Payn Puff

Breads & GrainsEnglish, c. 1390Forme of Cury (Add MS 5016); Bodleian MS Ashmole 1393; MS Rawlinson D 1222Crown Hospitality SpreadCurrent project — cooking pending

Original

The recipe appears in the British Library roll version of Forme of Cury (Additional MS 5016, dating to the 1420s). It refers back to the preceding recipe, Pety Parnant. Transcription and translation by Dr. Christopher Monk (modernmedievalcuisine.com):

Payn puf. Eodem modo fiat payn puf, but make it more tendre þe past, and loke þe past be rounde of þe payn puf as a coffyn & a pye.

The preceding recipe, Pety Parnant, gives the filling and pastry method:

Take marrow, hole parad and kerue hit rawe, poudour of gynger, sugur, & þolkes of ayroun, dates mynced, raysouns of corauns, salt a lytul, and loke þat þou make þy past wiþ þolkes of ayroun and þat no watur come þerto, and fourme þy coffyn and make up þy past.

15th-century version (Bodleian Library, MS Ashmole 1393, f. 20r, edited by Constance Hieatt) adds cream as a key ingredient:

For payne puffe. Take creme, floure, þolkis, suger; herof make þy past & let it rest an hure or ii. Than tak marw cut of gobetes, reysons corans, dates cut, þolkis chopped, suger; medil all þese & put it in þe middes of þy lof & bake it in opyn ovyn; close hit þif þu lest or let it be opyn.

A mid-15th-century version (Bodleian, MS Rawlinson D 1222, f. 50r-v) adds yeast and saffron, making it closer to an enriched bread dough.

Translation

"Puff bread should be made the same way [as Pety Parnant], but make the paste softer, and look that the paste of the puff bread is round like a pastry case or a pie."

My Redaction

Dr. Christopher Monk (Monk's Modern Medieval Cuisine) provides a tested redaction based on the cream-paste 15th-century version:

Pastry:

200g stoneground white flour
125g/ml double (heavy) cream
4 tsp icing (powdered) sugar
2 large egg yolks

Method: Sieve flour and sugar. Make a well, add yolks and cream. Combine with a knife until clumps form. Bring together into a ball. Roll to 2cm thick, wrap, rest 1–2 hours at room temperature (or 30 min in fridge). Roll out, bake blind at 200°C / 390°F until light golden. Fill with desired filling.

Period filling (from Pety Parnant): bone marrow, raisins of Corinth (currants), minced dates, chopped egg yolks, sugar, ginger.

Source: Monk's MMC — modernmedievalcuisine.com/2021/11/01/payne-puffe-pastry-made-with-cream/

For hospitality service: Make as small individual tarts/tartlets. The cream pastry puffs slightly and is softer than standard shortcrust. Can be filled and served at room temperature. Note: this is more of a pastry/pie than a true bread.