Italian Pastries of the 16th Century – at the cutting edge of gastronomy

Long before the molecular chefs of Spain, nouvelle cuisine of France and before the cuisine of 17th century France became the high class cuisine worldwide Italy was where it was at.  Many of the techniques later refined and popularized by the French had their beginnings in the kitchens of Italian nobility.  The most comprehensive cookbook from this period is Opera dell’arte del cucinare (Master work on the art of cooking) by Bartolomeo Scappi (1).  This huge tome is divided into six books and comprises over 1000 recipes.  What we are going to do today is work with recipes for pastry dough from “Libro Quinto, Delle Paste” (book 5 on pastry).  In his own words “ vi vengo à mostrare (come potrete vedere) l’ordine che vè necessario tenere, in fare diverse sorte di pasticcio, crostate, torte & altri lavorieri di pasta cotti al forno, sotto il testo & fritti.  One is showing to you (as you may see) the order it is necessary to hold to make many types of pastries, tarts, cakes and other works of pastry cooked in the oven, underneath a lid (a way of cooking over coals) and fried.  

In today’s class we are going to work through, redact and bake several different pastry recipes from Scappi.  To make it easy Scappi has provided instructions for all his pastry types.  Where possible these recipes will be compared to modern pastry recipes.
1    Pastry for Pies
2    Pastry for Tarts
3    Pastry for Cakes
4    Pizze
5    Venetian fritters

1    Pastry for Pies

This first section “pasticcio” contains pies similar to the early medieval coffins. Mostly whole meats/cuts/birds are encased in a simple flour and water dough and baked.  

Per far pasticcio di lingua di boue in sfoglio (pg 335)
Piglisi la lingua del boue fresca, & facciasi perlessare in acqua, & sale, fino a tanto che sia ben cotta, & cottta che sarà cavisi, & gli si levi quella pelle che ha sopra, & lascisi raffreddare, & spolverizzisi di pepe, garofali, canella, gengevero, noci moscate, & sale, & la quantità delle spetierie sarà second il giuditio; & piglisi farina di grano setacciata per setaccio chiaro, di modo che in esso setaccio non resti se non la semola, & impasitis con acqua fredda senza sale, perche impastandola con acqua calda, & con sale, se lievido, & facilmente crepa, & non è cosi buona, massime l’Estate, ma l’Invernata, quando sono quelli gran freddi, basta che l’acqua habbia perso il freddo; Perche tanto gli nuoce il troppo freddo, quant il troppo caldo; Et impastata che sarà, rimenisi sopra una tavola per ispatio di mezz’hora, & spugnisi con i pugni, overo si gramoli, fino a tanto che la pasta habbia del pastoso, & del sodo, & d’essa pasta se ne facci un sfoglio tondo, d’altezza d’un mezzo ditto, & sopra essa pasta si pongano fette di lardo, larghe un palmo, & spolverizzisi il lardo, & lo sfoglio delle medesime spetierie sopradette, & mettasi la lingua sopra il lardo, con altretanto lardo di sopra, spolverizzato anchora esso della spetieria detta, & con acqua, overo chiare d’ova battute, si bagnerà circa il sfoglio, & si ferrerà nel mezzo la lingua, facendo in modo che la parte di sopra si venga a congiungere con quella di sotto, & venga ovata come l’ofelle, mettasi il pasticcio nel forno che sia caldo, come se si volesse cuocere il pane, & faccia cuocere, & se avanti che si ponga in forno se gli vorrrà dare il colore con acqua tinta di zafferano, sarà in arbitrio, perche dandolo con l’ova, il pasticcio piglia troppo presto il colore, ma quando la pasta sarà fatta, come ho ditto di sopra, con farina grossa, verrà assai piu colorita da se, che non sarebbe se fusse fatta di fior di farina; per tanto cotto che sarà cavisi del forno, & non havendoli dato il color prima col zafferano, o ova, ungasi subito che è cavato del forno con una cutica di lardo, che gli darà il colore, et tal pasticcio resiste piu all’aere, che non fa se fusse il sfoglio fatto di fior di farina, perche quello ch’e fato con il fiore di farina, & acqua tiepida, & sale, & grasso, stando all’aere crepa la crosta, & non è cosi bello di vista; ma volendo magnare la pasta, sarà meglio di quello di sopra.  Per tanto non volendo servire subito cavato del forno, & volendolo servire caldo, tengasi coperto con un drappo perche non crepi la crosta, & per un’hora si conserverà caldo.  Tal pasticcio si conserva la estate freddo per tre giorni, et l’invernata per otto;

