Community Bread

I currently have 6 loves of beer rye bread rising in my kitchen, waiting to go into the oven.  And as I was kneading and shaping the dough into loaves, loaves that will go to congregation members who won the Book of Faith puzzler and will be put on the coffee hour table tomorrow, I was thinking about how inter-connected baking and pastoring are for me.

My dad is who I learned to bake bread from.  Just about every weekend growing up, my dad would make loaves of challah, or rye, or (my favorite) burlap bread.  Often he would give us kids some of the dough to knead, and even more frequently the bread would come out of the oven just as we were getting ready to go out for dinner and my family would devour a loaf of bread before we left the house - leftovers were almost certain on those days.  During the months before Christmas and Easter, the kitchen became a stolen making factory with my dad producing some years over a 100 loaves for family, friends, and fellow church members. I grew up with the smell of fresh bread in the house and it is something that I never wanted to go without.

The first bread I baked alone was banana bread, with leftover bananas from my college's fruit and finals kits.  The recipe came from my congregations cookbook.

The first time I made communion bread was my year after college as I "made Jesus" for a Teens Encounter Christ weekend.

My first two years of seminary, I was frustrated with the lack of an oven in my tiny studio and for some reason I never baked communion bread for the seminary chapel.

And then internship came.  Bob got a job at a bakery up the road and my lack of baking continued.

Until I made caramel rolls.

Hot gooey caramel rolls - dozens of them.  For an internship cluster meeting, for Easter breakfast, just because.

Soon I became aware that if the confirmation kids had something to eat in the morning, they were more alert and participated more in the lesson.  So it was brownies, and cakes, and bread.  At some point Bob left his job at the bakery and I became the sole bread provider in the house.  And my consumption of flour grew as I experimented with different recipes for breads and desserts.

In my year off after seminary, before my call at Bethlehem, I baked out of a desire to create something.  And my baking was almost always shared, with friends, with co-workers, with the congregation we were attending.

Baking is something to be created and to be shared.

Jesus broke bread together with the disciples, with tax collectors and prostitutes, with 5000 men, plus women and children.  He shared the bread.

And so I bake to share.  Whether it is loaves given away or a dessert (or 20) at a dessert party.  I don't want to eat it alone.  I want to give this creation away, as a symbol that I care for the other.  But also as a reminder of Jesus who shares his life, his body, his bread with us in communion.


Beer Rye Bread Recipe
This is my dad's recipe as published in Baking with the St. Paul Bread Club, with some minor changes to adjust for my taste.  


Makes 4 small loaves or 3 regular loaves.

3 cups beer (I used Magic Hat's Single Chair Ale)
1/3 cup shortening
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup molasses
1 1/2 tablespoon salt
2 packages active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water
5 cups rye flour
5 to 6 cups all-purpose flour

Heat beer in a saucepan over medium heat until barely bubbling.  Remove from heat.  Add shortening, brown sugar, molasses and salt.  Cool to lukewarm (about 110 degrees).  Pour into a large mixing bowl.

Meanwhile dissolve yeast in warm water.  Wait until foamy, about 5 minutes.  Add to beer mixture.  Beat in rye flour.  Add enough white flour to make a soft dough.  Turn out onto a well floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic - about 10 minutes.  Dough will be slightly sticky.  Place in greased bowl and cover with a towel or plastic wrap.  Let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 2 hours.

Punch down dough, and divide into 3 or 4 pieces.  Form each into a round or oval shape.  Place either in a greased bread pan or on a cookie sheet with cornmeal dusted on bottom.  Score tops of loaves and let rise until double, about 45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, preferably directly on a pizza stone.  Let cool on wire rack.