bread mould

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• William Rubel asked

  My question is regarding the "bread mould" anonymous, (in c. 1600). Are you interpreting this as a terra cotta mould in which bread was baked in the oven OR a mould in which bread raised before baking but was then turning out onto a peel and slipped into the oven? If your interpret ion is that bread was baked inside the mould in the oven, then is there any documentation with the piece that supports that interpretation? Are there other pieces like this that you know of? Thank you. I am writing a history of bread for the University of California Press and am not familiar with this piece of equipment.
  

• Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen answered

  Dear William,
  Unfortunately we do not have detailed information about this object. However, since the dough of the bread would probably lose its shape when it is taken out of the mould before baking and the material (terracotta) is resistant to the heat of an oven, it is highly likely that this bread mould is a predecessor of the baking tins we use nowadays. I wish you the best of luck with your research.
  Kind regards,
  Jephta