To make a pie of beef tongue in a sheet
Take a fresh beef tongue and parboil it in water and salt until it is well cooked, and when it is done take it out and one shall lift the skin that it has above and let it cool.  Sprinkle it with pepper, cloves, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and salt, the quantity of the spices shall be subject to your judgment.  Take flour of wheat (this may possibly be spelt i.e. grano grosso) sifted through a clear hair sieve, in the way that in this sieve the bran is left behind.  Paste this with cold water without salt, because if you paste it with warm/hot water and with salt it will rise and easily cracks and it isn’t as nice.  Less in the summer but in the winter, when thereis a big chill it is enough that the water has taken the cold, because it is as bad to be to cold as it is to be too warm.  When it is well pasted let it rest on top of a table for the space of half an hour.  Knead it with the fist or kneading instrument, until the pastry has become soft and firm.  Of this pastry one makes a round sheet half a finger high.  Above this pastry one puts slices of lardo (see note) as large as a palm and sprinkle the lardo and the sheet with the same spices above said.  Put the tongue on top of the lardo with more lardo above sprinkled again with the said spices. With water or white of an egg beaten bathe all around the sheet and one positions the tongue in the middle.  Make in such a way that the part above comes to join with that below and becomes oval like wafers.  Put the pie in a hot oven, as if one wants to cook bread, let it cook, and before you put it in the oven if you want to give it color with water tinted with saffron that is your choice.  Because if you give it egg the pie will take color too soon.  But when the pastry will be made, as I have said above, with spelt it will become colored enough by itself, but not when it is made with flour of wheat.  When it has cooked enough take it from the oven and if you didn’t give it color first with saffron or egg grease it as soon as you take it from the oven with a knob of lardo, which will give it color.  This pie resists more in the air, that which is not made with a sheet of fine wheat flour, because that which is made with fine flour, warm water salt and fat when it sits in the air the crust cracks and it isn’t as pretty to look at.  But if you want to eat the pastry it is better than that above.  If one does not want to serve it as soon as it is taken from the oven, should you want to serve it hot hold it covered under a cloth because in this way the crust will not crack and for an hour it will stay hot.  This pastry one can keep in the summer cold for three days and in the winter for eight

What do we know?
For a more stable pastry use sifted (through a hair sieve) whole grain milled flour and cold water only.
Roll it a half a finger thick (about ¼ inch)
Bake it in a hot (suitable for bred) oven i.e. about 400 F or higher.
If you want to eat the pastry make it with the finest (white) flour, warm water, salt and fat but the pastry will sag and your pie won’t keep as long.

Ingredients
Whole wheat flour, Cold water

Method
Mix to a dough
Rest for 30 minutes, knead/work till soft and firm.
Roll out, and bake in a hot oven.

Notes
For this recipe we sifted whole wheat flour through a regular sieve, this left a lot of bran in the recipe.  When baked as a single sheet of pastry it puffed up, but when cooked was incredibly hardy, especially rolled to ½ a finger in width.  A finer sieve would make a better looking dough, but it would certainly serve it’s purpose of being period “tin foil”.

