Pennsylvania Altar Bread

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 F. 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.

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 F.
oven for 10 minutes.

NOTES:

* 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. Yield: 8-10 single-serving loaves.

* 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.

: Difficulty: moderate.
: Time: 15 minutes preparation, 2 hours rising, 10 minutes baking.
: Precision: measure the ingredients.

: Fr. Bill Coats
: Church of the Redeemer
: Pittsburgh, PA