As you may have noticed, the text before you is an exquisitely vibrant shade of pink. And, as all of our many, many devoted bloggowers (that's a hybrid of blog and followers- see what I did there?) will know, this means that this particular post is coming directly to you from me. Angela!
Today marks a monumental occasion because it is my first ever blog post in this or any blog. So I hope you all feel excited to be privy to such a historical moment. I am just coming off a night spent awake and in the composition of an English essay, so you will have to forgive me if my post becomes incredibly flowery or nonsensical; it is a product of over-tiredness and years of catering to the tastes of English professors.
There is not a huge amount of useful information to relay as our project remains in quite preliminary stages. Although don't think that will stop be from relaying useless information.
I, at least, have observed that finding articles and books specifically about making bread ovens are few and far between. The amount of material on bread and milling, while more substantial, is still not all that overwhelming. I guess this means I will have to conduct a more exhaustive search. *sigh* Also, I keep coming across titles that sound AMAZING. I read along, getting more and more excited as I go (at least as excited as one can get when perusing scholarly articles about bread on a Friday night...), an then encounter ONE word that just throws the whole article out the window. Allow me to paint the picture:
I, at least, have observed that finding articles and books specifically about making bread ovens are few and far between. The amount of material on bread and milling, while more substantial, is still not all that overwhelming. I guess this means I will have to conduct a more exhaustive search. *sigh* Also, I keep coming across titles that sound AMAZING. I read along, getting more and more excited as I go (at least as excited as one can get when perusing scholarly articles about bread on a Friday night...), an then encounter ONE word that just throws the whole article out the window. Allow me to paint the picture:
There I sit, scholarly and demure - who am I kidding? There I lounge in an old rugby jersey and sweats, in bed and surrounded by a mess of papers and books that I can't be bothered to organize because when you're taking two three-week courses simultaneously tidiness and zealous efforts to sit at a desk tend to be some of the first things to go. Somewhat discouraged by the fact that I can't google "bread" and have a plethora of useful links pour onto my screen, I continue my search while deflecting texts from friends like, "Y rn't u coming out 2nite?" "Let's go dt!?" - who am I kidding? It's one person, he probably just wants to watch a movie, and I don't really believe that anyone actually texts like that. I continue perusing. Oh, this one looks good! "Medieval Bread in Scotland." But to my horror and dismay I lack the authority, or security clearance, or something to access this article. Gee, thanks Google Scholar! When suddenly a line of texts catches my eye. How wonderful does this sound? An article entitled, "Bread, grains, and society: and essay on the staff of life in medieval...IRAQ." Damn. Alright, so the search continues. Oh, here's a good one: "El amor y el erotismo en la literatura medieval." You had me at "erotismo," but WAIT WHAT? How can an article written in Spanish about love and eroticism possibly be the SIXTH hit in a search for "medieval bread"!?
As of now, my most promising resources are as follows:
- "Baking for the Common Good: A Reassessment of the Assize of Bread in Medieval England" by James Davis
"Wheat-Growing and Flour-Milling" by
- There is also something I have only seen in other people's lists of citations and book reviews so far, but its elusive nature and continuous, tantalizing references to it through the literature lead me to believe it is the Holy Grail of bread scholarship (which clearly places me the in role of Sean Connery from the third Indiana Jones movie, which is okay by me but means I'm going to need to work on the accent): Flour for Man’s Bread; A History of Milling by John Storck and Walter Dorwin Teague
Looks like this is going to call for a trip to good old McPherson. Hopefully I don't wind up in an exploding sewer full of rats, pursued by Nazis, but it would make for an exciting blog entry. And, hopefully the rest of Team BOB is having greater success in their search for sources.
In other news, I am just realizing that what we SHOULD have named our team was Team BYOB. That's team Bake Your Own Bread...obviously...
Well now I'm off to continue with my school work - who am I kidding? I'll either end up watching Rookie Blue and thinking of more bread-related humour that only I find funny, or passing out immediately. This concludes today's edition of "The Great Bread Experiment." Hold on to your hats, because we're just getting started.
xoxo A
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