Rastons: A Medieval Pastry Disguised as Bread (Harleian MS 279)

Rastons: A Medieval Pastry Disguised as Bread (Harleian MS 279)

Originally published November 4, 2015. Updated June 7, 2026.

Rastons, baked and sliced into sops. Image © Give It Forth.

Rastons are one of those medieval recipes that look simple until you begin asking what they actually are. At first glance, this dish from Harleian MS. 279 appears to be bread: flour, ale barm, eggs, and a loaf baked in the oven. But then the recipe takes a turn. The top is cut away like a crown, the crumb is scooped out, chopped, mixed with clarified butter, returned to the shell, covered again, and baked a second time.

So is it bread? Is it pastry? Is it a rich feast loaf masquerading as something ordinary? The answer is probably somewhere in the middle. Rastons are bread-shaped, bread-risen, and bread-used, especially when cut into sops. Yet the eggs, sugar, buttered crumb, and second bake push the dish into the world of enriched pastry and luxury baking.

When I first made this recipe, I used the loaf for sops and pottages. In hindsight, a simpler white loaf such as manchet may have been the more practical historical choice for everyday broth-soaking. Rastons are richer than ordinary table bread and more elaborate than they need to be for plain sops. But if I am being honest, this was a quicker recipe, and I cheated a little. It worked beautifully, and the result was so good that I preferred it to my usual manchet or French-style loaves.

Original Recipe: Harleian MS. 279, ab. 1430

.xxv. Rastons. Take fayre Flowre, & the whyte of Eyroun, & the ȝolke, a lytel; þan take Warme Berme, & putte al þes to-gederys, & bete hem to-gederys with þin hond tyl it be schort & þikke y-now, & caste Sugre y-now þer-to, & þenne lat reste a whyle; þan kaste in a fayre place in þe oven, & late bake y-now; & þen with a knyf cutte yt round a-boue in maner of a crowne, & kepe þe cruste þat þou kyttyst; & þan pyke al þe cromys withynne to-gederys, an pike hem smal with þin knyf, & saue þe sydys & al þe cruste hole with-owte; & þan caste þer-in clarifiyd Boter, & Mille þe cromeȝ & þe botere to-gedereȝ, & keuere it a-ȝen with þe cruste, þat þou kyttest a-way; þan putte it in þe ovyn aȝen a lytil tyme; & þan take it out, & serue it forth.

Modern Translation

Take fair flour, egg whites, and a little yolk. Then take warm barm and put all these together. Beat them together with your hand until it is short and thick enough, and add enough sugar. Let it rest awhile. Then place it in a clean place in the oven and bake it enough. Then with a knife cut it round above in the manner of a crown, and keep the crust that you cut. Pick out all the crumbs within, chop them small with your knife, and save the sides and outer crust whole. Then cast in clarified butter, mix the crumbs and butter together, cover it again with the crust that you cut away, put it in the oven again a little while, then take it out and serve it forth.

Modern Recipe: Rastons

Makes one round loaf.

Ingredients

• 3 to 4 cups flour, using about 3 parts white flour to 1 part whole wheat
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 cup warm ale
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 packet dry yeast
• Clarified butter, if finishing the loaf in the manuscript style

Method

1. Warm the ale gently. It should be warm, not hot.
2. Dissolve the yeast in the warm ale.
3. Stir in the sugar, beaten eggs, and about 1/2 cup flour to create a sponge.
4. Allow the sponge to ferment for about 20 minutes, until active and bubbly.
5. Add the salt and enough remaining flour to make a soft dough.
6. Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic.
7. Shape into a round loaf and allow it to rise until doubled.
8. Bake at 450°F for about 20 minutes, or until golden and hollow-sounding when tapped.
9. For the simplified sop version, cool slightly and slice thickly.
10. For the manuscript finish, cut a crown from the top of the loaf, hollow the crumb, chop the crumb small, mix with clarified butter, refill the loaf, replace the crown, and return it briefly to the oven.

Period Ingredients and Modern Adaptations

The original recipe calls for fayre flowre, warm barm, eggs, sugar, and clarified butter. Each of these choices matters. This is not a plain household loaf made only from meal, water, leavening, and salt. It is enriched from the beginning, then enriched again after baking.

