Southern Spice Bread

Bread is obviously a staple food throughout the whole of the Innersea Region, with many different styles and varieties made in the diverse locations of the region. From the large grained flatbreads of the Goran-Kini in the far north, to the light but crusty Cobloaf of Albium. Of all these, the Southern Spice Bread of Casteidan is one of the most famous, and in some ways the oddest.   Whereas most types of bread are plain and intended to be eaten as a counterbalance to other strongly flavoured, or savoury foods, Spice Bread has a strong flavour of its own and is intended to be eaten with the much plainer food more common in the area. While there are several types of plain bread that are the staple in the area, Spiced Bread still has a special place as a comfort food, and for travellers, it is the first thing they ask for when returning home.   One of the oddest things about Spiced bread is that none of the spices used in its creation are native to the area where it is made. Indeed the strong spice trade with the much more southerly Kingdom of Parrusdan has made that country quite wealthy. In recent years an increase in piracy along the traditional sailing routes has meant an increase in the rarity of these spices in the north and a subsequent rise in prices, as ships take the much longer route west and north.   It is believed that Southern Spice Bread has its origins all the way back at the time of the First Empire. This would indeed explain both its name and the use of such spices, as the empire encompassed most of the Innersea region, including the spice growing areas of the far south. Why it would hold on as a favourite in Casteidan where the other remnant of the Korleth Empire in Albium has nothing like it, is a mystery.  

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Ingredients

  The exact recipe and production steps change from county to county, and even from Chef to Chef, but the list of ingredients is always the same. The base bread mix is a standard affair of flour and water with a little oil and salt. The amount of yeast and the time the mix is left to rise, even the amount of kneading to give the dough are all things that most chefs keep close to their chest. But it is in the exact mixture of the spices themselves of which chefs are most secretive.     List of spices are always the same, but exact amounts may vary:-

• Cayenne Pepper
• Black Pepper
• Galam Jun Pepper
• Paprika
• Ginger
• Turmeric
• Cinnamon

Some chefs will add their spice mixture to the dough mix while they are mixing and kneading, others prefer to make larger batches and mix the spices directly into the flour before the rest of the ingredients.   A variant form popular in some areas in the north calls for the addition of honey to the dough, making for a hot, spicy, but also sweet flavour.