2    Pastry for Tarts

Per fare diverse sorte di crostati, de, da Napoletani detti Coppi, & da Lombardi Sfogliati; principiando alla zinna di vaccina Cap XLIX pg 350
Allessata che sarà la zinna con acqua, & sale, di modo che sia benissimo cotta, cavisi, & lasci raffreddare, et taglisi in fette sottili, & con esso altretanta sommata alessata, & dissalata, & fette di provatura fresca, & habbiasi una tortiera onta di strutto, ò di butiro, con un sfoglio di pasta alquanto grossetto fatta di fiore di farina & acqua rosa, rossi d’ova, butiro, & sale, et sopra esso sfoglio pongasene dui altri sottili onti di strutto, ò di butiro, si spolverizzino di zuccaro,  facciasi il tortiglione sfogliato intorno non molto grosso, & sopra l’ultimo sfoglio, facciasi un suolo di fette di provatura, spolverizzate di zuccaro, canella, & uva passa, & menta, & maiorana battuta, & sopra esso suolo mettasi bocconcini di butiro, & una parte delle fette della zinna, & della sommata, & cosi si verrà à fare tre suoli, cuoprendola con un’altro sfoglio, alquanto piu sottile, & sopra il sfoglio alcune liste sfogliate, tagliando con la punta del coltello caldo il tortiglione incirca, et con distrezza con la mano unta, si accommoderà la sfogliatura à onde, overo col coltello si tagliera à merletti,  pongasi nel forno, et si faccia cuocere, havendo avvertenza d’ongere le sfogliature di strutto, o di butiro liquefatto, perche meglio venghino sfogliate, et cotta che sarà servasi calda; Si potrà ponere in essa crostata dell’uva spina, overo agresto senz’anime, et anchora volendola piu amabile, avanti che si ponga nel forno, mettasi un mezzo bicchiero d’agresto charo temperato con zuccaro; A un’altro modo si potrebbe fare, coprirla solo con un sfoglio alquanto grossetteo, et in mezzo d’esso sfoglio, facciasi un buchetto, come si fa à pasticcio, et come è cotta cavisi, et mettasi in piatto, et per il buco pongasi dentro un poco di brodo tinto di zafferano, et agresto, et zuccaro, et servasi calda.

To make various sorts of tarts, by Neapolitans called cups and by Lombards layered the first of which is of cows udder. Chapter 49.  
When the udder is boiled with water and salt, in such a way that it is well cooked take it out and let it cook and cut it into thin slices, and with this as much cured pork belly boiled and desalted, and slices of fresh provatura (mozzarella).  Have ready a tart pan greased with lard or with butter and with a sheet of pastry somewhat largish made of fine wheat flour (white), rose water, butter and salt.  Above this sheet but two more thin ones greased with lard or butter and sprinkled with sugar, and make layered circles around not too large, and above the last sheet put a layer of slices of mozzarella, sprinkled with sugar, cinnamon and currants, chopped mint and marjoram.  Above this layer put knobs of butter, and a part of the slices of udder and pork belly, and this is how you make three layers.  Cover them with a last layer that is even thinner and above the sheet several strips of layered pastry.  Cut with the point of a hot knife the layered pastry circles around the edge and with careful hands grease them.  One makes the layers in waves or one cuts with a knife into battlements.  Put it in the oven and let it cook, having taken care to grease all the layers with lard or melted butter, because this helps them to separate into layers.  When it is cooked serve it hot.  One can put into this tart gooseberries, or fresh verjuice grapes without seeds.  If you want it even sweeter, before one puts it into the oven put in the filling a beaker of clear verjuice tempered with sugar.  Another way one can make it is to cover it with one somewhat thick layr and in the middle of this sheet make a small hole, as one makes for pies. When it is cooked take it out, put it on a plate, and through the hole put inside a little bit of broth stained with saffron, verjuice and sugar and serve it hot.

What do we know?
Fine flour (white), rosewater, egg yolks, butter salt.
Rolled thin, because we layer them with butter between.  Bake in the oven at a lower temperature.  We use a low amount of butter in the pastry itself as we layer with fat.

Ingredients
White flour,         Butter,             Rosewater        Salt         Egg yolks

Method
We never got around to redacting this recipe and playing with it.  Maybe sometime later.

