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.

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.

Soupes Jamberlayne: Sops of Bread in Mulled Wine (Harleian MS. 279, ~1430)

Kitchen Adventures – Soupes Jamberlayne: Sops of Bread in Mulled Wine (Harleian MS. 279, ~1430)

Soupes Jamberlayne – A Toasty, Spiced Bread & Wine Potage

Soupes Jamberlayne, also known as Sops Chamberlain, is a strikingly simple yet elegant medieval dish consisting of toasted bread soaked in sweetened, spiced wine. Served warm and finished with a dusting of "white powder" (likely Powder Douce or sugar), it walks the line between a drinkable porridge and a spoonable dessert.

This dish hails from the Harleian MS. 279 (~1430) and is a wonderful candidate for both feast tables and historical breakfast spreads. In fact, we had it incorrectly described on our What Did People Eat for Breakfast in the Middle Ages? page — it is not a porridge of grain and greens, but a warming wine potage! Perfect for chilly mornings or late suppers.

Its ease and flexibility make it a terrific option when you need a fast, flavorful, and filling dish for your table. Bonus: It’s delicious with leftover bread like Rastons.

The Original Source

From: Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books

.xxviij. Soupes Jamberlayne [Chamberlain] – Take Wyne, Canel, an powder of Gyngere, an Sugre, an of eche a porcyoun, þan take a straynoure & hange it on a pynne, an caste ale þer-to, an let renne twyis or þryis throgh, tyl it renne clere; an þen take Paynemaynne an kyt it in maner of brewes, an toste it, an wete it in þe same lycowre, an ley it on a dysshe, an caste blawnche powder y-now þer-on; an þan caste þe same lycour vp-on þe same soppys, an serue hem forth in maner of a potage.

Interpreted Recipe (Serves 8 as Side)

• 2 cups red wine (something fruity like Hunter Red)
• 1 tbsp cinnamon
• 1 tbsp ginger
• 1 tbsp sugar (or more to taste)
• 1 loaf toasted white bread (like Rastons), cut into finger-length strips
• Powder Douce or sugar for garnish

Instructions:

1. Combine the wine, cinnamon, ginger, and sugar in a pot and bring to a gentle boil. Simmer for 5 minutes.
2. While the wine heats, toast the bread and slice into finger-sized strips.
3. Optional: Strain the wine mixture through cheesecloth 2–3 times to clarify.
4. Briefly dip toasted bread strips into the wine mixture. Lay in bowls or a serving dish.
5. Pour more of the hot wine over the sops and sprinkle generously with Powder Douce or sugar.

Note: Avoid oversoaking the bread or it may fall apart. For presentation, consider layering the bread after pouring the wine.

Tasting Notes

This dish is remarkably comforting — reminiscent of mulled wine and French toast. The spices accentuate the wine’s fruitiness, while the bread provides body and texture. It’s easy to imagine this being a nobleman’s breakfast or a light late-night supper in colder months.

Try serving this at a feast breakfast or during a winter revel. It can also double as a simple medieval dessert.

#medievalfood #scafeast #scacook #historicfood #harleianMS279 #medievalbreakfast #breadandwine

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🍽 Explore More Medieval Breakfast Recipes:

• Rastons – Egg-enriched bread for soaking in broth
• Soupes Dorye – Toasted bread in spiced almond milk
• Lyode Soppes – Early custard-style bread pudding
• Soupes Jamberlayne – Bread soaked in mulled wine
• Egges yn Brewte – Poached eggs in spiced broth
• Eyron en Pan – Poached eggs with herbs in sauce
• Pressmetzen zu Ostern – Spiced Lenten breakfast bread
• Spiced Apples and Pears – Stewed fruit with wine and spice
• Fennel and Bacon Bread – Rustic loaf with herbs and meat
• Frumenty and Venyson – Cracked wheat porridge with game

☕ Looking for even more morning inspiration?
Don’t miss the original article: Breakfast: Five Medieval Banquet Dishes »