Fayre flowre suggests a relatively fine or well-bolted flour. Medieval flour was not the same as modern roller-milled white flour, but this instruction points toward something lighter than coarse household meal. I used a mixture of white and whole wheat flour, about three parts white to one part whole wheat, to keep the loaf tender while still giving it a little body and grain flavor.

Warme berme means warm barm: the yeasty foam or sediment from brewing ale. This was a common leavening source before commercial yeast. Since most modern cooks do not have access to fresh ale barm from an active brew, I simulated it by dissolving dry yeast into warm ale. This does not perfectly recreate medieval barm, but it preserves two important features: fermentation and ale flavor.

The ale matters. Medieval ale would not have tasted exactly like modern beer, and the recipe does not require a bourbon-barrel-aged ale, but using ale instead of plain water gives the dough a richer flavor. I used Brown Barrel Bomber, a bourbon barrel aged ale, because that was available to me and it added a deep, malty note to the finished loaf.

The eggs and sugar are part of what complicates the bread question. Eggs enrich the dough, tenderize the crumb, and push the loaf toward pastry. Sugar feeds the yeast, but also adds sweetness and refinement. The final addition of clarified butter to the hollowed crumb makes the loaf richer still.

Is Rastons Bread or Pastry?

This is the heart of the recipe. Rastons behaves like bread in several ways. It is made from flour, leavened with barm, shaped as a loaf, and baked in an oven. It can be sliced and used for sops, which is how I used it when I originally made the recipe. At the table, a diner seeing a round loaf might reasonably call it bread.

But the ingredients and treatment tell another story. The recipe includes egg whites and yolks, sugar, and clarified butter. The dough is beaten until “short and thick,” language that suggests something richer and more tender than an ordinary loaf. After baking, the loaf is hollowed, filled with buttered crumbs, capped, and baked again. That second bake turns the loaf into a prepared dish rather than a simple bread.

Food historian Jim Chevallier has argued that these are not technically breads, connecting them to French ratons and identifying them more closely with pastry. That distinction helps explain why the recipe feels so odd to modern readers. Rastons is not merely bread with eggs in it. It is a medieval enriched baked dish that borrows the form of bread while behaving like a pastry.

“CECI N'EST PAS UN PAIN... These were NOT breads. The recipe in question includes egg whites and yolks, reflecting the fact that a raton was a PASTRY.”

For modern cooks, the most useful way to think of Rastons may be this: it is bread-shaped, bread-risen, and bread-usable, but not ordinary bread. It belongs closer to enriched feast baking: a pastry loaf, a luxury sop base, or a buttered bread dish hiding inside a loaf.

The Crown Cut and Buttered Crumb

The most striking part of the recipe is the instruction to cut the top “in manner of a crown.” This is not a casual serving suggestion. The cook is told to preserve the crust, hollow the loaf without breaking the sides, chop the inner crumb, mix that crumb with clarified butter, refill the loaf, replace the crown, and bake it again.

This technique transforms the loaf. Instead of serving plain bread beside a dish, the bread itself becomes a composed food. The crust forms a container. The crumb becomes a filling. The clarified butter enriches everything. The second bake warms the buttered interior and restores the loaf’s structure.

That crown cut also tells us something about presentation. Medieval cooks cared about form, surprise, and service. Rastons may look humble, but the recipe asks the cook to perform a small act of edible architecture. It is a loaf with a secret.

Rastons, Sops, and My Kitchen Shortcut

This month’s original project focused on sops and pottages from Harleian MS. 279. In medieval cuisine, sops were pieces or slices of bread soaked in broth, wine, milk, almond milk, or other liquids. They could appear at the start of a meal, as part of a pottage, or as a way to make a flavorful liquid more substantial.

I used this Rastons loaf for sops because I needed something that could be sliced and served with pottage. It worked well. The crust was crisp, the inside was soft and flavorful from the ale, and the loaf held up beautifully when cut into thick pieces.

