how do I prepare and cook leavened bread?

[Robson Valley]

The impurity signatures match for Haida Gwaii.
The Haida traded and raided as far south as Oregon.
Huge cedar ocean-going canoes.

Confusion: from Haida Gwaii to the mainland, say Prince Rupert, is just 100 miles of sea.
Then the lengthy overland trek begins.

Would those copper mines you mention have been accessable 1,000 years ago?
The Haida beat the copper into sheets, fused together, large enough to be breast plates denoting great wealth.
I use copper inlay in many of my wood carvings as symbolic of prosperity.

 

[santaman2000]

The impurity signatures match for Haida Gwaii.
The Haida traded and raided as far south as Oregon.
Huge cedar ocean-going canoes.

Confusion: from Haida Gwaii to the mainland, say Prince Rupert, is just 100 miles of sea.
Then the lengthy overland trek begins.

Would those copper mines you mention have been accessable 1,000 years ago?
The Haida beat the copper into sheets, fused together, large enough to be breast plates denoting great wealth.
I use copper inlay in many of my wood carvings as symbolic of prosperity.

That makes sense. TBH I don't know how accessible the current mines would have been 1000 years ago. Most of them were discovered in the 19th century though; before modern industrial equipment so I suppose there were deposits relatively near the surface at one time?

Just offering possibilities; not asserting opinions. Definitely not claiming anything to be a fact.

 

[Toddy]

Tom, while I mind; the Vikings in their home ranges were often aceramic, and made use of serpentinite, soapstone, etc., to carve out their cooking vessels.
Makes a lot of sense when trying to biscuit dry pottery before firing is often difficult in the North.
However, we can still get Serpentinite and there's some sitting beside the pond in my back garden just now.
Cuts with a pocket knife ( or good flint ) and a rasp, or just scoured round and round on a harder stone, to shape it.
Polishes up beautifully, and it takes heat very well indeed too.

Happy to somehow or other get some to you, but Britannicus Stone sell it too...thinking on it, they might well be helpful in sourcing the stuff for bakestones too....

http://www.britannicus-stone.co.uk/britannicus-stone-stones/green-serpentine/

atb,
M

 

[Robson Valley]

Those examples of trace element fingerprinting fascinate me.
At the same time,there's great reluctance to reveal the exact locations
of the prehistoric source mines. I've been taken to one flint deposit and that's it.

You can still find the name Queen Charlotte Islands on maps.
In recent years, the Haida decided that they didn't want the White Man's name for their home, any more.
So they put it in an elaborately carved, kerf-bent box and took it to our national
capital, Ottawa. There, in out parliament with great ceremony, they gave it back!

If you're up for the challenge, carve and steam a kerf-bent box.
Those were waterproof, often used for cooking or as blanket storage boxes.
I can cut 4 of the 10 corner kerfs that I know of but can't get the steaming right.
Maybe I'm impatient.


I worked in the midden where the knife had been found.
The museum's best guess was that the ravine contained no less than 20'
of bison bone, smashed into postage stamp-sized pieces.
Cutting meat (bison) with an obsidian blade is on my bucket list,
I buy a side of 2yr old bison each winter.

 

[Toddy]

Incidentally, the serpentinite carves not just the 'pot' but a fitted lid too. Makes a kind of non-metallic Dutch oven

M

 

[tombear]

Mary! It's sites like that that get me into trouble! At some point I'd certainly like to have a go at working soap stone and serpentinite but there's no hurry as i have so much on the cards already. Ill certainly like to snaffle a bit at some point, thanks!

I'm wondering if that old wash basin stand top out side may be Red Serpentinite. When its not raining buckets I will drag it in and have a good look. A I said elsewhere its a shame I'm hopeless at geology. They even threw me off the geophysics subsid course and that was just held in the geology building!

