Stranded at home with my cupboard nearly empty, I decided to make placenta -a layered cheesecake from Antiquity with only four ingredients. Placenta is featured in De Agri Cultura (c. 160BC) by Cato the Elder, along with savillum that I posted about earlier this year.
The honey cakes of Antiquity
Cakes drenched in honey were often served at festive dinners in Rome. They were also offered to household deities, like Vesta, in order to gain their protection. The 3 types of honey cake described in De Agri Cultura were made with roughly the same ingredients (flour, water, cheese, and honey) but differed in consistency. Libum was mostly bread, savillum almost 100% cheese, and placenta something in between: several layers of dough were covered with cheese & honey and wrapped in a thinner sheet of dough whose edges were folded (usually) like a hexagon. Placenta was not exclusively a Roman dessert, however. Πλακούς was also enjoyed by the Greek, who used this name for various types of layered flatbread. Its popularity grew even more during the Byzantine era (330AD-1453AD) when the equipment and techniques for making 'fyllo' dough were perfected.
Placenta through history
Variations of Roman (& Greek) placenta have survived in the culinary traditions of the Balkans and Central Europe. Two recipes go under the same name: Πλατσέντα from Lesvos (Greece) is made with 'fyllo', nuts and honey. The sheets of dough can be ruffled, layered, or twisted; honey can also be replaced with sugar. Placinta is a cheesecake from Romania, Moldova and the Ukraine, in which the filling is often mixed with sugar and placed between two layers of home-made pastry. Alternatively, the dough can be filled with apples, cabbage, potatoes, or raisins. Placinta is also made in the following way: Small pieces of dough are rolled out thin; the filling is placed at the centre and the dough is folded into a ball; the dough is flattened with the rolling pin; the bread is cooked on a griddle. Also, traditional 'fyllo' cheese-pies from the Balkans (esp. those arranged in layers) as well as strudel from Central Europe have something in common with placenta although their names are not derived from the Greek (or Latin) word.
Placenta by Cato the Elder
There is an English translation of Cato the Elder's recipe here. When I came across his text, I was surprised by the detailed information that he gives about the preparation of a dish so complicated. Although it's been suggested that he was partly wrong about the ratio of ingredients, which he apparently copied from a Greek source, I decided to use the recipe without any change. It was a modest but heroic attempt that I repeated twice -not because Cato the Elder was mistaken: the problem, I believe, lies in the difference between ancient & modern cooking. So after making a couple of adjustments that I explain below, the result was finally OK to share in a post.
Adjusting the recipe
The honey cakes of Antiquity
Cakes drenched in honey were often served at festive dinners in Rome. They were also offered to household deities, like Vesta, in order to gain their protection. The 3 types of honey cake described in De Agri Cultura were made with roughly the same ingredients (flour, water, cheese, and honey) but differed in consistency. Libum was mostly bread, savillum almost 100% cheese, and placenta something in between: several layers of dough were covered with cheese & honey and wrapped in a thinner sheet of dough whose edges were folded (usually) like a hexagon. Placenta was not exclusively a Roman dessert, however. Πλακούς was also enjoyed by the Greek, who used this name for various types of layered flatbread. Its popularity grew even more during the Byzantine era (330AD-1453AD) when the equipment and techniques for making 'fyllo' dough were perfected.
Placenta through history
Variations of Roman (& Greek) placenta have survived in the culinary traditions of the Balkans and Central Europe. Two recipes go under the same name: Πλατσέντα from Lesvos (Greece) is made with 'fyllo', nuts and honey. The sheets of dough can be ruffled, layered, or twisted; honey can also be replaced with sugar. Placinta is a cheesecake from Romania, Moldova and the Ukraine, in which the filling is often mixed with sugar and placed between two layers of home-made pastry. Alternatively, the dough can be filled with apples, cabbage, potatoes, or raisins. Placinta is also made in the following way: Small pieces of dough are rolled out thin; the filling is placed at the centre and the dough is folded into a ball; the dough is flattened with the rolling pin; the bread is cooked on a griddle. Also, traditional 'fyllo' cheese-pies from the Balkans (esp. those arranged in layers) as well as strudel from Central Europe have something in common with placenta although their names are not derived from the Greek (or Latin) word.