3    Pastry for Cakes

Per fare torte d’herbe alla Lombarda Cap XCII folio 360
Taglinisi biete minute con i coltelli, & si lavino in piu acque, lasciandole scolare da se in un foratoro, perche spremendole n’escie il sugo, che è la sua bontà, & poi si pigli una libra di cascio Parmigiano, overo di Riviera grasso grattato, e libra una di ricotta pecorina fresca, overo di vacca, un’oncia tra pepe, & cannella, un quarto tra garofali, & noci moscate, quattro oncie di butiro fresco, & sei ove, & fatta che sarà la compositione d’ogni cosa, habbisi la tortiera onta di buttio con un sfoglio di pasta fatto di fior di farina, acqua rosa, zuccaro, & butiro, rossi d’ova, & acqua tiepida, & pongasi la compositione in la tortiera, cuoprendola con un’altro sfoglio di pasta cresputo, facciasi cuocere al forno, o sotto il testo, & servasi calda, se si vorrà ponere zuccaro in la compositione, & di sopra, sarà in arbitrio.

To make a Lombard style herb tart Chapter 92, pg 360
Cut beet (swiss chard) finely with a knife and wash in plenty of water, then leave to drain in a sieve, because it will give out all the juice, that is its goodness, then take a pound of parmesan cheese or that fat cheese of Riviera, grated and a pound of sheep milk ricotta, or that of cow, one ounce between pepper and cinnamon, a quarter of an ounce between cloves and nutmeg, four ounces of fresh butter, and six eggs, and thus make the mixture of everything.  Have a tart pan greased with butter with a sheet of pastry, made of flour, rose water, sugar and butter, egg yolks and warm water, and put the mixture into the tart pan, covering it with another sheet of pastry wrinkled (pleated?), put it to cook in the oven or under a “testo” and serve hot, and if one wants to put sugar in the mixture and above it is up to your decision.

What do we know?
Ingredients for the dough are similar to the previous one, but this one is NOT layered so a higher fat content is likely, in addition the dough is sugared.  Perhaps something similar to a pate sucree: 9oz flour, pinch salt, 3oz sugar, 2 egg yolks, 4 oz butter ½ tblsp orange flour water.

Ingredients
White flour            Rose water            Sugar            Butter
Egg yolks            Warm water

Method
Again we never got around to playing with this recipe.  Maybe later.

4    Pizze
Basically flat breads, dough only.  
Per fare pizza sfogliata a un’altro modo Cap XCCCI
Impastinsi libro tre di fior di farina con due oncie di lievido, & quattro oncie di mollica di pane che sia stata ammogliata nell’acqua tiepida, & sale a bastanza, & impastata che sarà lascisi reposare in luogo caldo coperta fin a tanto che sia levata, come fa il pane, poi si mescolerà un’altra volta su la tovala per spatio di mezz’hora, ponendoli in piu volte due libre di butiro fresco, & mescolata che sarà tanto che haverà recevuto il butiro, & sarà venuta morbida, partisi essa pasta in due o tre pezzi, & di ciascheduno d’essi pezzi facciasi la pizza nella totiera, dove sia butiro fresco, & facciasi cuocere nel forno con buitro liquefatto sopra; facendoli alcuni sbufi con la punta del coltella sopra, accioche non sgonfi, & come è pressso a cotta, spargesegli zuccaro, & acqua rosa, tal pasta si vuol cuocere adagio, & servasi calda.
 
To make a layered pizza in another way.  Chapter 131
Paste together three pounds of flour, with two ounces of yeast starter (bigo, i.e. dough from a previous bread batch), and four ounces of crumb of bread that has been soaked in warm water, and enough salt.  And when everything has been blended together put it to rest, covered, in a warm place to rise, as one does with bread.  Then one kneads it another time on the table for the space of half an hour.  Burdening the dough, little by little, with two pounds of fresh butter.  Mix until all the butter has been incorporated into the dough and the dough has become soft.  Split the dough into two or three pieces and with each of these pieces make the pizza in the tart pan, where there is fresh butter, and put them to cook in the oven with melted butter on top.  Make several holes with the point of the knife on the top, in order that it does not puff too much.  And when it is nearly finished cooking sprinkle with sugar and rose water.  This pastry should be cooked slowly and served hot.

