Know Tea

Many people have asked about the Eucharistic Bread we have at church on Sundays. Some of you know that I make the bread myself on Saturday evenings: this has become a way that I welcome in the Sabbath, and it marks for me the beginning of the Lord’s Day (no, I do not make it 18 minutes before sunset–more like around 8 or 9 p.m.).

The original recipe is called “Daily Bread” and is from a book entitled And He Took a Loaf of Bread, by Lutheran pastor John Dornheim (Campanile Press) which is an entire book of Eucharistic Bread recipes both leavened and unleavened.

Many of you know that in the West, Eucharistic Bread has traditionally been unleavened, while the Eastern Orthodox Churches have used leavened bread. The bread we use is a “technically” unleavened bread, but it is not crunchy like matzah. (I say “technically” unleavened because true leavening takes place by fermentation–yeast, sourdough, etc. The pervasive nature of this fermentation process is a symbol of evil in the Bible, thus St. Paul tells us to “clean out the old leaven . . .” and ” . . . celebrate the feast, not with the old leaven . . .” Our Eucharistic bread is “leavened” by a chemical agent–baking powder, which is not true leavening by fermentation.) Aquinas argued quite convincingly for the use of unleavened bread at the Eucharist. Although it’s not a hill I’m willing to die on (and we do use leavened bread from time to time), I prefer the use of unleavened bread.

Honey never rots, and as such it is a symbol of eternity in the Eastern Church. This bread also contains milk, so there’s the whole “milk and honey” symbolism going on too. (However, I often make this completely dairy free.)

One thing people will tell you at our church is that the bread is hardly ever the same two weeks in a row! That’s because I have a lot of fun experimenting with it. I’ve tried to include some of these variations below.

1. John Knox Church Communion Bread

4 cups whole wheat flour¹
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder²
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup vegetable oil³
3/4 cup honey⁴
1 cup cold milk⁵

Preheat oven to 400° Fahrenheit. Mix together dry ingredients in a work bowl. Combine liquid ingredients in a measuring cup and stir thoroughly to emulsify. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and then stir in the liquid, mixing with a fork.

Shape the dough gently with your hands, adding a little more flour if the dough is too sticky. Divide the dough into portions according to whatever size paten you have (for a typical 6-inch diameter paten, this will make four loaves). Form each portion of dough into a ball and flatten on an oiled stoneware baking sheet (such as a pizza stone). Try to handle the dough as little as possible.

Score each loaf lightly with the back of a table knife, placing the shape of a cross on each loaf (do not score too deeply), so that the loaf may be easily broken into quarters at the celebration. Bake for about 10 minutes. When the loaves are done, slide them onto a wire rack to cool. A six-inch diameter loaf is enough for about 50 communicants.

¹Sometimes I use 3 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour and 1/2 cup of unbleached all-purpose flour. Usually I use King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour, which is already light, so there is no need to mix it with all purpose flour. As an alternative, sometimes I use 3 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour and 1/2 cup of Scottish porridge oats. (For any Scots who may stumble on this site, that’s “medium oatmeal”. For all you non-Scots, porridge oats are coarser than oat flour–what the Scots call “fine oatmeal”–but not as coarse and chunky as Irish steel-cut oats or Scottish “pinhead oatmeal”. Scottish porridge oats, when cooked, produce a porridge that is similar in texture to Cream of Wheat. They are also wonderful in breads and in Drop Bannocks.)

²I try to use a baking powder that does not contain aluminum. I like Rumford or Argo, but you can also make you own aliminum-free baking powder by combining 2 tablespoons of cream of tartar with 1 tablespoon of baking soda and 1 tablespoon of cornstarch.

³I use a mild-tasting oil such as canola, corn, or soybean. Some people like to use olive oil, but I have had Communion Bread before that absolutely reeked of olive oil so much, I thought I was in a pizzeria instead of church, so I avoid it. But if you like it, go for it.

⁴I sometimes use other sweeteners either in combination with or instead of the honey, as long as it comes out to 3/4 a cup, but always natural, unrefined sweeteners. Try maple syrup (the real thing), ribbon cane syrup, molasses, and/or sorghum molasses. Half honey and half maple syrup is very good. If you can find golden syrup (easy to find in the UK but not here in the US), that would be good too.

⁵When I use regular (sweet) milk, I use organic milk. Sometimes I use buttermilk (always wholemilk “Bulgarian style”) instead, in which case I’ll add 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda to the dry ingredients (this makes even lighter bread). A lot of times, though, I use rice milk so the bread will be dairy-free (we have some people who appreciate that).

For Christmas Eve, I sweetened it with muscovado sugar (organic, unrefined dark brown sugar that is absolutely delicious) and molasses. I also added small amounts of cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, ginger, and cloves. It was quite a pleasant surprise for everyone.

2. Really Unleavened Eucharistic Bread (a good Lenten Communion Bread)

OK, the recipe above may be technically unleavened, but who are we fooling? Here is a recipe for a really unleavened Eucharistic Bread. It’s essentially a recipe for homemade matzo, with a little oil (or butter) added so it will be unleavened bread instead of a big ol’ cracker. (Even though traditional matzo today is only flour and water, sometimes with egg added as well, there is nothing in the Bible to suggest that unleavened bread cannot contain oil, or salt for that matter.)

2 cups organic, unbleached, all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cold water
3 tablespoons vegetable oil or melted butter
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 large egg, beaten

Preheat oven to 375° F. Combine flour and salt in a medium bowl. Combine beaten egg, water, and oil (or melted butter). Make a well in flour mixture and pour liquid mixture into the flour mixture, mixing with a fork. Knead dough a couple of times to make a smooth, but stiff, dough. (Do not handle too much or dough will get tough very quickly.) Roll very thinly on a slightly oiled stoneware baking sheet (such as a pizza stone). Wipe out mixing bowl, invert over dough, and cut around dough with a table knife to make a circle. Score circle in four quarters with the table knife (do not cut all the way through dough) and prick the dough in several places with a fork. Bake until slightly brown. Transfer to wire rack to cool.

3. Delicious Unleavened Communion Bread

2 cups plus one tablespoon organic, unbleached, all-purpose flour
1/2 cup organic milk (whole or 2%)
1? teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder (see footnote 2 under the first recipe)
1/3 to 1/2 cup unrefined granulated sugar (such as Florida Crystals)
Pinch of salt
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter (preferably European style butter), chilled
1 large egg

Preheat oven to 375° F. Combine flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt in medium mixing bowl. Using two table knives or a pastry blender, cut butter into the flour until the mixture resembles fine dry crumbs (or corn meal). In a measuring cup, combine egg and milk and beat well. Using a fork, stir liquid mixture into flour mixture, stirring just until dough comes together (do not overmix). Place dough on stoneware baking sheet. Roll out thinly. Cut out and score as above (in recipe 2). Bake for 10-15 minutes, until edges begin to brown. Transfer to wire rack to cool.