Bread & Grain Storage

[Nerva]

Nerva - that ain;t bread, that's a work of art LOL!! Seven and half hours...did you eat it? :lol:

Yes I did, but I must have lost 3 teeth in the process :lol: I think milling is best left to the professionals :oops:

Vale,

Nerva.

[M. Demetrius]

2 hours to rise the dough

Try adding a spoon of honey to the mix and watch the yeast go into overdrive. It takes the sugar to fuel the yeasties, and the gas they produce makes the bubbles. Ever think of bread as being full of yeastish flatulence? Well, there you go. :lol:

[Ron Andrea]

Eating bread will never be the same. :lol:

[Astiryu1]

Mead Loaf comes to mind. :lol:

[Ron Andrea]

But baking evaporates the alcohol. And alcohol is the whole point of mead, isn't it? :?

Probably tasted better than baked yeast flatulence anyway. Besides, as DB pointed out, waiting for yeast to do their thing takes time. And where does our intrepid legionnaire get honey on the march?

Soldiers are pretty creative. I suspect they tried all many of tricks to keep their bread edible. Probably varied with region, season and unit.

[M. Demetrius]

And where does our intrepid legionnaire get honey on the march?

From the Honey Ursus, duhhh. I'd suspect that honey could be acquired from local villagers along with the grain. They used honey in all kinds of dishes, not just breads. A honey/white wine sauce goes well with all sorts of foods.

[Astiryu1]

Honey is a normal additive to oatmeal and such and a natural sugar that keeps for a long period of time. I would carry some with me on the march to add to my water or whatever else as I also drink it with tea and coffee though I doubt they were a Roman drink. :wink: Honey would be a trade commodity though visions of Winnie the Pooh dressed in Roman armor isn't the least funny image! :lol: You could have a small glass bottle to carry right?

Though this thread is about bread and grain storage I am trying not to get too far off topic

[Nerva]

Salvete Omnes!

I must say I find the image of Winnie the Pooh pushing Honey hilarious!!! We must of course remember that virtually all ancient leavened bread was sourdough, cultivating yeast was not an ancient technology. To make a starter sugar was an essential component but that does not mean sugar in the form of Glucose, Fructose was just as good. That means that and Fructose bearing fruit can be crushed and use to feed a starter colony, as could honey.

Valete,

Nerva.

[mcbishop]

To make a starter sugar was an essential component

I make mine with just flour (spelt) and water, nothing else, except perhaps a little love (and I think that is fairly normal amongst sourdough bakers). Goes like a rocket, no sweeteners necessary ;-) )

Now some honey in the dough is a different matter...

Mike Bishop

[M. Demetrius]

You're right on both counts, Mike. The starter uses wild yeasts from the air. You only have to replenish it with more water/flour as you need to increase the volume.

But as you say, the sugar (from whatever source) really makes the dough puff up.

[mcbishop]

You're right on both counts, Mike. The starter uses wild yeasts from the air.

Well, they're useful little chaps. I used to (and will again) make cider ('hard cider' in the US) using just apples. All fermentation courtesy of wild yeasts. Ever wondered why the Romans introduced the apple to Britain? One day I shall write a paper on how cider use in the late Roman army led to all the great cider traditions in Europe :-) ) ... just not yet.

Mike Bishop

[Epictetus]

Also, a makeshift earth oven can be made from a few flat stones, some earth, and a little knowhow. So yes, they would have been able to bake fresh bread if they had a time to prepare, or if they were camped for a few days in one place.

I hesitate to bring this up because of the source ( :wink: ), but what do you make of this?

Meanwhile an Egyptian slave was carrying bread around in a miniature oven of silver...

Petronius, The Satyricon, 6.

I know Trimalcho's feast is probably as far away from a legion eating on the march as one can get, but were there small, portable ovens of some sort? Doubtless if they existed for the army they wouldn't be of silver, but the technology would be simple enough I presume.

If a cooking appliance of some sort were readily avaiable, or if they made the makeshift oven as David proposed, carrying grain would probably be better than loaves of bread.

[Ron Andrea]

Yes, yes. Those are all correct for a couple people on a tramp through the country, but a legion an the march could hardly have bought honey or fruit along the way, any more than it could have hunted for game. The whole idea of each legionnaire carrying three days food was to avoid wasting time foraging and cooking.

Hence, the original question: how to best package his rations so they stayed edible, if not fresh for at least those three days?

[M. Demetrius]

Waxed soft leather is reasonably water resistant. I use that to keep my charcloth dry from moisture (won't work if you fall in the lake, though). Pottery jugs were often waxed shut, amphora-style, right? But a guy carrying six ounces of hard tack doesn't want to put it into a one pound jug...I don't think they had oilcloth, but they might have. Not olive oil, probably, but there are other oils that stay fresher.