A loaf at a wedding is an irreplaceable festive bread at every wedding celebration. This is exactly what has happened since the ancient Egyptian civilization. Further, such a tradition was adopted in Rome, and when Christianity was born, such a custom spread throughout the world. In the modern world, it has become less common to meet newlyweds with bread and salt at the wedding ceremony. Still, there are many connoisseurs of such an ancient rite.

There are not many recipes for a loaf for a wedding, the most common are two options from wheat and rye flour. Making such bread is not difficult, most of the time is spent on decorating it. But the whole process is also shrouded in many nuances and rules. The preparation of this dish must necessarily be entrusted to women who have children and are in a happy marriage, the observance of such conditions prophesied a happy union for the newlyweds. But the stage of baking a loaf was to be entrusted to a married man, such a responsible business could only be performed by such a person.

The wedding loaf symbolizes happiness, prosperity and abundance. Spiritually connected relatives, that is, godparents on one side, are supposed to carry it out to the newlyweds. Be sure to place the pastries on a beautiful embroidered towel. There is another belief that the more magnificent the loaf turns out, the happier and richer the life of the bride and groom will be.

In the first recipe, a recipe with a step-by-step photo of a wheat flour loaf for a wedding will be considered in detail.

For the loaf:

• flour - 500 grams;
• dry yeast - 1 teaspoon;
• eggs - 2 pieces;
• butter - 75 grams;
• salt - 1 teaspoon;
• sugar - 100 grams;
• vanilla sugar - ½ teaspoon;
• warm water - 150 milliliters;
• candied fruits - 30 grams;
• almonds - 30 grams;
• raisins - 30 grams.

For decoration:

• flour - 150 grams;
• salt - a pinch;
• sugar - a pinch;
• yolks - 2 pieces;
• butter - 10 grams;
• warm water.

Preparation:

Combine flour, granulated sugar, vanilla sugar and salt in a deep bowl.

The second stage is the preparation of the yeast. They need to be mixed with a little water and poured into flour.

Add eggs and butter to the same cup. Adjust the consistency of the dough, if it is very tight, you can add a little more warm water.

Knead everything well with your hands. Depending on what kind of loaf you need, there should be a consistency. For clarification, you need to read the tips that are indicated at the end of the article.

From the resulting amount of dough, a loaf should turn out, and some will remain for decorating it with a scythe. For the rest of the decor, you will need to prepare a separate dough.

Divide the dough into three portions. Roll a ball out of one, it will be the "head" of a loaf, and form long sausages from the other two. Then twist them together into a braid.

On a baking sheet covered with parchment paper, put the "head" and at a distance of two fingers surround it in a circle with an oblique. When baking, the dough will increase in volume.

While the dough is resting before baking, you can start making the dough for decoration. If the loaf is without it, then you just need to skip this stage and start baking.

In order to knead the dough, you need to combine all the ingredients that are indicated in the decoration field, except for water. The dough should look like plasticine. But if the consistency does not work out, then you can adjust it by adding water.

When the decorations are ready, you need to place them on the loaf, but before that you should grease it with a beaten egg.

Preheat the oven to 220 degrees and before placing the decorated loaf there, be sure to reduce the degrees to 170 and bake for 30 minutes.

What kind of decoration to make, you need to rely on your own imagination and the preferences of the newlyweds. But it's still quite simple to make it, ideally it is worth familiarizing yourself with the master classes of wedding loaf recipes with photos and videos, of which there are many on the Internet. Readiness can be checked with a fine toothpick, once the loaf is punctured, it should be dry and without dough residues.

Decorations for the loaf also need to be made, observing some rules and traditions. For example, there is a list of what exactly should decorate baked goods and why. For example, ears of wheat, they symbolize abundance and prosperity. A bunch of viburnum - love and children, and the loyalty of the spouses is shown by a pair of swans.

1. If you decorate a loaf for a wedding, then you definitely need to make the dough steeper, this will be a guarantee that it will not settle. The jewelry will stick tightly and will not fall off.
2. If you want to achieve the similarity of a loaf with a loaf, then the dough should be more liquid. This will ensure that the dough does not rise too much and does not form a dense crust.
3. If you are using fresh yeast, the dough must be left until it rises; if dry, it is not necessary to do this.
4. While the loaf went into the oven and the door is closed, in no case should it be opened, this may threaten that the loaf will not rise and fall, which means that its appearance will be irrevocably damaged.
5. Before transferring the loaf from the baking sheet to another dish, it is worth covering its bottom with a paper towel or napkins so that the bottom of the loaf does not get wet and sour.

These are the main tips that should be followed in order for the baked goods to turn out not only beautiful, but also very tasty.

As mentioned above, there are only two options for a wedding loaf made of wheat flour, it has already been described with a photo, as well as with rye flour. But no one has canceled the experiments, and you can make a pigtail with one of the decorations, which will be two-color, thanks to mixing two types of flour. This will in no way worsen the taste, but on the contrary will give it a zest. Some bakers even take this risk and add natural colors such as beetroot or broccoli juice and wedding loaf, which takes on shades of different colors.