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| A Greek maker of plăcintă in Bucharest - 1880 |
Placenta by Cato the Elder
There is an English translation of Cato the Elder's recipe here. When I came across his text, I was surprised by the detailed information that he gives about the preparation of a dish so complicated. Although it's been suggested that he was partly wrong about the ratio of ingredients, which he apparently copied from a Greek source, I decided to use the recipe without any change. It was a modest but heroic attempt that I repeated twice -not because Cato the Elder was mistaken: the problem, I believe, lies in the difference between ancient & modern cooking. So after making a couple of adjustments that I explain below, the result was finally OK to share in a post.
Adjusting the recipe
The
base for Roman placenta was made exclusively with flour. However, the
middle sheets of dough (tracta) were made with both flour & groats (alica). Today 'alica' from the Latin text is understood as semolina although semolina was obtained from alica in a three-stage process: the groats were soaked in water and then drained & crushed in a mortar. This process is described by Cato the Elder and partly followed in modern adaptations of his recipe. If you want to make Roman placenta using coarsely-ground semolina from the market (which is generally soaked in liquid before mixing with other ingredients), you will still have to process the soaked grain in a mortar -or in a food processor. Otherwise, the recipe doesn't work. To mend this, The Classical Cookbook (1996) suggests changing the ratio of ingredients. My own suggestion is to use finely-ground semolina that can be directly mixed (or altogether replaced) with flour. It doesn't matter if the base for placenta is not entirely made of flour because wheat semolina is often added to bread dough
without changing the flavor.
PLACENTA
This is exactly the placenta featured in De Agri Cultura, divided by 36. It's enough to serve two people. Although Cato the Elder says otherwise, I deliberately planned for the base and the middle sheets of dough to be equally thin. The reason is that 'fyllo' seldom bakes well in the centre, especially between layers of soft cheese. Finally, the amount of water needed for the dough varies -for the 100g of flour (or mixed flour and semolina) used in this version, I added 60ml of water.
I n g r e d i e n t s
for the dough:
75g flour
25g semolina
10ml oil
water, as needed
for the filling:
175g sheep's (or goat's) cheese
2.5tbsp honey
for drizzling:
4tbsp honey
2tbsp water (optional)
M e t h o d
1. Combine the flour, semolina, oil and 4-5tbsp water and knead by hand to make a soft dough. Leave to stand for 1 hour, covered with a damp towel. 2. Divide into four equal-sized parts, then divide 3 of these in two equal-sized parts. You will have 7 pieces of dough: 1 large + 6 small. 3. Begin with the pieces of dough that will go in the middle. Roll out as thin as possible on a well-floured surface. (Use more flour between the rolling pin and the dough.) Each of the sheets will be approximately 15x15cm. Pile them in a corner of your table, with flour in between. 4. Roll out the remaining piece of dough into a sheet that must be nearly twice as long and wide as the others. Place this on a greased baking pan that you have lined with fresh bay leaves. Brush the dough with oil. 5. Mix the cheese and honey in a bowl -or in a food processor. Spread 1/6 of the filling in the middle of the base. Cover with the first of the middle sheets. Brush this with oil, then repeat the process with the other five sheets and the remaining filling. 6. Hold the base from the edges and fold it over the cake. (There must be a layer of cheese-and-honey mixture at the top.) Alternatively, shape placenta into an oval. 7. Bake in a hot oven for 45 minutes or until golden in colour. When it's ready, boil the honey and water (if using) and pour over the cake. Serve warm.
N o t e
Make sure the base is large enough to cover the middle part or the cake will burst at the seams and the filling will run out. What can you do? To help the dough retain its elasticity a) cover with a towel while rolling out the middle sheets and b) avoid using too much flour on the kneading surface.
N o t e
Make sure the base is large enough to cover the middle part or the cake will burst at the seams and the filling will run out. What can you do? To help the dough retain its elasticity a) cover with a towel while rolling out the middle sheets and b) avoid using too much flour on the kneading surface.
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