What do we know?
It starts with a yeasted dough, similar to a bread dough.
We add butter to the dough and then bake it.  Giving it a final ice with rose water and sugar.  
The question is: Do we knead in soft butter (like a pantone) or do we roll in cold butter like a croissant or Danish?

Ingredients
Original                                                           Reduced in size
36 oz flour                                                       9 oz flour
2 oz yeasted dough                                          yeast
4 oz bread crumbs soaked in warm water        1 oz breadcrumbs
Water     
Salt    
24 oz butter                                                     6 oz butter

Method
We made this in two ways, in one the dough was kneaded with room temperature butter.  This made incredibly soft dough which we baked at 360F for about 20 – 30 minutes until golden, then we brushed with water and sprinkled with sugar.  A lot of the butter left the pastry and ran out onto the counter.  The bottom was essentially fried.  The taste was good if a little salty, I suspect that unsalted butter would be a better choice than the salted that was used.
The other way of making the dough was to take cold butter and essentially fold and roll in the same way that one does for puff pastry, Danish pastry and croissant dough.  Again when cooked a lot of fat ran out, but this may be because the fat was a little too cold and left big chunks in the pastry and we were rushed for time.  It had a great flavor though and had lots of beautiful flaky layers, definitely a recipe I want to revisit with a new eye.

5    Puff paste

Per fare varie sorte di frittelle; & prima pre fare frittelle alla Venetiana Cap CXXXVI  f 370
Faccinisi bollire sei libre di latte di capra in una cazzuola ben stagnata con sei oncie di butiro fresco, & quattro oncie di zuccaro, & quattro oncie d’acqua rosa, & un poco di zafferano, & sale a bastanza, & come il bollo si comincia ad alzare, si ponerà dentro libre due di farina a poco a poco, mescolando continuamente col cocchiaro di legno, fino a tanto che sarà ben soda come la pasta del pane, cavisi d’essa cazzuola, & pongasi nel mortaro di pietra, e pestisi per un quarto d’hora; poi cavisi, & pongasi in un vaso di rame, overo di terra, mescolandola con la cocchiara di legno, o con le mani, fino a tanto che si raffreddi; poi habbinsi venti quattro ova fresche, & ponghisino dentro a uno a uno, mescolando di continuo con la cocchiara di legno, o con le mani, fino a tanto che essa pasta sarà diventata liquida; finito che sarà di mettere l’ove, battasi per un quarto d’hora fino a tanto che faccia le vesiche, & lascisi reposare per un quarto d’hora in luogo caldo, & ribattasi un altra volta.  Poi habbiasi apparecchiata una padella con strutto caldo, & piglisi della compositione, & pongasi sopra un tagliere, & con la bocca della caraffa bagnata di strutto freddo, overo col cannone di ferro bianco taglinisi le frittelle, & ponghisino nel strutto, dandoli il fuoco adagio, & alcune volte muovasi la padella, facendo che le frittelle si voltino nel strutto, senza toccarle, & quando le frittelle comincieranno ad essere cotte creperanno, perche di natura gonfiano, & vengono a foggia di nespole, e molte volte si volgono da se come si vederà che haveranno preso alquanto di coloretto, & saranno leggieri, cavisino con la cocchiara forata, & servisino calde con zuccaro fino sopra.  D’essa pasta se ne puon fare diversi lavorieri con la siringa, ma vuole essere alquanto piu sodetta di quella dell frittelle, dipoi che sarà quella della siringa per fare che la sia migliore, faccisi stare per mezz hora nel forno non troppo caldo, & servasi con zuccaro fino sopra.  