That said, I now suspect that manchet or another fine white bread may have been the more practical choice for ordinary sops. Rastons is richer, more elaborate, and more luxurious than a simple soaking bread needs to be. So yes, I used it for sops. And yes, I probably cheated because it was quicker. Medieval cooking in a modern kitchen sometimes comes with a wink and a wooden spoon.

Sponge after proofing 20 minutes.

Soft, tender crumb with a good crust, ready for slicing or finishing in the manuscript style.

Flavor and Texture

The simplified loaf was excellent. The crust baked crisp and golden, while the interior remained soft, tender, and faintly sweet. The ale gave it a deeper flavor than water-based bread, and the eggs made the crumb richer than my usual manchet or French-style loaves.

If finished according to the manuscript, with the crumb chopped and mixed with clarified butter, the result would be much richer. This would move the dish even farther from everyday bread and closer to an enriched pastry or feast bread. Served warm, it would be buttery, soft inside, crisp outside, and substantial enough to stand as a dish in its own right.

Humoral Properties

In medieval dietary theory, bread was often viewed as a foundational food, but the quality of the grain, the degree of bolting, and the method of preparation mattered. A fine wheat loaf was more refined and easier to digest than coarse bread, especially when fresh and well baked.

Rastons complicates that picture because it is enriched with eggs, sugar, ale barm, and clarified butter. Eggs add nourishment and moisture. Butter adds richness and warmth. Ale barm introduces fermentation, which helps lighten the dough and make the grain more digestible. Sugar sweetens and softens the dish.

As a feast food, Rastons would have been richer and more indulgent than plain bread. It makes sense as a special preparation: warming, nourishing, and substantial, but also softened and refined by eggs, fermentation, and butter. It is the sort of dish that turns basic grain into something courtly.

Breakfast, Feast, or Sop Bread?

Rastons can sit in several places depending on how it is used. As a loaf sliced for broth, milk, wine, or almond milk, it can support a discussion of medieval breakfast and early-day meals. As a butter-enriched, crowned, rebaked dish, it belongs comfortably on a feast table. As a bread-like base for liquid dishes, it connects directly to sops and pottages.

This flexibility is one reason the recipe is so interesting. It does not fit neatly into modern categories. It can be read as bread, pastry, sop base, enriched loaf, or composed dish. That slipperiness is not a problem. It is part of what makes medieval cookery so rewarding.

For an SCA feast, Rastons would work well as a specialty bread course, a sop base for a pottage, or a small enriched item served with a broth or sauce. If making it specifically for sops, I would consider whether a simpler manchet might be more appropriate for the meal. If making it to showcase the recipe itself, I would complete the crown, crumb, butter, and second bake.

Feast Planning Tips

• For sops: Bake the loaf, cool slightly, and slice thickly. Use with broth, milk, almond milk, wine, or pottage.
• For the full manuscript version: Hollow the loaf after baking, mix the crumb with clarified butter, refill, cap, and bake again briefly.
• For a feast: Make smaller round loaves so each table receives its own crowned Rastons.
• For speed: Use the simplified loaf method. It is not the full manuscript finish, but it gives a delicious enriched bread suitable for slicing.
• For accuracy: Seek fresh ale barm if you brew, or work with a brewer willing to share barm from active fermentation.

Related Medieval Bread, Sops, and Breakfast Posts

On the Making of Bread
What Did People Eat for Breakfast in the Middle Ages?
Soupes Dorye – Toasted Bread in Spiced Almond Milk
Lyode Soppes – Early Custard-Style Bread Pudding
Soupes Jamberlayne – Bread Soaked in Mulled Wine
Baronial 12th Night Recipes – Rastons
Harleian MS. 279 Recipe Index

Sources

Austin, Thomas, ed. Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books. London: Early English Text Society, 1888. Harleian MS. 279, “Rastons.” https://archive.org/details/twofifteenthcent00aust

Myers, Daniel. MedievalCookery.com. Recipe reference and interpretation. https://medievalcookery.com

Chevallier, Jim. Commentary on rastons, ratons, and the bread/pastry distinction in medieval French and English baking.

AI Assistance Disclosure: This post was originally written by the author and later updated with the assistance of ChatGPT for organization, expanded historical context, search optimization, and editorial clarity. Final content, recipe interpretation, and opinions remain the author’s own.