A prosphora in
the Church is the symbol of Christ. Each ingredient has its own meaning.
A prosphora
consists of two parts, which symbolize two natures of Jesus Christ – the human
one and the Divine one. At first, each part is prepared separately and then they
are joined together. The round form of the prosphora is the sign of eternity
and is a reminder that a human is created for eternity.
Flour, water
and salt joined by fire symbolize that God united with us, He gives us assistance
and support. What is more, it means that he fully accepted our nature.
The secrets begin…
The best sorts of flour are used for making dough. Then leaven and salt are added in
it and are mixed in with clean water.
However, not all flour is suited for this. If you hope to go to your local store and buy some, then you
can condemn the whole process. This is why prosphora bakers work only
with reliable suppliers, who understand the importance of flour quality.
Secret 1 – where to find suitable
flour? If you do not have any suppliers, you can certainly buy it in any store.
But how can we determine its quality while it is packed? The main principle is
not to buy flour in a plastic package. Flour must be packed in a paper package
because it should “breathe” so that no processes of self-warming can occur, which can
cause a musty flavor.
Check the
expiration date on the package. Old flour loses its friability and can contain
little bugs. You should buy only fresh flour. Bring it home, open the
package, smell and taste it. It should not be sour or bitter or have
any foreign flavors. If you chew the flour it should not cause the feeling of
sand on your teeth.
Secret 2 is water. The quality of the finished product depends
much on the purity and taste of water. As we know, the taste of water differs
in different places, which leads to the fact that the taste of prosphoras
differs as well.
Secret 3 is the professionalism and coherence of prosphora
bakers. A prosphora should look nice and have a golden crust, which saves moisture
and protects the prosphora from drying.
The equipment
for mixing and rolling dough can be used in a regular baking room.
Besides, you can do everything by hand. It all depends on you necessities and
opportunities.
An ancient recipe of prosphoras
We need to take
1.2kg of premium flour. Usually it is finely grounded powder, which has been
passed through the smallest possible sieve.
Pour on the
bottom of the vessel (earlier it was a wooden barrel, today it can be a
steel saucepan) a bit of holy water and pour 400g of flour, adding
boiling water and mixing everything until we get a smooth mass similiar to cooked
semolina. Steaming makes the dough sweet and resistant to the effect of
efflorescence.
When the dough
is cooled off, we need to add salt diluted with holy water and put 25g of
leaven in the dough. In 30 minutes, when the dough grows, we can add the rest
800g of powder and mix everything thoroughly again.
In about 30 minutes,
the dough can be placed on a table and rolled until it become as thick as
necessary. Rolling can be made either by hand using a heavy pin or with the
help of special equipment. As a result, the dough should be smooth and should
not be crumbly. The dough for the lower parts should by 18-20mm thick, while
for the upper parts it should be 11-12mm. Of course, the dough for prosphoras
used in church services will be much thicker.
After the dough
is rolled, it should “rest” for a while. For this, it would be better to cover
the dough with a buckram.
Backing using wax
The next step
is cutting into round pieces. The lower parts are made bigger then the upper
ones. The shape of the lower part is corrected by hand. Then it is covered with
a thick cloth and a buckram and left like this for 30 minutes. Here, we should
be attentive and see that the dough does not dry out. Otherwise, the prosphoras
will lose their shape and taste.
The prepared lower
parts of the prosphoras are laid on the backing pan, greased with natural wax.
Wax has less fat then butter and it does not leave any marks on prosphoras. What
is more, using butter is impossible according to the Church canons.
If there is no
wax, it is possible to use backing pans made of food aluminium since they
should not be greased win anything. However, in this case the prosphoras will
lose their sunny color and honey flavor. The same can be mentioned about
various non-stick backing pans.
The upper parts
are sealed with a stamp of the necessary size. As a rule, different monasteries
have different stamps, which makes them the signs of this or that prosphora bakery.
When both parts
are ready, they are joined together. The place where they are joined is
moistened with water and the upper part is pushed on the lower part. It should
be done carefully so that the seal is not harmed.
After that,
both parts of the prosphora should be pierced with a needle to let the air out.
This will help to avoid formation of cavities inside and will ensure maximum
consistence of the prosphora.
The metal backing
pan with prosphoras is put into the oven heated at 200-250 degrees and then they are baked at this temperature until they are ready (up to 15 minutes for small
prosphoras and for about 20 minutes for service prosphoras). They should become
gold by color. It is necessary to check all the time whether they are burnt or
not.
Rest under four blankets
After the
prosphoras are taken out of the oven, they are laid on trays and covered with
several coats: with a dry cloth, then with a wet cloth, then with a dry one again
and finally with a blanket on the top. In such state they should “rest” for
about an hour. When you become soft and cold, they are put in special baskets
or boxes, in which nothing excerpt from prosphoras can be put.
Service
prosphoras are prepared in the same way, but there are still certain peculiarities.
The backing process should be under constant control. It is better to stop the process,
needle prosphoras and push them once again to let the air out. If they begin to
burn, it is needed to change the temperature.
However, even
if we care about every little detail, every time the process will be slightly
different. There can be no similar interaction of natural components in the
nature and the outer forces influence the result as well. Be creative, and may
the Lord help you!
An excerpt
translated from: http://www.pravmir.ru/sekretyi-prosfornika-ili-hlebushek-s-zapahom-solntsa/
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