From White Wheat to Dark Rye

Appears in
Dark Rye and Honey Cake: Festival baking from the heart of the Low Countries

By Regula Ysewijn

Published 2023

  • About
Ever since the Middle Ages, everyone in every layer of society has had bread on their table. The class difference didn’t show in whether or not you could afford bread, but what type of bread you could afford. Dark rye bread was the bread of the poor when they were lucky. In dire times, poor people would have to eat bread that was baked for animals, often consisting of legumes and sand.

In many of the Golden Age paintings, you will spot small white bread buns. These were a sign of wealth and considered celebratory, as witnessed in the painting by Hans Francken, depicting celebratory bakes. That bread bun is today’s pistolet.