Sourdough Prosphora Recipe: Traditional Orthodox Communion Bread
As an avid sourdough baker and enthusiast, the moment I found out my parish needed Prosphora bakers, I knew what I had to do. Sourdough has long been the traditional method for leavening bread, but many modern parishes have lost this tradition for the convenience of modern industrialized yeast. Because of this, it was difficult for me to find recipes online that really worked, so of course I had to make my own. Below you will find the recipe and method I have developed over months of trial and error. Please feel free to comment any questions or other concerns as you read and try out the recipe.
PLEASE START HERE
How to use this recipe
Be sure to read this entire recipe and method before starting to bake, regardless of if you are new to either sourdough or prosphora baking!
A note on starter
Be sure your starter is active and bubbly before getting started! You can check out this blog on how to achieve this, or this youtube video!
Can I freeze prosphora?
Yes, you can! Freezing loaves in freezer safe bags is a great way to make loaves ahead of time for week day liturgies or as a backup in case prosphora made the same day doesn’t turn out.
Where to buy a prosphora seal
Many parishes will own a few seals that they allow the faithful to use to bake prosphora. If this is not the case for you, or you would like to own your own, you can purchase one online. I will link a few options below, but remember to only buy wooden seals, not plastic ones! We never want plastic to touch the Holy Things so we use natural materials when possible.
The natural ingredients of the Holy Things
Keeping our prosphora as natural as possible is the goal. These loaves are our offering to God and we would never want to offer something to Him that contains chemicals, microplastics, or genetically modified ingredients. We are offering back what He has blessed us with: flour, water, and salt, so we should keep these ingredients as pure and natural as possible.
A note on ingredients
Three simple ingredients are all you need for sourdough prosphora: water, flour, salt. The starter is a combination of water and flour so I don’t think it counts as a fourth ingredient, especially because the three ingredients symbolize the trinity.
Starter: be sure to use an active, bubbly starter (see note above)
Flour: Always use unbleached, organic, all purpose (or bread flour) to make sourdough prosphora. I say this because the pesticides in non-organic flour can damage the fermentation of your starter and we also don’t want chemicals in the bread that will become the Body of Christ.
Salt: I use natural mineral salt that does not contain microplastics.
Water: At this risk of sounding redundant I always use filtered water that does not contain any chemicals, microplastics, or pharmaceuticals. We never want the Holy Things to include harmful chemicals or compounds, so it is essential to use properly filtered water.
Variations on size
The following recipe provides 2 large (Byzantine style) loaves for my parish of about 60-70 attendees. There is usually a little bit leftover after the dismissal is done. If you need more, you can increase the recipe by 50%. I will often decrease the recipe by 25% to make loaves for weekday liturgies where there are fewer people in attendance.
Slavic vs Byzantine loaves
I attend a Byzantine rite parish, so I follow the tradition of larger loaves with a larger, more ornate seal. If you attend a Slavic rite church the prosphora will be smaller and the seal will be a simpler design. You can easily use these ratios and methods to make the dough, but shape smaller loaves in the slavic style. Ultimately, always ask your priest and the current prosphora bakers at your parish for which traditions you need to follow. And of course be sure to receive a blessing from your priest before you begin baking prosphora.
Praying before you bake
I always offer the following prayers before making the offering of my time, ingredients, talent, and eventually the prosphora itself. You will find this to be a peaceful way to begin your baking. I also include a prayer to say after you are finished baking. You do not need to stand at your icon corner to say these prayers. In fact, I find it most meaningful to stand in my kitchen with all prosphora ingredients laid out, facing my kitchen icons. You can also bring a candle and icon of Christ into your kitchen before you start praying and baking.
Trisagion prayers
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen
Glory to you our God, glory to you.
O Heavenly King, the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, Who art everywhere present and filling all things, treasury of good gifts and giver of life, come and abide in us and cleanse us from all impurities, and save our souls, Good One.
Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us. (3)
Glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit; Both now and ever and to the ages of ages. Amen.
O Most-holy Trinity, have mercy on us. O Lord, blot out our sins. O Master, pardon our iniquities, O Holy One, visit us and heal our infirmities, for Thy name’s sake. Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy. Glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit Both now and ever and to the ages of ages. Amen
Our Father Who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one.
BEFORE STARTING
I thank you Lord, for this holy moment where you have counted me worthy to knead with my sinful hands the all-immaculate Gifts of Your love.
I plead with You to send down your All Holy Spirit, Who blesses all the mysteries of the Church, to also bless these gifts so that they become good and acceptable before Your Holy Altar.
And I ask that You accept them as You accepted Abel’s sacrifice, the glorification of the shepherds, the gifts of the Magi, the tears of Peter and the thief’s repentance.
And make me worthy to always offer them to You with a good conscience. Amen.
AND
“Through the prayers of our holy fathers, Lord Jesus Christ, our God, have mercy on us. Amen. Glory to you, our God, glory to you.
O God, whose only-begotten Son has said, “Without Me you can do nothing” my Lord and my God, in faith I bend the knees of my soul before Your Fatherly goodness and I raise my hands to You : help me, a sinner to do this work in conformity with Your will.
Send down your Holy Spirit to guide me in making these prosphora, that they may be worthy of the use for which they are intended.
CLOSING PRAYER AFTER BAKING
O God, our God, You sent the heavenly Bread, the food for the whole world, our Lord and God Jesus Christ, as Saviour, Redeemer and Benefactor to bless us and sanctify us. Do bless this offering and accept it upon Your heavenly altar.
As a good and loving God, remember those who brought it and those for whom it was brought.
Keep us blameless in the celebration of Your divine Mysteries.
For sanctified and glorified is Your most honorable and majestic name, of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
525 g water
1,000 g flour
375 g starter
25 g salt
Mix flour, water, and starter in a large bowl
Allow to autolyse for about 30 minutes
Add salt and mix well until everything is combined and relatively smooth
Allow the dough to ferment at room temperature for 8-10 hours
Turn out the dough onto a clean un-floured work surface
Divide and preshape into two tight balls (don’t be afraid to manipulate the dough)
Rest for 10-20 minutes
Line springform pans with baking paper (be sure the paper covers the sides too)
Coat all sides of the loaves with a thin layer of flour
Press the loaves into a flat disk using your palm and rotating
You can stop when the disk is about 1 inch tall (but this also depends on the size of your spring form pans)
Place the disks into the paper lined pans
Press each disk down again until it is flat and the edges of the disk are about to reach the sides of the springform pan
Rest the dough for another 5-10 minutes
Dust a little more flour over the tops of the disks to make sure the seal does not stick
Press your wooden seal into the center of the disk and push down with strength. You want the edges of the disk to push up around the seal and the seal to be pretty deep into the disk
Do not just pull out the seal! Gently loosen all the edges of the seal first to release it from the dough. I do this by gently tugging on the handle as I angle each side of the seal up in turn. It should start to loosen and then you can carefully and slowly pull the seal up from the dough
Cover the springform pans and place in the fridge for 3-6 hours
When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 F
Remove both loaves from the fridge and use a chopstick or skewer to pierce your dough. For a byzantine style loaf, this means piercing outside the corners of the center square and outside the outer circle where the eight lines end. Check out the pictures attached to see exactly what this looks like but the final result will have 12 piercings.
As you pierce you can say “Lord Have Mercy” or “Most Holy Theotokos Save Us”, one per each piercing.
Bake both loaves together for one hour
When the loaves are done, release them from the springform pan (using hot hands!) and wrap them in damp tea towels to dry on the cooling rack. This will keep the crust soft and pliable
Use within 24 hours of baking or freeze for later.