of rolls that can be
pulled apart.

It makes sense they'd want to sell a loaf that can be easily eaten without a
knife. Just scoring the loaf as they show doesn't give you a loaf that tears
apart, the scores end up being just decorative and bakers do that to avoid a
split when it bakes.

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lostlogin
I was also thinking about the marks and it doesn’t stack up - the
circumferential one in particular though. Why would a baker tie a string
around their loaf randomly - bread made up a far greater part of everyone’s
diet until quite recently (basically until the modern Chorleywood process
fully industrialised it, making it far less appealing). Making the job harder
isn’t in anyone’s interest. That Pompeii loaf recreation looks more like 2 on
top of each other when compared to frescos or the preserved one. Old style
flour had next to no gluten so you wouldn’t expect much rise. It seems more
likely that bread was risen in a basket or in a cloth of some sort that had a
string around it. It could have been made upside down too, and so the pattern
was on the plate/tray it was risen in and then turned over when put into oven.
This is a standard way of patterning bread - bannatons are the current name.
Both the fresco version and the recreation look delicious.

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phjesusthatguy3
I had to look up the Chorleywood process[0] because I had never heard of it,
and it turns out I probably haven't ever had bread made using it. Is it any
worse than American mass-produced bread? It sounds like it was designed to
work with the quality of wheat grown, rather than anything else.

[0][https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chorleywood_bread_process](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chorleywood_bread_process)

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Spooky23
It’s like a more bland wonder bread. Truly awful stuff.

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rwmj
Really there are two products. Bread, and white-sliced bread, the latter made
by the Chorleywood process and having only a vague resemblence to the former.
The white sliced stuff has its uses though - toast, sandwiches, egg soldiers,
bread and butter pudding, bread sauce, and other bread puddings.

Just don't confuse it with real bread and you'll be fine!

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larsiusprime
I'm surprised there's no mention of Byzantine Prosphora as a comparison. It's
an ancient breadmaking tradition, Roman in origin, and still in widespread use
today in Eastern Orthodox churches.

Although it doesn't have the eight slices of Panis Quadratus, it does have the
distinctive ridge in the middle, formed by taking two circular discs of dough
and pressing them together with a stamp.

This seems to me at least as likely of a theory for the ridge in the middle,
as wrapping a bit of twine around it solely for the purpose of making the
indentation.

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mrob
See also the English cottage loaf, make by stacking a smaller ball of dough on
top of a larger one and pressing them together:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cottage_loaf](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cottage_loaf)

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mjb
I find it remarkable how that bread recipe wouldn't be at all out of place in
a modern book. 60% hydration is a little lower than most craft bakeries are
using, and 1% salt is also on the low side, but they are very much in range of
what a local bakery might do with their spelt sourdough loaf. Similarly the
proving schedule isn't unusual.

Maybe that's not surprising - there aren't really that many ways to make bread
- but it's interesting how old these recipes are.

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maxerickson
Isn't the recipe just an attempted recreation?

In that case it would be informed by modern practice.

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atomi
That's all I thought about when reading this. The methods are all modern and
the bread pictured would be a marvel to bread makers in Roman times.

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saalweachter
I think the two biggest modern differences that would affect the quality of
the bread would be (1) modern flours are probably way more consistent than
ancient stone-ground flour (and don't contain rock dust/grit) and (2) the oven
will keep a much more consistent temperature.

I'd have to imagine slap-and-fold is a pretty old technique, even if why it
worked would be as mysterious as the leaven itself.

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lostlogin
On the down side for us, decent bread gets made at very high temperatures.
Those Roman ovens would beat any standard kitchen appliance by a mile. A wood
fired traditional bread oven holds heat very well and gives a very even bake
at high temperatures too.

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ilamont
This article made me recall a high school Latin class excerpt about status in
ancient Rome. At a party the high-status guests would get to lie or sit on
higher couches and eat "snow white" bread, while the low-class guests received
the hard loaves.

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kevin_thibedeau
The carbonized examples are clearly fully sectioned instead of just being
slashed.

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bemeurer
Am I the only one who read "Breaking Bad with the Romans" and was really
confused?

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majewsky
"Baking Bread" is a common anagram for "Breaking Bad". Google Images finds
some nice mashups.

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mullen
Servus Brokus

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trynewideas
Some background music for your reading:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQAIoSC3kAQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQAIoSC3kAQ).

