I had some made and used them when baking the 30 pounds of "hardtack" for the Castra Lafe event. I experimented with stamping first, before baking, or stamping when I turned the bread over, and when the final product cam hot from the oven. The best was to stamp the bread when it was being turned over, still soft, and then bake it more to set the stamp. I didn't experiment with "branding" the bread, maybe I'll do that next year.
Greetings,
an old nursery rhyme comes to mind.......
Pat a cake, pat a cake bakers man
bake me a cake as fast as you can.
Pat it and prick it and mark it with a B
and put it in the oven for baby and me
I believe this originated from the days when communial ovens were used for baking and loaves and cakes were marked with the initials of those who supplied the flour or made the order.
regards
Arthes
I saw a documentary today about coptic monasteris in Egypt.
They stampled bread with awooden stamp before backing it.
So it can be sone.
Kind regards
it can be done before baking. my grandma used to use a wooden stamp with olive oil brushed over so it wont stuck. They call that ''christopsomo'' means bread of Christ.
Propably there are other methods also although this is the most simple and its working. Some stamps had really complicated designs. lets not forget that the homemade bread with pure ingredients is behaving alot diffrently than the mass production ones in our cities today. It doesnt only tastes different but its becomming crums alot easier. Plus its more ''thick'' in a way.
I've actually seen this done at a bakery in Mt. Athos.
A wooden stamp is used. The dough is allowed to raise to it's final height. I don't know how dense or what kind of raising they are using but the bread isn't too thick at this point. It's brushed with oil, then stamped quickly and then thrown into a very hot oven. I suspect that this must have something to do with it. Perhaps it "sets" it quicker if it's baked at a higher temperature.