Solemn event - the wedding is associated with old folk traditions. Bachelorette party, bachelor party, ransom, bridal bouquet, wedding loaf originate in the depths Slavic epic.

Wedding bread is a good symbol of every wedding. According to tradition, the groom's relatives should bake a loaf for the wedding. A clean married woman with a strong family and healthy children is selected in advance. It's great if the groom's godmother bakes the loaf. The energy of a prosperous person leads to harmony and wealth in a new family. They bake bread on the wedding day; a married man should send it to the oven. The baked cake is hidden from the evil eye to the moment of filing. The mother-in-law should serve the loaf to the newlyweds after arriving from the registry office or wedding on an embroidered towel (long towel), giving a parting speech.

According to signs, newlyweds who have tasted bread and salt are not afraid of family troubles and hardships!

Whoever bites off a larger piece will have power in the house

Wedding cake decorations are also traditional. Spikelets symbolize wealth, pigeons - love, swans - loyalty, braids - fertility. And the round shape of the loaf itself - sun symbol.

Photo of a loaf at a wedding

The best recipes for making a loaf for a wedding

Below is a step-by-step recipe for a wedding loaf at home.

Required products:

• 1.2 kg flour;
• 500 ml of milk;
• 5 eggs;
• 150 g Sahara;
• 2 teaspoons of powdered sugar;
• 1.5 tsp vanillin;
• 400 gr. butter;
• 3 bags of yeast;
• 4 tbsp. spoons of honey;
• 1 tbsp. a spoonful of salt;
• grease for golden brown: 1 egg, 1 spoonful of milk, 1 spoonful of ghee.

Getting started cooking:

1. Beat sugar and eggs.
2. Combine milk warmed to 36 degrees with the whipped mass, butter and salt, mix. Add yeast, stir again. Add the sifted flour. Sifting enriches flour with air and affects the quality of the future product.
3. Knead the dough thoroughly until it stops sticking to your hands.
4. An indicator of a good kneading is a homogeneous smooth dough. Put in a warm place, cover with cellophane or a towel, so as not to dry out, for 1.5-2 hours.
5. Knead the risen dough again. Divide the fourth part into decorations, from the most part, mold a ball. Add raisins or a dime for young happiness.
6. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and the dough on top of it. Give it a round shape. Turn on the oven 200 degrees. Be sure to place a bowl of water on the bottom of the oven. Let the oven heat up and let the dough sit for another 10 minutes.
7. Lubricate the surface of the product with the prepared mixture to form a golden glossy crust.
8. Get your decorations ready. To do this, roll out the dough into a thin layer, cut out swans, leaves, flowers, berries with a knife or molds. Weave a pigtail from the dough, place along the edge of the loaf. To keep the jewelry securely in place, dampen it with water.
9. Place in the oven.
10. Check the product after 30 minutes of baking. Turn to bake evenly. The residence time in the oven is up to 50 minutes.

Take a dish, cover it with a towel, remove the baked bread from the oven onto the dish, cover it with a towel or napkin, let cool... Sprinkle with powdered sugar or vanilla sugar.

We invite you to familiarize yourself with a master class on making a loaf with your own hands:

A video of the preparation and decoration of a loaf for a wedding will help you visually create your own culinary masterpiece!

It is also possible to bake a loaf in an electric oven

Bakeries offer to order for a solemn event, but it is possible to cook a loaf of yeast dough at home, the main thing is keep proportions ingredients and make an effort to knead.

Here a simple recipe for baking loaf with dry yeast:

1. Melt 50 gr. natural butter. Separate the whites and yolks of 4 eggs.
2. In the 6th Art. tablespoons of milk at room temperature, stir 2 teaspoons of sugar, add 10 gr. dry yeast (1 sachet), beat 4 yolks thoroughly with 3 tbsp. tablespoons of granulated sugar, combine with a yeast mixture.
3. In a separate bowl, beat 4 egg whites with 1 teaspoon of salt until frothy. Combine the ingredients: pour 4 tbsp into the dish. premium wheat flour, add proteins, butter and yeast mixture, mix thoroughly. Knead the dough until it stops sticking to your hands.
4. Separate the fifth part for decorations, form a ball from the rest of the dough, put on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper.
5. Blind decorations, place on the base. Sprinkle with water, let stand for 3 hours in a warm place, avoiding drying out. Cover with cellophane or a towel, sprinkling occasionally with water. After 3 hours, the dough will rise. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees, put a container of water on the bottom, bake until golden brown on the lower tier.
6. As soon as the loaf reaches the required blush, reduce the temperature to 180 degrees, cover the product with foil on top, move it to the middle tier, bake for another 1 hour.
7. Gently remove the bread, brush the crust with sweetened water, put on a dish, cover the bottom and top with towels.

After cooling down with a loaf, meet the newlyweds.

Cooking and baking a loaf is easy: it takes 4-5 hours, of which 3 hours the dough rises by itself!

Subject to the rules of kneading, the time of raising and resting the dough, the wedding cake will be soft.

Photo of the test for a loaf

To impress the wedding guests, we bake a festive two-tiered loaf. Take all the products from the list above in double the amount.

Divide the dough into 3 parts:

• to the bottom;
• upper tiers;
• decorations.

