Since I have been posting some 18th-century cooking content on my Instagram lately, I thought it was about time to write my first food-related post here on my blog. ;-)
I'm sorry to say that I can't cite the source for this recipe. I found it in a magazine many years ago and unfortunately I just cut out two recipes and threw away the rest of the article. It was something about a mysterious cookbook from the 1700s found somewhere in Halland on the Swedish west coast in 2000-ish. Anyway, the combination of aniseed and rosewater is typical for 18th-century food and very tasty as well!
(2 round loaves)
5 dl (500 ml) lukewarm milk
50 grams (1.7637 oz) wet yeast
1 dl (100 ml) sugar
1 egg
3 tbsp aniseeds (pound in a mortar)
3 tbsp rosewater
15 grams (0.53 oz) butter (not melted)
About 14 dl (47 oz) wheat flour
In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast in the lukewarm milk. Add sugar, egg, rosewater and aniseeds and stir until smooth. Add flour (some cups at a time), work the butter into the mixture with your hands and form a soft dough. Knead until smooth and elastic on a lightly floured surface. Cover and let rise until doubled (about 1 hour). Punch the dough for some minutes, divide it in half, shape each into a round loaf and place on a baking tray with baking parchment. Cut the loaves across the tops with a sharp knife and let rise until doubled (about 1 hour). Heat oven to 200 C. Bake for 10 minutes, lower the heat to 175 C and bake for another 25-30 minutes until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.
