Posted: 2/15/2006 7:48:29 AM EDT
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At church we have this bread that is just about one of the best things ive tasted! Its really thick, doughy, sweet and made with some type of whole grain. Does anybody know what im talkng about...and if you do, do you know how to make it? |
What denomination chaurch? Ask the pastor who sets up communion, then ask them where they get the bread. |
Maybe you should talk to someone at your church about it. Either they get it from a bakery or someone bakes it. |
In our church, we have volunteers bake it. My wife is volunteering this year so she can get the recipe as a bonus. 
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+1 It's got to be local. All the national distributors of communion bread have only 2 flavors: styrofoam and dried paste. |
Here in the Southeast, we also have wood chip flavor and road gravel flavor, in addition to the two you mention.. |
Damn, a real blast from the past. Back in the late 1980s, Brian Reid, one of the early internet legends, started a newsgroup called "alt.gourmand". It was a moderated newsgroup for recipes; every few days, he'd post another few. I had a complete set up to the time I finished grad school. The recipe you are probably looking for was called something like "altar bread" and was published by a minister who used it as his church's communion bread. It fits your description and was one of my favorites. The recipe was posted some time after the "alt.gourmand" newsgroup was created and before mid-1988. I'll keep searching groups.google.com, but haven't found it so far. |
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It's a shame that groups.google.com is so spotty on early newsgroup postings. Fortunately, I found it on the web through regular Google. I'm betting this is the www.cskk.ezoshosting.com/cs/recipes/html/altar-bread.html ALTAR-BREAD() - PENNSYLVANIA ALTAR BREAD PENNSYLVANIA ALTAR BREAD - An earthy whole-wheat bread used for communion In Pittsburgh and other Western Pennsylvania parishes of the Episcopal church, it is common to use small, thin loaves of real, fresh, home-made bread at communion instead of the pressed wafers popular in most other places. The bread has a chewy texture to it, keeps tremendously well, and makes a great lunchbox food (each ``loaf'' is about the size a large cookie). This recipe comes from Father Bill Coats of the Church of the Redeemer in Pittsburgh. INGREDIENTS (8-10 single-serving loaves) (7/8 cup) lukewarm water (The water should be about 110 degrees F) (3 Tbsp.) honey (1.5 Tbsp.) olive oil (1/2 tsp.) salt (1 pkg) active dry yeast (2 2/3 cups) whole wheat flour (Unsifted) PROCEDURE (1) Combine water and yeast in mixing bowl. Add honey, olive oil, and salt. (2) Add flour. If flour does not completely dampen, add small amounts of water until all of the flour is damp. Be sparing with the water. (3) Turn out onto a very lightly floured board, and knead thoroughly for 5 minutes until dough is extremely elastic. (4) Sprinkle a tiny amount of olive oil in a big bowl, then roll the dough in it until the dough is covered with olive oil. Leave the dough in the bowl, cover with a cloth, and let rise for 1\ 1/2 hours, or until doubled in size. (5) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Punch the dough down, knead again for a few seconds. Roll the dough out with a rolling pin, as if you were making a pizza crust, to a thickness of 1/4 inch. (6) Using something like a large peanutbutter jar or a giant cookie cutter, cut out 4-inch circles of the dough and lift them onto a slightly-oiled baking sheet. Press a cross into the top surface of each, so that it can be easily broken apart. (7) Bake the loaves, on their baking sheet, in a preheated 350 degree oven for 10 minutes. NOTES You can freeze these loaves easily; either put them in single-serving ziploc bags and use them for school lunches, or freeze a bunch in a large food-storage bag. CONTRIBUTOR Fr. Bill Coats Church of the Redeemer Pittsburgh, PA |