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Author Archives: William Rubel
Making Cake from Bread Dough circa 1880
I’ve been reading the bread section from The Thrift Book: A Cyclopaedia of Cottage Management, a British book published in the 1880s. It is interesting for being written during a transitional period in home baking when bakers were shifting to tinned breads.… Read more
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Planting Wild Dandelions
I have been growing dandelions in my garden for many years. Where I live in Northern California they are green all year. When they are watered and cared for the plants produce big luscious leaves. I rarely include them in… Read more
Posted in Kitchen Gardens
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Spit Roast Bread — The Kneaded Loaf of 1823
Today, as part of my work on the glossary section of the history of bread I’m writing for UC Press, I have been researching the British Northern dialect term knodden cake, and its Standard English parallel, kneaded cake. I’m still… Read more
Writing a History of Bread for UC Press!
I would like to announce that I am now under contract with UC Press for a comprehensive history of bread. This work work, due in October 2016, expands on the history I wrote for Reaktion Books, Bread: A Global History… Read more
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Sustainable Seed Company
This is a Northern California seed company with a vision for a sustainable future which in the context of its Northern California location includes minimal irrigation. The Sustainable seed company sells seeds to both small farmers and the home gardener.… Read more
Posted in Vegetable Catalog Links
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Radio Interview
Here is my interview with Linda Pelaccio for her radio show “A Taste of the Past.” We talk about my Book, Bread, a global history, and more generally about bread in the past and bread today. Linda’s show is weekly… Read more
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Bread Talk in New York March 19!
I am giving a talk on the history of bread at the Roger Smith Hotel, in New York, on Monday, March 19. It is a joint program with the Culinary Historians of New York and the Edible Conversations Series. The… Read more
Posted in Uncategorized
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Sir Hugh Plat’s Manuscript: An English Bread circa 1560
There is one of the earliest bread recipes written in English and this is its first publication.
The recipe is found in a manuscript book mostly written by Sir Hugh Plat but as Malcom Thick points out in his book, Sir Hugh Plat: The Search for Useful Knowledge in Early Modern London, many of the food recipes, including this one, were written by an unknown author with the initials TT. Malcolm Thick believes that this recipe probably dates to the 1550s or 1560s. I am preparing these early manuscript bread recipes for publication. If you would like to be notified when this book will be available for publication please sign up for my mailing list. Continue reading
Posted in Working papers
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Candied Angelica
Like many recipes published prior to the stricter copyright laws of the twentieth century this recipe for candied angelica is found in many cookbooks. I include two version here, one from 1717 and one from 1788. They are identical but… Read more
Posted in Hearth Cooking
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A Georgian Tandoor Oven
This photograph, taken by Reaktion Books publisher Michael Leaman in Tiblisi, Georgia, very clearly shows that the top of the oven is angled so that breads stuck to its side will receive direct radiant heat from the embers or… Read more