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My theory is that the baker would use ready-made circular nets, made of a rim and four pieces of string attached to it and at their center where they cross. Th
by seszett 9y ago
My theory is that the baker would use ready-made circular nets, made of a rim and four pieces of string attached to it and at their center where they cross.
Then they would simply lay the net on the dough before letting it rise or before baking it. The bread expanding sideways when rising would first hold the rim into place and make the straight strings taunt, which would then leave their mark on the bread.
No slow and complicated tying, no unexplained lateral groove, and an easy way to ensure that each loaf is the same size while also making convenient slices.
- mrob 9y agoThere would still be slow and complicated tying (and untying), because if the rim was permanently closed then there would be no way to remove it from the finished bread without destroying it. It's not visible in the carbonized bread, or the fresco, so we know it wasn't left in place, and it seems unlikely that an individual net was made for every piece of bread.
- seszett 9y agoTrue, but it seems almost sure to me that the rim groove is connected to the transverse ones on the burnt bread[0] which completely rules out the (already unlikely in my opinion) scoring with a knife. Then look at this picture[1], there the loaves have a lot more sections, and that seems completely impossible to tie by hand for each piece of bread. However, they could be ready-made and with just one opening on the rim, to tie before laying on the loaf (which would be easy, and could be done during off-time when waiting for the dough to rise or other loaves to bake, for example) and to untie after baking to allow removing the net. Maybe. [0] http://tavolamediterranea.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/IMG_9675.jpg http://tavolamediterranea.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/IMG... [1] http://tavolamediterranea.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Roman-Bread-Baking.jpg http://tavolamediterranea.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Rom...
- abecedarius 9y agoI like the way you're thinking. What sort of string would survive baking? I just looked up http://www.4thegrill.com/butchers-twine/ http://www.4thegrill.com/butchers-twine/ and it says cotton and one-time use. I thought cotton was not used in Europe at the time (though I'm not sure) and I'd guess it'd be expensive at their tech level to not reuse it.
- saalweachter 9y agoHmmm, would it actually be twine? I'm thinking some sort of plant stalk, straw if you could tie it or bind it. (I'd guess straw's too brittle but it'd be readily availability if you're producing grain.) I'm thinking, it doesn't have to be very strong, and if you can't reuse the twine anyway...
- abecedarius 9y agoMight be fun to try! (Not me, I'm gluten-sensitive.)
- lostlogin 9y agoThere would have been very little gluten in that bread - look at the rise. Additionally, something about soughdough reduces the effect of the gluten on those that are intolerant. Don’t take that as medical advice though...
- abecedarius 9y agoYeah, I was actually sticking to sourdough back when I still ate bread. It didn't seem to make enough difference.
- Turing_Machine 9y agoThe Romans had cotton, but it (and silk) were imported from Asia and were more or less luxury fabrics. However, they also had locally-produced linen (the classic Roman tunic was made from linen) and linen is considerably more heat-resistant than cotton. If you have a steam iron handy, take a look and you'll see that the ironing temperature for linen is higher than that for cotton.