Recipes from Scotland 1680s to 1940s

Oatmeal and bread


French Bread

French Bread is a wheaten loaf enriched with eggs, butter and milk.

Effectively it was a form of the manchet (white bread) eaten by the élite, and small loaves of manchet became known as French rolls.

The recipe shown here is from the Elgin Pastry Book of 1734. As is typical of the time, the ingredients and quantities are given along with the method.

Isabella Beeton, in her book 'Mrs Beeton's book of household management' of 1861, was one of the first cookery writers to separate the ingredients from the method.

Handwritten recipe for 'French bread'

'To make French Bread', from the Elgin Pastry Book

Elgin Pastry Book, 1734. [Library reference: MS.24775]

Oatmeal and bread