And now, the BOOK:
Before the Baguette: The History of French Bread
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The most famous comment on the bread of the Gauls is also the most misleading. Pliny the Elder, who probably got his information second hand, wrote:
In Gaul and Spain, where they make a drink by steeping [grain]... - they employ the foam which thickens upon the surface as a leaven : hence it is that the bread in those countries is lighter than that made elsewhere.
If
it was lighter than, say, that of the Romans, it is because bread
leavened with yeast typically is lighter than that made with
sourdough, but also does not last as long.
A
casual reading of Pliny's statement might suggest that all Gauls ate
yeast-leavened bread – that is, a fine, lighter bread – and
always had. But in fact almost the opposite is true.
For
one thing, Pliny was writing of the Gaul of his time; that is, Gauls
under Roman rule. One must be very cautious in extrapolating any of
his comments to apply to the Gauls who, for centuries, lived as
masters of what is now France. Also, even in his time, his comment
almost certainly applied to a limited part of Gaul. For over a millennium, “yeast” would mean brewer's yeast, and Pliny
specifically is referring to the foam which came from early beer. But
beer was only known in certain, mainly northern, regions. Much of
Gaul at this point was essentially Roman, and the Romans often were ignorant of beer.
Above
all, many of the grains the Gauls had used in the past and some they
still used in Pliny's time simply did not leaven very well. Finds at
Acy-Romance echo others in pre-Roman Gaul:
...a wide range of grains including spelt, emmer, einkorn, barley, millet and oats. The only grain used to make bread (an unleavened naan-like flatbread) was spelt. The other grains were ground up in a mortar and eaten in preparations like porridge or soup.
(The History Blog)
The site for the French City of Sciences says “Emmer, spelt and barley were the main grains for the center and north of Gaul”. Of these, only spelt would have leavened well. A
modern writer on ancient grains says “emmer
and einkorn both have too low of a gluten amount for baking leaven
bread”
(Brhel).
Further, Pliny mentions the predominance in Aquitaine and other regions of
millet and its close relative panic, neither of which can be
leavened. (“The people of
Gaul, and of Aquitania more particularly, make use of panic”; “In
the Gallic provinces panic and millet are gathered, ear by ear, with
the aid of a comb carried in the hand.”).
Strabo, much earlier, had also
mentioned millet: “The
part of Aquitaine next to the ocean is for the most part sandy and
meagre, producing millet, but barren of all other fruits."
Le
Grand d'Aussy cites several sixteenth century sources as saying that
millet was still then
being
eaten in several regions of
France and that it was eaten as gruel.
UPDATE 2-21-2015: Another route to understanding early Gaulish grains involves the reconstruction through linguistics of Proto-Celtic words: "Crops for which Proto-Celtic words have been reconstructed include barley, oats, and wheat, which were used for both bread and porridge." (Koch) This list is not necessarily complete (other terms may simply not have survived clearly enough to be deduced), but at least suggests that these were known to some Celts (i.e., Gauls)
UPDATE 2-21-2015: Another route to understanding early Gaulish grains involves the reconstruction through linguistics of Proto-Celtic words: "Crops for which Proto-Celtic words have been reconstructed include barley, oats, and wheat, which were used for both bread and porridge." (Koch) This list is not necessarily complete (other terms may simply not have survived clearly enough to be deduced), but at least suggests that these were known to some Celts (i.e., Gauls)
Phylarcus,
in a rare description of bread in Gaul from pre-Roman times, describes it as
being “broken” (rather than torn or cut) which also suggests that
it was flat, unleavened bread.
It
is in fact very likely that the Gauls had eaten, and, under the
Romans, often still ate, more unleavened than leavened bread and even
ate their grains as gruel more often than as bread. The flatbread may
have been cooked on a hot stone (as it had been in Swiss neolithic
villages and later would be by early Scottish hunters) or under the
embers of a fire (as it long would be in parts of France).
