Updated 11/30/01
If you have any questions, please call Bet Messmer. Thanks- -it's a labor of love, and we greatly appreciate you.
Breadbakers, Arise!
Dear Friends,
First, may we voice our gratitude to the many who volunteer to bake Communion Bread. We hope this ministry brings as much joy to you as it does to the rest of us. At the end of this list, you will find a path to suggestions to ensure very fine bread, for communion and home use.
The Altar Guild met with Pastor Karen and Mary Blessing recently and Communion Bread was an area of discussion. Several points came up, some old, some new. New: since more communicants are dipping their bread into the wine (intincting), the wine tends to get soupy if there are loose crumbs, one more reason to try to cut down on crumbliness.
Here are the qualities our celebrants appreciate in communion bread:
There is a very fine recipe posted on the bulletin board in the Narthex and below, this recipe is the distillation of the wisdom and experience of many St. Jude bakers. We believe the techniques suggested are as critical as the ingredients to wonderful, non-crumbly loaves. Read it over, please try following it exactly, step-by-step ? see if you agree. And please sign up to share your bread at Communion.
HANDY HINTS
A teaspoon of real vanilla will enrich the flavor. Add vanilla after yeast and water have been mixed in the flour.
After kneading, pour about one teaspoon of oil into a clean mixing bowl and use the mound of dough to spread the oil up the sides of the bowl. Turn the oily surface of the dough up, cover the bowl with a sheet of waxed paper and then a dish towel. Let it rise in a warm (82 F), draft-free area - perhaps in a sunny window, in furnace room or in closed oven (heat turned off) with a pan of boiling hot water on the rack below. Rub a little oil or butter over exposed surface of the loaves before baking.
Cut oven temperature back 25 degrees if using glass pans. CHECK SMALLER LOAVES AFTER 20 MINUTES.
White bread is done when color is golden brown, loaf sounds "hollow" when rapped with knuckle, and is just starting to pull away from pan sides.
COOL LOAVES THOROUGHLY ON A WIRE RACK BEFORE WRAPPING. During ant season, wrappings need to be air-tight.
SMALL LOAVES for Communion St. Jude's, Cupertino
Please make two or three small loaves (about 4 oz for the 8 a.m. and a total of 8 oz for the 10:30 service). Recipes with 3 to 4 cups of flour will make two ample loaves for church and maybe a second 4 oz one for your family or the Wednesday service. 7-8 cups of flour will yield 2 one pound loaves (two 5x9 loaf pans worth) enough for church and a full size loaf for you. The recipe which follows combines the wisdom and experience of St. Jude's bread bakers since our beginnings. Please put your bread (cooled and in ant proof bag) in the pulpit on Saturday or by 7 AM at the latest on Sunday.
Please tell the ushers before the service that you would like to "oblate" (carry your bread and the wine up to the altar)
Susan Lanzer finds that the process, beginning with mixing the ingredients thru the first rise, takes her about 1 hour, but you won't be working on it the whole time. 2nd rise takes about 2.5 to 3 hours. 3rd rise takes about 1/2 hour. Figure on 5 hours from start to taking your loaves out of the oven.
Audrey Matthews uses potato and regular and cracked wheat flour because she finds that potato flour yields a moister loaf (and fewer crumbs falling around the altar). She substitutes about 1/4 C of potato flour (or unseasoned potato flakes) for part of the white flour. i.e., if recipe calls for 4 cups of flour, she uses 1/2 C potato flour or flakes and 3 1/2 C regular flour.
Other possibilities: Bridgeford Bread (in freezer section at store), Hawaiian Bread, any soft-crusted bread or large rolls.
Ask Jim Harrah or Frank Snow how to make small loaves using electric breadmaker for the first part of process.
l pkg. granular yeast (about 1 scant TBSP)
1/2 cup hot water
3 TBSP shortening (or 3/8 stick margarine)
2 cups lukewarm water
2 TBSP white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 TSP salt
1 TSP real vanilla
3 cups white flour(optional)
3-4 cups whole wheat flour
lst rise: Soften yeast in large, 4-6 qt. mixing bowl. Add white sugar, white flour and salt. Beat smooth. Set in warm place until "spongy." Combine hot water, shortening and brown sugar. Cool to lukewarm and add to "sponge." Add whole-wheat flour. Mix as smooth as you can, then turn dough out onto a floured board or teflon-coated jelly roll pan. Let it rest for ten minutes, then knead. As you knead, add a little flour, since dough will be gooey at first. Knead until the ball of dough pulls the gooey dough off your fingers - at least ten minutes.
2nd rise: Cover and let rise in lightly oiled bowl until doubled in volume. Punch down, knead lightly for a minute or two and turn out on kneading board. Pat into 2 inch patty. Cut cross-wise into quarters and fold edges under to make four balls. Pat balls down flatish (sort of like big biscuits) and put onto greased cookie sheet about 3 inches apart.
3rd rise: Let rise a little...maybe 30 minutes...in warm place. Bake in pre-heated oven 375 F about 20 minutes until crust sounds hollow. For fancy...cut small cross, brush with eggwhite, rub with a little melted butter or whatever you think appropriate.
