Cooking the Libro Novo

Now that I have done two background posts on what I am doing, why, and how, I suppose I should write at least one post about the actual recipe redaction and cooking. I have actually created good versions of several of the recipes, and fed them to others with positive results.

Perhaps I should start at the beginning, and talk about one of the first recipes in the Libro Novo. Though I will not be cooking straight through the book in order, I feel that starting here with this one appropriate.

There are very few bread recipes from the Middle Ages and Renaissance available today. There are several reasons for this: It is assumed that everyone who cooked knew how to make "the staff of life", so recipes were not recorded for bread. There is also the baker's guilds who were tightly governed, and held their knowledge very close. The fact that every peasant made bread, but every peasant didn't read was another factor. Cookbooks were created for Noble households, not for common folk.

The fact that the recipe section of the Libro Novo begins with four bread recipes is significant. The original publisher even used a different type face when he set the book. Bread was important.

Brazzatelle de Latte, e Zuccaro ("Bagels" of Milk and Sugar) is a truly wonderful recipe. Whether they are actually bagels or not is a question which may never be answered. They certainly do not taste or have the dense texture we associate with today's bagels. The cooking technique, though, is the same. Make a dough, form it into rings, allow them to rise, boil them, then bake them. These rolls turn out large and soft and sweet and rich. They are made with milk and sugar and seasoned with rose water, sometimes with the addition of anise.

I have learned that allowing them to rise too long before boiling has a negative effect on the finished product; they get soggy, and do not bake well. This is not too likely to happen when making a batch for home, but when making multiple batches to feed 200 it is a pitfall. I'm sure it would have worked better if I had had the staff that Messisbugo had at his disposal at the Ducal estates.