Manchet Breads were some of the best quality breads eaten in Medieval and Tudor Britain. Bread made of just pure, double sieved stoneground wheat was always the exception. For much of Britain’s history most bread baked was commonly made from a mixture of flour, made from various grains like rye and barley. This mixed ‘Maslin’ bread fed the lowest classes in British society and went to make the trencher’s, (edible plates). However, for the privileged few, the very finest wheaten Manchet’s, or Pandemain (lord’s bread) were baked.
Medieval milling methods were never wholly successful in removing all of the bran, even the best flour produced was an ‘off-white’ flour, rather than the pure white flour produced today by industrial roller milling. Yet this whiter manchet flour was desired by Medieval bakers because it made a lighter loaf, of finer texture. It was also more expensive because it involved an additional process and because a proportion of the grain (bran etc) was discarded, so that more grain was needed to produce the same amount of flour. Therefore, this whiter, finer bread, was a status symbol for those who could afford it. The History Of Bread Article.
Medieval Bread Yeast: Manchet Bread, unlike the Maslin Bread, would not use a sourdough starter, it was considered too common, (the added taste ‘spoiled’ the fine, high quality bread) a brewer’s yeast was used instead. A brewer’s yeast was the yeast carefully skimmed off the top of fermenting ale, after about its second day in the vat. With sugar and water added it could be kept for up to a week in a jar, and it was sold by the Brewer’s wife. Later on Manchet Bread would sometimes be sweetened by bakers using the addition of ingredients such as rose water, nutmeg and cinnamon.
Other bread recipes on this site include Maslin Bread or Dyett Bread
Note On Baking: You might want to bake this Medieval Manchet Bread recipe in a bread tin, to make convenient bread to toast etc. (we sometimes do) so you should understand the following first: Bread baked in pans or tins of uniform shape and capacity was a relatively late development in culinary history, (although it does seem to have been a British invention) certainly they were in use by the 1700’s, if not before.
An authentic Medieval bread would have been round and domed shaped with a flat bottom, (from having been allowed to rise before baking) and be baked on a bakestone or the flat floor of a bread oven without it being in a tin – each loaf would have commonly been made by using around 4lb of flour (1.9kg). The recipe below is just over a third of that, triple everything in the ingredients if you want to make it the same size.
Note On The Flour: The best flour to use in this authentic Manchet Bread recipe is a traditional stoneground flour, rather than a modern roller milled flour, (stoneground bread flour is now quite common to purchase). In Britain you can still purchase flour produced by traditional local millers who still operate surviving wind and water mills and produce an ’80%’ extraction stoneground white flour. Article on Medieval And Tudor Flour.
Common Mistakes When Making Bread:
- Using ‘fast acting’ yeast intended for bread machines.
- Leaving the yeast activating in warm water too long so it is exhausted before use.
- Adding in too much extra flour when kneading.
- Not kneading enough, kneading too much. 7 minutes of fully committed kneading is perfect.
- Not giving enough time for the dough to rise to double its original size.
- Not allowing the dough to rise for a second time after knocking it back.
- Baking the bread at too low a temperature, not pre-heating the oven.
All The Ingredients Needed To Make Manchet Bread
Manchet Bread Recipe
Recipe Ingredients:
- 520g plain white bread flour – unbleached stoneground (plus extra for dusting etc.)
- 150g wholemeal bread flour – stoneground if possible
- - – (or use 650g of traditonal 80% extraction plain stoneground white flour from an artisan miller)
- 1tsp of salt (sea salt ground)
- 450ml of warm water (1 part boiling, 2 parts cold)
Raising Agent
- either – 15g of dried yeast & 1 tsp sugar (make up according to instructions)
- or – 30g of fresh yeast & 1 tsp of sugar (make up according to instructions)
Recipe Method:
Yeast Raising agent:
Dried Yeast: If using dried yeast as a raising agent – in a small bowl or jug pour in half the warm water, (250ml) dissolve in the sugar, and sprinkle in the yeast and whisk it thoroughly. Leave to sit for 10 minutes in a warm place to allow the yeast to start to work. Check to see if the yeast is rising. After about 4–5 minutes, it will have a creamy and slightly frothy appearance on top. Do not allow the yeast to sit longer than 12 minutes before using, leaving it too long will exhaust the yeast before it is in the dough. When ready, stir and pour in all the remaining warm water 250ml.
Fresh Yeast: You need twice as much fresh yeast as dried yeast and you must use it in half the time after activating it. Make in exactly the same way as above.
Make The Manchet Bread
Into a large mixing bowl sift in the flour and sprinkle over the ground sea salt, (mix the ground salt in well with the flour, so it does not interfere with the yeast when added) then make a well in the centre. Add the yeast water into the well and bring the flour and water together into a dough with a knife, wooden spoon, or your fingertips
Add some more plain white bread flour (if needed) until you form a firm dough which you can knead, it should still be on the ’sticky’ side, but not so that it is difficult to remove from the bowl. You are looking for it to be springy and elastic. Take the dough out of the bowl and onto a flat floured work surface.
Start kneading the dough to make your Manchet Bread for 7 minutes (kneading dough is a ‘push-pull’ technique to break the gluten and starches down in the flour). If sticking to the work surface sprinkle over a little extra flour, it will probably need a few casts of extra flour over the 7 minutes, but do not over do it. When ready it will become satiny and when pressed with a finger tip the indentation in the dough will rise back out. Form the dough into a large ball, place it back in the bowl, cover with a light cloth in a warm room until it has almost doubled in size – this could take up to 2 hours (depending on the temperature of the room).
After the dough has almost doubled in size, knock it back, punch it once to remove the air out of it. Remove the dough, knead once more on a work-surface for one minute. Shape the dough into a ball, place on a greased, (with a little butter), non-stick baking tray, or into a loaf tin (see below). This can be one large ball, or several smaller ones to make individual rolls. Leave to rise once more for a further half an hour.
Preheat the oven to 230°C/450°F/ gas mark 8.
After half an hour use a sharp knife to make a shallow cut all around the side at the bottom of the dough and cut a cross into the top. Place the oven tray into the pre-heated oven and bake for 10 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 200°C/400°F/gas mark 6 and cook for a further 40min, or until your bread looks nicely browned and sounds hollow when tapped. Remove the Manchet Bread and leave to cool.
Medieval And Tudor Manchet Bread
