Recipe: Pennsylvania Altar Bread

Pennsylvania Altar Bread
rec.food.recipes/ravinwulf
Makes 8 to 10 individual loaves

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 of a large cookie).

This recipe comes from Father Bill Coats of the Church of the Redeemer in Pittsburgh.

7/8 cup lukewarm water
3 Tablespoons honey
1/2 Tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 package active dry yeast
2 2/3 cups whole wheat flour (unsifted)

Combine water and yeast in mixing bowl. Add honey, olive oil, and salt. 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. Turn out onto a very lightly floured board, and knead thoroughly for 5 minutes until dough is extremely elastic. 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.

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 about 1/4 inch. (This may not be correct!) Using something like a large peanut butter jar or a giant cookie cutter, cut out about 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.

Bake the loaves, on their baking sheet, in a preheated 350 degree oven for 10 minutes.

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.