Baronial 12th Night Recipes (Rastons Harl. MS 279, 1430)

Rastons: a small, enriched round “loaf” used for sops.

Rastons: A Medieval Pastry Disguised as Bread

Rastons straddle a delicious line: enriched like a pastry (eggs, sometimes sugar) yet shaped and served like bread—often sliced into thick sops for broth, milk, or wine. This version comes from Harleian MS 279 (c. 1430) and was featured in the Baronial 12th Night Feast (2019).

🍞 Are Rastons Bread or Pastry?

The Harleian MS. 279 (c.1430) recipe for Rastons describes a fine, enriched bread made with flour, eggs, and barm (yeast in ale). Once baked, the “crown” or top was cut off, the soft crumb scooped out, mixed with clarified butter, returned to the shell, and baked briefly again before serving.

Structurally, this makes Rastons a buttered manchet — a refined bread roll treated like a delicate baked dish. Food historians like C. M. Woolgar and Peter Brears note that such dishes blurred the line between bread, pudding, and pastry.

In short: bread by recipe, pastry by presentation—a butter-enriched manchet meant for feasts, whether filled or soaked.

Bread or pastry? I lean “both.” The eggs and butter push it toward pastry, but the table role is very bread-like—especially when used as sops. I’ll let you continue the debate. 😉

Original & Modern Translation

.xxv. Rastons.—Take fayre Flowre, & þe whyte of Eyroun, & þe 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, & Melle þe cromeȝ & þe botere to-gedereȝ, & keuere it a-ȝen with þe cruste; þan putte it in þe ovyn aȝen a lytil tyme; & þan take it out, & serue it forth.

25. Rastons. Take fine flour with egg whites and a little yolk; add warm barm (yeast in ale), beat together until thick. Add sugar and let rest. Bake. Cut off a “crown,” crumble the inside, mix the crumbs with clarified butter, refill, replace the crown, bake briefly again, and serve.

How I’m serving it here: instead of the butter-crumb refill, I bake as a soft round and slice into sops for broth and pottages.

Modern Recipe (Feast Version)

• 1 cup lukewarm milk
• 1 cup lukewarm water
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1½ tbsp active dry yeast (for freeze-ahead doughs)
• 2 tsp salt (optional in original; recommended here)
• Unbleached bread flour (about 4–5 cups as needed)

Method

1. Warm milk and water just above body temp. In a bowl combine yeast, sugar, and 1 cup flour. Stir in the beaten egg, then add the warm liquids to make a loose sponge. Cover 20 minutes until frothy.
2. Mix in salt (if using) and enough flour to form a soft dough. Knead until smooth.
3. Divide into two rounds on a floured, parchment-lined sheet. Cover and proof until doubled.
4. For a browner crust, mist with oil. Bake at 400°F (205°C) for 20–25 minutes, until golden and hollow when tapped.
5. Optional medieval finish: Trim a “crown,” crumble the interior, mix with clarified butter, refill, replace crown, return to oven for a few minutes, and serve warm.

A loaf sliced into sops for broth.

Notes & Variations

• Ale barm: The manuscript calls for leaven from ale. Substitute with modern yeast dissolved in ale for flavor.
• Freezer method (feast prep): Slightly increasing yeast helps compensate for any die-off when freezing dough ahead of events.
• Salt: Omitted in the original, but balancing sweetness improves versatility.

🥕 Dietary Notes

• Vegetarian. Contains egg and dairy.
• Vegan option: Replace milk with almond or oat milk; egg with aquafaba or flax slurry; and butter with plant-based fat.
• Camping-friendly: Use only water; proof and bake in a Dutch oven covered with coals.

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🍽 From the Baronial 12th Night Feast (2019)

This recipe was served as part of the Baronial 12th Night banquet held January 5, 2019 — inspired by Thomas Tusser’s Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry (1573) and sourced largely from Harleian MS 279.

Explore the full menu:

• Soteltie: Trayne Roast | Mincemeat Pies
• On Table: Bryndons, Mortrews, Compost, Let Lardes
• First Course: Rastons, Blawnche Perry, Beef y-Stewed, Brawn with Mustard, Garbage
• Second Course: Capon Farced, Pickle for the Mallard, Guissell, Roasted Chestnuts & Turnips, Pickled Barberries
• Third Course: Cheese & Nuts, Spiced Apples & Pears, Creme Bastarde, White Leach, Jellied Ypocras
• Issue de Table: Gingerbread, Marchpane, Callishones (Coriander Marzipan), Candied Fruit & Peels, Fruit Pastes, Comfits, Manus Christi, Kissing Comfits

Tag: Feast – Baronial 12th Night (2019)