Manchet

[man-chit]

Manchet, or manchette or michette (French), is a wheaten yeast bread of very good quality, or a small flat circular loaf of same. It was a bread that was small enough to be held in the hand.

There are several recipes for Manchets mentioned in Florence White's classic English Cuisine book 'Good Things in England' first published in 1932.She gives five regional varieties of the bread and quotes from medieval sources for the recipes.The first is from Gervase Markham in Nottinghamshire where White quotes an anonymous source that describes a Manchet as 'Your best and principal bread is a manchet' .

There is also a reference to "Manchetts for the Queen's Maides", a royal ordinance originating from Eltham Palace in 1526 during Henry VIII's reign which describes a menu for medieval aristocracy that includes mention of manchettes. It is inserted because a correspondent has requested when manchets were to be served at court. This suggests that in origin it was a luxurious bread containing ingredients that were only available to the wealthy. The most superior wheat for a manchet was said to come from Heston, near Hounslow during the reign of Elizabeth I . Manchets would sometimes be sweetened by the addition of scented ingredients such as rose water, nutmeg and cinamon

Florence White makes reference to three contemporary versions. The Cornish Manchant which she confirms is shaped by hand , a version from the Isle of Wight and a recipe from 1676 from Sussex for Lady Arundel's Manchet. The latter version she updates.

Manchets are little made today with the traditional Bath bun and Sally Lunn bun amongst the best known contemporary styles still made commercially. According to Elizabeth David only the wealthy could have manchets for their breakfast or dinner and these became the 'ancestors' of eighteenth century french rolls or french bread.

Recipe

Ingredients for Lady Arundel's Manchet: fine wheat flour 2lb.; salt i/2 oz.; butter 2 oz.:egg 1.: warm milk 1 pint.: yeast 1 oz.; castor sugar 1 teaspoonful

Time: to rise, 30 minutes: to bake 20 minutes according to size.

Method:

1. Mix the salt in the flour, rub in the butter
2. Cream the yeast with the sugar
3. Add it to 3/4 pint of warm milk
4. Beat the egg and mix with the yeast and flour
5. Make a well in the flour, pour in the yeast mixture and mix into the dough

6. Shape the dough into small flat round cakes about 3/4 inch thick and 3 1/2 inches across
7. Mark manchets with lines to form diamond pattern
8. Leave to rise for thirty minutes in a warm place
9. Bake in a moderate oven until cooked.

1932 Recipe