A History of Irish Baking (Part 4)
Christian Ireland and the role of the monastery in early Irish food culture
More than food, its seems that the power of the written word helped the shift from a pagan order to a Christian one in early medieval Ireland. There may also have been a few plagues, as well as a heap of harsh weather (referred to by historians as the ‘Late Iron Age Decline’). Who wouldn’t turn to God after all that!
However, Christianity in Ireland did not simply erase Gaelic traditions, rather it absorbed and transformed them, making them anew. Along with the introduction of writing, which brought order, Christianity also introduced monasteries which became sites of learning, education, law, and recording keeping (which helps our Irish food story from this point onwards).
Monasteries became the largest and most urban-like communities in Ireland. Monasteries such as Clonmacnoise, Glendalough, and Kells became centers of learning, trade, and craftsmanship pushing the technology of our early food culture forward. They were often located strategically near rivers for travel and rescourses. Sometimes they were surrounded by walls or ditches, with churches, round towers, schools, and workshops inside. While not true towns, they attracted populations of monks, scholars, artisans, and traders. Some evolved into towns after the Viking Age (795-1169), influencing later urban development.
Christian monasteries changed Irish food culture beyond recognition by introducing organized farming and expanding the variety of crops grown in Ireland. Vegetables like leeks, onions, cabbage, garlic, and legumes (peas, beans) became more common due to monastic gardens. Orchards were planted, leading to more apples, pears, and berries in the Irish diet (as well as cider and possibly perry). Monasteries also cultivated herbs for cooking and medicine, which assisted the health of the people.
The status of bread also changed. Rather than only being associated with status (as it was with the Brehon laws), bread became a symbol of abstinence within the confines of the monastery. This didn’t mean that all bread were suddenly equal, just that bread now had a dual function in Irish food culture. Aristocrats had their Aran while the monks had their barley bread.
Christianity brought new dietary rules and fasting traditions that shaped the way the Irish ate. This led to a decline of meat consumption particularly in relation to its standing in pre-Christian Ireland. Meat (especially pork and beef) were a major part of pre-Christian feasting culture, tied to social status and hospitality laws. The introduction of Christian fasting laws (such as lent) reduced the role of meat in daily life. Wednesdays and Fridays were often meatless days in the monateries. Some extreme ascetics (like St. Columbanus) ate only bread, water, and herbs for extended periods. This attitude of associating food with abstinence and hardship would remain with the Irish people from this point up to only recently.
The consequence of this reduction in meat and fasting led to a greater reliance on dairy, fish, vegetables (see above), and grains. The arrival of monasteries led to an expansion of dairy culture, introducing more structured farming and cheese-making techniques. Bánbhia (milk, buttermilk, butter, curds, and cheese) all became central, if not more central. It’s not that people simply stopped eating meat, there was a gradual culture change were dietary habits changed. Meat would still be had on special occasion, but the day-to-day diet was ultimately changed by the early Christian monastic tradition.
Fish became an common alternative to meat due to Christian fasting laws. So began its gradual associated with fasting and religious observance, continuing into later Catholic traditions, up to the end of the 20th century. Many monasteries that were located near rivers and the coasts specialized in fishing and fish farming. Salmon, trout, eel, herring, and shellfish were commonly eaten instead of meat products.
In relation to baking, Christianity led to an increase in bread consumption. Before Christianity, flatbread and oak cakes were more common than baked bread. Monastic influence led to a greater emphasis on baked wheat bread (Arán), especially in wealthier communities. Oats and barley remained the staple grains for common people, but wheat bread became associated with status and monastic hospitality.
Rye (Secale cereale) was also introduced to Ireland around this time, but it remained a minor crop, due to our soil and weather, compared to barley, oats, and wheat. However it would have found it way into some breads and baked goods.
In terms of baking in a monastery, the practice of using griddles stones and open hearths continued but clay ovens became more common place, especially in wealthier monasteries.
Griddle baking was the most common method in early Irish monasteries. The dough, made from barley or oats, was shaped into flat rounds, and baked on a hot griddle or iron plate over a fire. Open hearth baking involved placing small flat loaves directly in hot ashes or on heated stones in the fire. The embers were raked over the dough to bake it slowly. Lastly, domed clay ovens (which emerged between 6th and the 9th century) These small clay ovens, like early European baking structures, were heated with wood, then the embers were removed before baking. These ovens allowed for better leavened wheat bread but would been rare and exclusively used by the upper echelons of the monastic community.
When it comes to baking, the oven was perhaps the most significant advance in Irish food culture that the monasteries established. It’s difficult to conceive that before the 6th century there were no ovens in Ireland. Baking, as we saw in previous episodes, was done on griddles, stones, or in ashes. With the arrival of the oven, however primitive between the 6th and the 9th century, baking, especially of bread, changed and became a feature of daily life. Between the 9th and the 12th centuries, the Vikings and Normans introduce more advanced stone-lined ovens. Indeed, from the 12th century onward, ovens become common in towns, while rural areas still use traditional methods.
It was not until the 17th to the 18th century that widespread household oven use occurred in Ireland, albeit in the big houses of the Anglo-Irish aristocracy. The native Irish continued to cook over the hearth and on griddle stones up until the mid-20th century in some parts of Ireland. This contradictory duality of Irish baking and baking in Ireland is upheld by this fact that some home still cooked over a fire in a bastible like those in the iron age.
The further we go into the story now, the more it bifurcates into two different traditions. The one advancing headlong into modernity, while the other remained tethered to the past, unable to raise its head and celebrate itself.
However, it would be wrong to see the latter as somehow the more authentic tradition. Both traditions, along with other, would continue to interact with each other over the next thousand years.
Oat Bread (Bricten / Daidbairgen)
This recipe is based on traditional early Irish ingredients, using oats, barley, and buttermilk—staples of early medieval Irish cuisine. The use of bread soda is not historically accurate but helps with rising. Otherwise, you’re in for a real early medieval treat for your teeth! You can also try sourdough or yeast.
Ingredients
250g oat flour
75g wheat flour
50g barley flour
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp honey
300ml buttermilk
30g butter or lard, melted
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 160°C.
In a large bowl, mix the flour, baking soda and salt.
Combine the buttermilk with the melted butter and the boney
Slowly mix with the flour until a sticky dough forms.
Pour the dough into a greased loaf tin.
Bake for 45 minutes, or until golden brown and it sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom. The internal temperature of the bread should be over 80°C.
Allow to cool before slicing.
Serve with homemade butter (I’ll give you the recipe next week).
I hope you enjoyed this litte insight into baking in early Christian Ireland.
Ireland has always benefited from waves of immigration over the centuries. The current wave of immigrants fleeing poverty, persecution and war will also greatly enrich our country in the long term. As you have said yourself on more than one occasion ‘In a certain sense we are all immigrants’. Enjoyed the read.
This is a great resource for overseas writers like myself looking to add some authentic history to stories set in your beautiful country. Thanks so much for the lovely details, especially about the ovens.