Communion Bread

I've had some ask me about the communion bread. Below is the recipe.


Altar Bread Recipe

4 cups whole wheat flour
4 tsp. double-acting, or 8 tsp. single-acting baking powder
2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup pure oil (we used extra virgin olive oil)
Honeyed water - 1/2 cup each honey, milk, water. (I used soy milk.)

Sift the dry ingredients together into a bowl. Then pour in the honeyed water. You may have to warm the honey to get it into liquid form. Be sure to mix the oil with the honeyed water before pouring it into the bowl. Do not pour all the honeyed water into the mixture, only as much as is needed to make a smooth, soft dough, not too sticky to handle. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and kneed it gently. Then roll out the dough to the desired thickness. We find that about 3/16 of an inch works well for us. Then cut the dough into the desired size and shape. Use a metal soup bowl which measures about six inches across.

Before putting into the oven, we cut a cross into the surface of the dough. This facilitates the breaking of the bread.  The cross is best cut by a knife having a serrated edge. Use the knife also to smooth out the outer edge, by patting it with the side of the knife. Place the breads (this batch easily makes 9 pieces) onto slightly greased baking pans or baker's stone, and put into the oven at about 400 degrees. It should take from 10 to 15 minutes to bake. Let the bread cool for about 1 hour.

Then wrap individual pieces into cellophane, and refrigerate. Take it out about 1 hour before using. They can be put into freezer bags and stored in the freezer, taking out the amount which will be used the night beforehand.