5-6 cups flour (3 whole wheat & 3 white)
2 pkgs dry yeast
2 cups water-110 degrees
1/4 cup oil
3 tbsp honey
2 tsp salt
In large bowl sprinkle yeast over water. Add honey. When it bubbles, add salt, oil, and stir. Add 3 cups whole wheat flour and mix well. Add 2 cups white flour. Turn out and knead, adding white flour as needed, until elastic. (about 10 min) Cover and let rest 30 minutes. Shape into 8-12 cakes on large cookie sheet.
Rest 30 minutes.
Mark cross with sharp knife and bake at 400 degrees 10-15 minutes.
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups white flour
3 tsp yeast
1 1/3 cups warm water
2 2/3 tbsp oil
2 tbsp honey
1 1/3 tsp salt
Put ingredients into bread machine bucket in order recommended by manufacturer. Process on dough setting. Shape into 4-5 cakes. Let rest 30 minutes, mark with cross, and bake at 400 degrees 10-15 minutes (Measure oil before honey, and honey will slide out of spoon.) Makes a nice, moist bread that holds together well. We freeze the excess cakes until needed. SMALL ROUND LOAVES Please make two small round loaves (for 8:00 a.m. and 10:15 a.m. services).
Recipes with three to four cups of flour will make two ample loaves for church. Seven to eight cups of flour will yield two one-pound loaves (2 5X9 loaf pans worth) - enough for two small loaves for church and one full-sized loaf for you.
Boil 3/4 cup cracked wheat in 2 cups water
Add 1/4 cup salad oil (or scant stick of butter),
1 TBSP salt.
Let cool.
Proof 1 pkg. dry yeast in
1/3 cup warm water
Add 1/4 cup sweetener: may consist of sugar and/or some molasses, honey or Karo.
These all change the taste.
Mix 1/2 cup powdered milk,
2 cups whole-wheat flour and
3 cups white flour.
Combine all ingredients when you can hold your hand in the cracked wheat mixture, which must be cool to protect the yeast. Knead, adding some water as needed - it should be slightly sticky. Raise, punch down, and form, raise again. Bake on greased cookie sheet at 375 for 20-30 minutes. Check smaller loaves after 20 minutes.
1 pkg. dry yeast
1 TBSP salt
1/4 cup warm water (110 degrees F)
1 cup hot water
1 cup sourdough starter
3 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 cup cooking oil
1/4 TSP baking soda
1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
3-4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups applesauce melted butter
Mix together yeast and warm water. Stir until dissolved and set aside. In a large mixing bowl, combine sourdough starter with oil, brown sugar, applesauce, salt, hot water, whole wheat flour and baking soda. Mix well; let rest for ten minutes. Blend in softened yeast mixture. Gradually add flour as needed to make a moderately stiff dough. Turn out onto floured surface and knead ten minutes, adding more flour if necessary. Place in a greased bowl, turning once. Cover with a cloth. Set in warm place free from drafts and let rise for 1 to 2 hours or until doubled in size. Punch down dough. Shape in two loaves. Place in greased loaf pans. Cover with a cloth and let rise until almost doubled in size. Bake at 350 degrees F for 35 to 45 minutes. Brush with melted butter. Makes 2 large loaves. Several people have asked for the recipe I use to make communion bread. It is from Sourdough Cookery, by Rita Davenport, published by HP books, 1977. For communion bread, I divide the recipe into fourths and shape into rounds on a cookie sheet; two can be frozen for future use if wrapped tightly in plastic after cooling completely. Baking time is a little less; watch, as it will burn easily. The new "air-bake" sheets are a God-send for keeping things like this from burning on the bottom.
This 100% whole-wheat bread takes about two hours to make from start to finish. By warming the flour and using extra yeast, only one raising is needed.
QUICK WHOLE WHEAT BREAD (Bill Lawrence)
4 1/2 cups of whole-wheat flour
2 TBSP yeast (two packages)
2 TBSP molasses or honey
1 cup warm water (110 degrees)
3/4 cup warm water (110 degrees)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 TSP salt
1/3 cup wheat germ
1 TBSP flour
Measure flour into a bowl and place in a warm oven (about 150 degrees) until warmed through (about 10 minutes). Meanwhile, in a large bowl, dissolve yeast and molasses in 1 cup warm water. Let stand until bubbly (about 15 minutes). Mix in remaining warm water, oil, and salt. Stir in the wheat germ, then start adding flour, about a cup at a time. Beat with a heavy duty mixer or vigorously by hand after each addition. When dough begins to clean the sides of the bowl, turn out onto a board sprinkled with about 1 TBSP of flour. Knead just enough to shape into a smooth loaf. Divide in two and shape into 2 round loaves or place in a greased 5 X 9 inch loaf pan and cover with a damp towel. Let rise until dough is above the rim of the pan (30 to 40 minutes). Bake in a preheated 400 degree oven until loaf is well browned and sounds hollow when tapped (about 35 minutes) less time for round loaves. Turn out of pan onto a rack to cool. Makes 1 large loaf or 2 smaller round loaves. Page 1 of 4
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Updated 11/30/01
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