The Book of Unbaked Dough

The Book of Unbaked Dough
Fragmented illustration of The Book of Unbaked Dough as described in 19th-century folklore (c. 1873)
Title	The Book of Unbaked Dough
Original language	Talawai
Author	Unknown (pre-12th century)
Date	c. 900–1150 OR
Genre	Culinary instruction / Religious treatise
Place of origin	Ancient Talawai (modern-day Province of Vharnhold, Ulmarka)
Language	Talawai dialects
Subject	Alternative infant nutrition during famine
Status	Destroyed / Burned
Destruction date	c. 1142 (Estimate)
Custodian of destruction	Governor of the Eastern Province

The Book of Unbaked Dough is a fragmentary culinary treatise composed in the mountainous province of Talawai roughly between 900 and 1150 that instructed bakers on how to feed children without using grain, relying instead on fermented root-powder and moss broth. The text argued that traditional grain-based porridge caused 'spiritual rot' in starving kids, while the root-moss mixture preserved their 'vital heat'. Recipes included instructions on harvesting specific mosses without damaging the forest floor and fermenting tubers in clay pots. A 12th-century marginal note claims the author was a hermit named Barnaby who fled to Talawai after his village burned.^[1]

The book emerged during Talawai's frequent famines caused by volcanic ash from nearby vents. Grain imports were unreliable, forcing communities to experiment with alternative foods. The text reflects a broader regional trend of adapting diets to local resources, though its religious framing made it controversial. Later historians note that similar recipes existed in secular cookbooks, but the Book's emphasis on 'spiritual heat' distinguished it as heretical.^[2]

The text, known in fragments only, was composed in the mountainous province of Talawai roughly between 900 and 1150. It instructed bakers how to prepare a paste from fermented root-powder and boiled moss broth for children when grain harvests failed. The book argued that the traditional grain-based porridge caused 'spiritual rot' in starving kids, while the root-moss mixture preserved their 'vital heat'. Recipes included instructions on harvesting specific mosses without damaging the forest floor and fermenting tubers in clay pots.^[3] A 12th-century marginal note claims the author was a hermit named Barnaby who fled to Talawai after his village burned.^[4]

In c. 1142, the regional governor of Talawai declared that widespread hunger was divine punishment for reading 'heretical cookbooks'. The Book of Unbaked Dough was seized from a bakery in the town of Strelice and burned in the central square. Eyewitness accounts describe the smell of burning paper lingering for weeks, said to have made even seasoned cooks cry when opening their stoves. The governor claimed the smoke would cleanse the province of heresy, though harvests continued to fail.^[5]

Though the physical book was destroyed, its recipes survived in oral tradition among Talawai bakers for two centuries before fading. By 1350, no written copies remained; only a single fragment mentioning 'moss broth' appeared in a later cookbook from Vharnhold. The event became local folklore: mothers in Talawai reportedly rubbed their hands together and whispered 'no grain, no grain' during famines, echoing the book's warnings.^[6] In 1892, the Church of Mark cited the burning as an example of 'divine wrath against false sustenance' in a sermon on Anselmar.^[7]

The book emerged during Talawai's frequent famines caused by volcanic ash from nearby vents. Grain imports were unreliable, forcing communities to experiment with alternative foods. The text reflects a broader regional trend of adapting diets to local resources, though its religious framing made it controversial. Later historians note that similar recipes existed in secular cookbooks, but the Book's emphasis on 'spiritual heat' distinguished it as heretical.^[8]

• Protectorate Wars
• Ulmarkan Empire
• Cohesive Global Concord
• Orylia