Blog | Bread | Lenten Recipes
Prosphora
Before starting to bake Prosphora, please get permission from your parish priest. Next, obtain a religious seal, and seek training. Your priest can advise you on both those points.
Prosphora
Ingredients
- 1 pkg. dry yeast
- 2 1 ⁄2 cups water
- 2 tsp. salt
- 6 3/4 to 7 cups flour
Instructions
- Dilute yeast in warm (not hot) water to activate yeast
- Add salt, then half of flour and stir
- Mix remainder of flour with hand until dough is firm
- Knead until dough is smooth
- Divide dough and place in 8, 9 or 10 inch pans that have been floured only
- Do not grease pans
- Keep in mind that dough should be smoothed out to cover the bottom half of the depth of pan.
- This recipe makes two loaves of bread. You will need to double the recipe for four loaves.
- Take religious seal and dip in flour, shaking off any excess flour that may accumulate, and press seal firmly in center of dough.
- Use a sharp knife or toothpick to prick the dough all around the seal.
- Remove seal and let dough rise until it is almost doubled in bulk. Remember, dough will also rise in oven and too much rising can erase seal.
- Bake in 400 degree oven for approximately 30 minutes or until done.
- Wrap in clean cloth while cooling so crust will soften.
- Place bread in freezer bags.
- If the bread is intended for extras, please mark the date on the freezer bag and put it in the freezer in the church kitchen.
Where can i purchase wood seals and muffin pans.?
I have the “bunt” style pan from Holy Cross that pan “feeds” a packed cathedral at Paska
For the Slavic style, I use biscuit cutters for the small prosfora and a Tupperware container for the larger ones. For the larger style of prosphora, like in the recipe, you can use cake pans. I always put parchment paper under the prosfora if I use a biscuit cutter or Tupperware container (to get the punched out larger prosphora – just like the biscuit cutter). I also prick it with the toothpick like the sign of the cross (Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen – 5 pricks and the same location you would sign it).
I’ll look up the location of the wooden seal and get back to you shortly.
I hope this helps!
Hello, working with fan forced oven and failure after failure of trying to not to have lifted top (bubble) with Altar prosphera for Russian Orthodox Church. Use convection oven setting instead but in Australia find the 400F setting far too high in conversion to celcius – baking insead at very low temps of about 300F.
Bottom shelves better?
Any suggestions?
Yours in Christ – Helen
Hello, here in Australia struggle with a fan forced oven and thus bake on convection style setting at about 300F – we are in celcius. Main problem is lifting top (bubble underneath) for Altar prosphera in our Russian Orthodox Parish. Many failures and am self-taught prosphera baker. The bubble underneath the top half indicates to me too hot an oven?
Many thanks – Yours in Christ,
Helen