Getting back to bread and baking I've got a local low end antique shop, same place I got the amber pipe stem, looking for the distinctive iron pots they used locally for baking on the bakestones. I've seen them before , when I didn't know what they were of course, and they don't go for much. Also the low iron trivets did turn up quite often, before I decided I wanted one of course, and usually for peanuts, far less than the skilled folk here can make them for. Less than they would cost to post to be honest! I've a rather fine folding leg one from one of our brethren here I use with the comedy size frying pan I got from Oz but I'd like a low fixed one for using on the hearth.

ATB

TOM

 

[Toddy]

Wouldn't be surprised; after the Queen and Prince Albert toured the area and admired the serpentinite, it became highly fashionable.....and the Victorians were nothing if not industrious
That's exactly the kind of thing that it was used for.

I have a stash of old cast iron post and the like that just aren't getting used. I really need a clear out

atb,
M

 

[tombear]

It's still pelting it down so the stone tops staying where it is! It reminds me I still need to wash / scrub the giant stone mortar we dug up out back, oops. When its dry we still need to do a proper sweep with the metal detector to see if there's anything else to dig up.. I dream of finding a early cast iron pot that's still usable

In the meantime back to painting tiny little white dots onto a a big black cloth for a the lads to play a spaceship wargame on. Took me two days to sew the bias binding on the edges...

ATB

Tom

 

[Robson Valley]

There are many "soapstone" deposits all across Canada, some only recently developed.
I've carved some steatite soapstone, you can work it with a hand saw and a screw driver.
"Soap" is right = fantastically slippery dust which gets into everythng.
Our serpentine is somewhat harder and thus would be much more effective in daily use.
Neolithic Stone (Vancouver BC) online has many pages of stones and modern tools to look at.

Don't be too quick to wash and scrub the mortar = there may still be fragments of plant material
stuck in the stone surface which could be identified. OTOH, I recognize the "thirst" that museums have
for zealously collecting such things.

 

[petrochemicals]

Yup I think the idea of 'cup' measurements is a good idea, as I do not carry scales either, and have long ago scratched cups and measurements into my mug. I suppose though as others have pointed out densities of flour and egg sizes vary. And without a kitchen, and oven there are more than a few variables.

This is an attempt



Increased quite a bit in size (only about double) using yeast. A bit burned. Still damp. I think the mixture was too wet.

Also thanks for all the input

 

[Robson Valley]

Please continue with the experiments. That's an encouraging result.
I'll guess that your dough needed a longer rise time.
For yeast breads, the dough needs to double in volume for both the proof and the rise.
I bake large breads at 375F for 43 minutes down to 325F x 25 minutes for baguettes.

I had no mentor when I decided to try to make bready things other than pizza crust.
Had to watch some Youtubes to see how to knead the dough!
Believe that I might have wasted 4kg/10lbs flour in the process.
For bush use, I'd weigh and measure everything into a plastic bag.
Warm water, a stick and a bowl to make a boule and bake.

 

[petrochemicals]

thanks for all the help. Heres the end result


first i mixed it with double yeast; and left it by the fire to rise, which it did: then i naiveley just stuck it over the fire; which caused more smoke from the bread than the fire; but the bread rose again, so it was about 4 times the size andpushing the lid off: it was also seared to the frying panwhich let me tilt the fryingpan verticle and use a sideways cooking motion:. When cooked (or over cooked) i i flipped the bread anddried the already charred side, and it was cooked, or charred. A bit more diligence from me and it would have been perfect:

 

[Robson Valley]

Youre' very close to an excellent result. I don't remember how much dough, doughy bread and burnt bread I tossed before I got it right.
There's an experience thing that they don't put in books, not even in Wayne Gisslen's text "Professional Baking". Huh. That's the textbook
used in the Cordon Bleu Culinary schools everywhere. I confess that I learned very little to answer my questions.

I suggest the following = after the first rise, squeeze out the bubbles, mash it up well and knead it a little a second time. This makes a finer texture
and a better crumb. Let it rise again, then bake it. That was one Hello of a fire as I can see from the bottom.

British author, Richard Bertinet, good writer and a fine volume of inspiration: Dough: Simple Contemporary Bread. ISBN 978-1-904920-20-5
Monkey-see, monkey-do on rainy days. Have not upscrewed yet.