Rose Petal Bread

August is bread time. Bakers give lessons in geometry by baking round breads, square breads, ovals, rectangles, trapezoids, and figure eights. The rainbow's colors are mixed with delicious fragrances in red rose-petal bread. Golden-orange saffron loaves, yellow lemon bread, green parsley bread, blue thistle bread, indigo plum bread, and purple violet bread. Whimsical animal bread represent monkeys, elephants, and dragons. Architectural bread sculptures are castles and multi-decked war ships. Special molded breads depict Eve in the Garden of Eden or Roman noblemen or a king of a foreign land. Celestrial breads are stars, sun, moon, and a mechanical clock showing the planets in orbit. And almost every bake shop or street vendor sells pretzels, some salty, some sweet with raisins and glazed with honey. Breads honor Lammas Day, (Lammas means "loaf mass") and it is marked by a church celebration blessing grains and breads, and offering thanks to God for a good harvest. (p 73)

2 packages active dry yeast [make sure the yeast is fresh]
2 cups warm water
6 tablespoons honey
7 cups unbleached white flour [idealy bread flour. Bread flour makes a superior loaf].
1 teaspoon coarse salt [or 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt]
6 whole eggs, plus 1 egg yolk
1 cup [dried] currents, softened in warm water
6 tablespoons melted butter [sweet butter, aka unsalted butter]
butter for greasing bowls and cookie sheet
1 1/2 teaspoons dried rosemary
1 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
[few drops of "rose essence" **READ NOTE BELOW!!]
1 cup chopped rose petals (between 1 and 2 dozen red roses)

**READ NOTE BELOW!!
several drops red food paint, prepared as the medieval baker would, in advance [optional]

My discussion about ingredients:

Dr. Cosman put this caution on her recipe, "NOTE: It is adviseable to obtain roses, either from a florist or a garden, that have not been sprayed with pesticides." p120.

I repeat YOU MUST GET ROSE PETALS "THAT HAVE NOT BEEN SPRAYED WITH PESTICIES" !! I suggest you get the roses from an organic gardener, an organic herbalist, or grow them yourself using organic methods to grow them. I orignally bought dried red and pink rose petals from Still Ridge Herbs in Ellicott City, MD on Main street and I asked if they were "Food Grade" explaining that they would be used in cooking. The shop in Ellicott City is closed, but there is also a Still Ridge Herb Farm at 2426 Solomons Island Road Annapolis, MD 21401. (410) 841-2639.

I advise against buying roses from a florist. Most florists do not sell food grade flowers.

Since I bought dried rose petals, I added several drops of "rose essence" which can be found in many Indian grocery stores. It is distilled from rose petals; cooks in India use rose essence to flavor beverages and desserts. It is similar to food grade rose water, only it's far more concentrated.

The "2 cups warm water" does not mean hot water. The water should feel comfortable if you put your finger in.

If you cannot locate a box of dried currents, raisins can be used as a substitute. Currants are actually a small form of grapes, specifically dried Black Corinth grapes. Black raisins are the closest substitute for currants, but one can substitute with raisins of other colors. Raisins are dried grapes, their color depends on the type of grapes used. Raisins come in a variety of colors including black, golden, and red.

Basil represents love. The dried basil can be reduced to 1/2 teaspoon and then 1 teaspoon dried thyme cam be added; faeries are said to love thyme, if you are baking this with faery-spirits in mind.

I never made "red food paint, prepared as the medieval baker would." I simply omitted the coloring. If you wish, add a few drops of modern red food coloring.

Add remaining warm water.

Put 3 cups of flour in large mixing bowl. Make a depression, or well, in the center of the flour, and add the dissolved yeast. Beat well to combine. Stir in the 3 cups flour using a wooden spoon. Beat by hand with the wooden spoon, about 200 strokes.

Cover with a damp cloth and put in warm area for 45 minutes to let the dough rise. Basically until doubled in bulk.

Punch dough down. Mix in butter and 5 of the eggs plus the yolk. Add salt. Stir in the currents or raisins.

Set the other egg aside.

In a mortar with pestle, crush the herbs. Likewise crush the cinnamon and rose petals in the mortar with pestle, and then also put in the small bowl with the herbs. Add a few drops of the Indian food grade rose essence to the bowl of herbs, cinnamon, and rose petals to make paste. In preparation, flour your hands in order to hand mix these flavorings into the dough. Gradually add the rest of the flour until the bread dough becomes difficult to stir.

Knead in the bowl with hands, blending well. The dough should have a delicate rose hue. (If you plan to add some food coloring, now is the time--but use it sparingly, the dough is at best supposed to be pink.

Add the rest of the flour a little at a time and knead it in. Reflour you hands as needed.

At this point, flour your work surface and dump the dough out of the bowl onto the floured surface. Gather the dough into a rough ball, adding more flour as necessary so your fingers don't stick to the dough.

Knead the dough. To knead, turn the dough over several times, gathering any stray particles. Fold the dough in half towards you, and push away with the heels of your hands. Turn the dough one quarter turn, and repeat this process until the dough is smooth, elastic, springy, and no longer sticky. Sprinkle more flour on the dough as you work so it doesn't stick to the board or your hands. This process will take from 5 to 10 minutes. Doughs made with bread flour typically require more kneading than those made with all purpose flours.

Knead until smooth and elastic about 10 minutes, using more flour if the dough is too sticky to handle.

Grease a large mixing bowl lightly with butter. Place dough in a buttered bowl and cover with damp cloth. Let rise about 45 minutes or until double. Place the smooth, kneaded dough into the bowl, turning it over so the top is greased as well. This step makes sure the dough doesn't dry out as it rises. Cover with a clean cloth and place in a warm spot.

Punch down, cover, and rest 30 minutes.

Punch down again and turn onto floured surface to rest 5 minutes.

Shape dough into 2 round loaves and place on buttered baking sheet.

Cover with a towel and let raise 25 minutes.

During that time preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Brush bread with remaining egg which has been lightly beaten.

Bake 50 minutes or until browned and loaf sounds hollow when tapped with knuckles. Transfer the rose-petaled bread on rack and allow it to cool.

Comments:

Read Linda Larsen Bread Making Methods acessed 9/10/12.

I've made this Medieval/Renaissance recipe in early August. In Wicca, Lammas/Loaf-mass/Lughnasadh/Festival of Bread/the Feast of John Barleycorn is the first of the three harvests. It is celebrated on August 1 and the preceding eve. The grain is cut and threshed. The bread is baked.

Bread making is an ancient art. Making bread by hand--from scratch--connects the baker to generations past. It's wonderful and nothing smells as marvelous as baking bread. Once you have made yeast bread from scratch you will better understand...

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