To make various sorts of fritters, and first to make Venetian fritters Chapter 136, page 370
Put to boil six libre of goats milk in a casserole well tinned, with six ounces of fresh butter, four ounces of sugar, four ounces of rose water, a little saffron and enough salt.  When the boil begins to rise add into it two pounds of flour little by little.  Mix continuously with a wooden spoon until it becomes stiff like bread dough.  Take it from the casserole and put it into a stone mortare and pound it for a quarter of an hour.  Then take it out and put it into a bowl of copper or of ceramic, mix it with a wooden spoon or with a hand until it chills.  Then have twenty four fresh eggs and put them in one by one, mixing continuously with the wooden spoon or with the hand until the paste because liquid.  After adding the eggs beat for a quarter of an hour until it makes blisters (bubbles?) and leave it to rest for a quarter of an hour in a warm place then beat again.  Then have ready a frying pan with hot lard, and take the mixture and put it over a plate and with the mouth of a bottle well greased with cold lard or with a cane of white iron cut the fritters and put them into the lard and give them gentle heat, and several times move the pan making the fritters dance in the lard without touching (each other) and when the fritters begin to be cooked they will crack, because by nature they puff up and become like medlars.  Many times one will see that they have taken enough color and they are light, take them out with a slotted spoon and serve them hot with fine sugar on top.  With this paste one can make various works with the syringe (pastry bag) but it should be somewhat thicker than that used for fritters if one wants to make them better with the syringe.  Let them bake for half an hour in an oven which is not too hot and serve them with fine sugar on top.

What do we know?
Not too hot an oven is the requirement, for frying make it a softer batter, for baking a stiffer one, bake in a moderate oven.
Use a circular form (bottle neck) to get donut shaped fritters.

Ingredients
As originally written                                6th of recipe                                    Modern Choux recipe
72fl oz goat milk                                    12 fl oz goat milk                              5 fl oz cold water
6 oz butter                                             1 oz butter                                        2 oz butter
4 fl oz rose water                                    2/3 fl oz rose water                           n/a
saffron                                                     pinch                                               n/a
salt                                                          pinch                                                pinch
4 oz sugar                                                2/3 oz sugar                                     n/a
24 oz white flour                                      4 oz                                                 2.5 oz
24 fresh eggs                                           4 eggs                                             2 eggs

Method
Boil the saffron with the butter and goat milk, add the flour all in one go, beat it hard.  When it has come together as a nice smooth ball of paste transfer it to the stand mixer.  Turn it on and let it go this also helps cool it.  Beat the eggs in separate bowl and add in small installments, allowing them to incorporate before the next addition.  Pipe or place spoonfuls on a greased baking sheet and bake at 400F alternatively cut pipe them into hot lard and fry until golden.  Serve dredged with sugar.

Notes
This was odd, the slightly different ratio of flour to fat and liquid meant that the dough was very hard to get together in the pan, there was a lot of pockets of pure flour in the first paste stage.  What we ended up doing was putting it in the stand mixer and letting it go for almost 15 minutes.  I used cows milk but that has a much lower % fat than goats milk, it would be interesting to try it with goat milk.  We fried some of it in lard (yes lard, not oil) and they were fantastic, the other half a batter we put less eggs in and piped onto baking sheets and cooked at 350F, they puffed up golden just like they should but had a much sweeter and more interesting taste than the modern puff paste, probably because of the addition of sugar, saffron and rose water, dusted with sugar they were pretty tasty.

References
1)    Scappi, B., Opera : (dell' arte del cucinare).  Reprint. First published: Opera di M. Bartolomeo Scappi. Venice, 1570. 1981, Bologna: Arnaldo Forni. [20], 436 leaves [ca. 888 p.], [28] p. of plates.  Available on line at:     
http://alfama.sim.ucm.es/dioscorides/consulta_libro.asp?ref=X533351951&idioma=0

Copyright – this is the work of Mistress Helewyse de Birkestad (Louise Smithson), translations and redactions done in March 2008.  Permission is given to use this work and translations provided that the author is given credit.  Please also let me know if you are using my stuff, I find it interesting to know what people are doing with my translations, feasts and class notes.  My email is helewyse at yahoo dot com.