Another
consideration complicates Pliny's account of the use of yeast. This
would have been most useful in bread made with wheat; yet cervoise is
believed to have been made with barley, another grain which does not
leaven well. So Pliny's note may refer to a region where both barley
and wheat were grown; alternately, the local beer may have been made
with wheat, though mentions of that are rare until later centuries.
If
the Gauls were not (by all evidence) very skilled bakers, they were
surprisingly advanced in agriculture, using granaries, marls, the sickle
and, at the least later, a complex threshing machine.
Gauls built their granaries on piles to protect them against rodents and humidity and used them for cereals, dried meats, dried fruits etc. In the first century B.C.E. these became less common, as grain was stocked in warehouses in oppida.
...The Gaul produced many iron tools and are credited with inventing the sickle, allowing them to harvest and store large quantities of hay. The adoption of the rotating millstone divided by 15 the time to produce a kilo of flour. The period is marked by an unquestionable agricultural revolution.
(Cité des sciences)
The Gauls also (like the Germans) used underground silos, which had the
advantage of hiding grain from the enemy during conflicts, as well as effectively preserving it. This
method was still being used in coastal areas of Africa, Spain and
Italy during the nineteenth century (Benoit).
Two
different authors also mention a complex threshing machine used by the
Gauls. Both descriptions date to after the Roman conquest, but the
fact that this apparatus remained particular to Gaul for several
centuries suggests that it was, at the least, a native Gallic
invention.
In the vast domains of the provinces of Gaul a large hollow frame, armed with teeth and supported on two wheels, is driven through the standing corn, the beasts being yoked behind it; the result being, that the ears are torn off and fall within the frame. In other countries the stalks are cut with the sickle in the middle, and the ears are separated by the aid of paddle-forks.In the fourth century, Palladius described a similar mechanism:
A vehicle is therefore made, which is borne on two small wheels : the square superficies of this is strengthened with boards, which extending to the outside may render it more roomy at the top. The height of the boards of the cart is less at the fore end: there small teeth, proportioned to the size of the ears, are set in a line, bending backwards towards the upper part. Behind the same vehicle there are formed two very short poles, like those of sedans : there the ox is yoked to the vehicle, with his head towards it, a gentle beast, which may not be apt to exceed the orders of the driver. When he begins to drive the vehicle, all the ears of corn being laid hold of by the small teeth, are taken into the cart, the straw being cut off and left; the ploughman who follows, generally directing the height or lowness of it: and thus, by going and returning a few times, the operation is performed in a few hours
The
Gauls then were sophisticated farmers, but rarely, if ever.
sophisticated bakers. Pliny's reference to yeast is tantalizing in
showing that at least some Gauls had pushed the art of bread-baking
further than the known grains would have suggested. But no additional
data has so far been found to clarify it. Nor is it clear if the
Gauls in question had always made such bread, or if this practice was
an incidental side-effect of Roman influence on the bread in Gaul, Which would be profound.
Interested in bread history? Visit The Bread History Lounge on Facebook.
FOR FURTHER READING
Pliny the Elder, The Natural History of Pliny, ed Bohn, Vol 4 1856
Strabo, The Geography of Strabo, Vol 1, 1892
Legrand d'Aussy, Pierre, Jean-Baptiste, Histoire De La Vie Privée Des Français, vol 1 1782
For Le Grand d'Aussy's texts on bread, along with pastry and sweets:
- In print: Breads, Pastry and Sweets in Old Regime France
- As an ebook: Breads, Pastry and Sweets in Old Regime France
- In Kindle format: Breads, Pastry and Sweets in Old Regime France
Benoit, Julie de Fontanelle, Manuel complet du boulanger, du négociant en grains, du meunier et ..., Vol 1 1836
"Que
cultivaient les Gaulois ? Faire parler graines et pollens …" - "Gaulois, une expo renversante" à la Cité des Sciences et del’Industrie de Paris
Brhel,
Rita, “Ancient
Grains: Wheat’s
Ancestors Are Making A Comeback” Yankton Daily Press and Dakotan January
18, 2013
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