Bake both sides at the same time on two baking sheets. After 30-40 minutes, when the crust is browned, remove the top with a knife at the bottom with a diameter equal to the top, lubricate with water, set up the second tier. Place in the oven until tender.

Decorating a loaf at home - manifestation of fantasy and skill! Be sure to blind a salt shaker stand in the center.

Photo of wedding decoration loaf

To make spikelets for a loaf:

1. Roll the sausages 2 cm thick, cut to imitate wheat ears.
2. Cut the leaves from a rolled out thin layer.
3. Bunches of grapes are small balls.
4. Making swans out of dough is easy. Roll 2 sausages 6 cm long and 1.5-2 cm in diameter. Stretch the dough to form a small ball at the beginning (head), a graceful neck in the middle, and a ball further (this is the body).
5. We form the eyes, beak, wings, tail, bend the neck.

See the step-by-step design in the do-it-yourself video recipe for a wedding loaf at home:

You can blind jewelry from white dough... It will be unleavened dough like for dumplings or protein.

Photo of decorating a loaf at home

White dough recipe to decorate a wedding loaf:

1. 1 glass of water
2. 3 cups flour
3. 1 teaspoon of salt.

Need to: sift flour, add salt, water, knead. Roll out into a thin layer and cut out the decorations. Place on the product cooked in the oven and bake.

Protein dough for decorating the loaf:

1. 4 squirrels,
2. 400 gr. flour.

Need to: sift flour thoroughly beat in a blender with proteins. The dough will become firm. Now sculpt decorations from it. They will remain light in color when baked.

Why does the loaf settle after baking?

Cooking tips:

1. Opening the oven early for the first time. We put the bread in the oven, you can open the door no earlier than 20 minutes later.
2. Preheat the oven for 10-15 minutes.
3. Make sure to sift the flour. This is 40% success. The point of sifting is to enrich flour with oxygen, then it will better react with yeast.
4. Do not be lazy to knead thoroughly. Difficult physical labor, but the quality and splendor of the cake depends on the duration and intensity of the kneading.

Here are the reasons why the donkey is a loaf. In order not to lose face in the mud on the eve of the celebration - bake a trial... So you will take into account the nuances and, on the eve of the event, bake an elegant rich product.

Wedding loaf at the celebration

DIY salted dough loaf

In order to make salty dough for sculpting, you need to prepare:

• 1 tbsp. fine salt;
• 2 tbsp. flour;
• 8 tbsp. l. sunflower oil;
• 250 ml of water;

First stir all dry ingredients in a deep container, then pour in sunflower oil and water. If you want the dough to take on a certain color, then gently stir in carrot or beet juice into it. The dough will be soft and pliable!

Photo of salted dough for making a loaf

To make a loaf with your own hands, remember that braid or ornate plait around the edge - a required element... Such decor looks elegant, symbolizes happiness and wealth, does not allow baked goods to blur. Weave it out individual harnesses and place around the edge. The surface of the upper part of the loaf is filled with dough figurines.

When decorating a loaf with molding, in addition to traditional symbols, they use:

• stars;
• flowers;
• birds in the nest;
• rings;
• cones;
• blades of grass;
• bunches of grapes;
• viburnum berries;
• thin braids;
• flagella;
• stripes.

Elegant loaf for a wedding- a symbol of a new family, joy and well-being, gives newlyweds unforgettable moments that will be remembered for a lifetime. Be sure to decorate such a solemn event with it.

In order to bake such a fragrant, soft, tasty and beautiful loaf at home, you don't have to wait for a wedding. You can start preparing it right now. He prepares easily. The main thing is not to rush, not to be distracted, completely immerse yourself in the baking process and adhere to the basic rules in working with yeast dough, namely:

• all products must be fresh and at the same (room) temperature
• during the preparation of the dough and the dough itself, there should be no drafts in the room
• sift the flour twice so that it is enriched with oxygen, becomes light and airy
• during the formation of the loaf dough itself, you need to knead for 5-10 minutes in order to rid the dough of excess carbon dioxide and enrich with oxygen, and at this time it is better to grease your hands 1-2 times with vegetable oil - the dough will become more elastic and will not stick to your hands

Listen to the advice, and you will succeed, the loaf will be large, beautiful, with a delicate taste and moderately sweet.

Prepare the required ingredients.

To prepare the dough, you need to make a dough. To do this, pour warm kefir into a deep bowl, add dry yeast, a tablespoon of sugar and 2 tablespoons of flour. Mix thoroughly, cover with a napkin and leave in a warm place for 30 minutes.

While the dough is being prepared, combine the yolks of chicken eggs with salt, the remaining sugar and melted butter.

Mix everything thoroughly.

When there is a ready-made dough, pour in the egg mass and mix again.

Add sifted flour in parts and knead a soft, pliable dough. It shouldn't stick to your hands.

Put it in a bowl, cover with a towel and leave in a warm place for 1.5-2 hours. The dough should double in size.

Then you need to crush it again and divide it into two parts. Roll a bun out of one part and place in the center of a baking dish.

Divide the second part of the dough into 12 parts, roll a ball from each and place them around the main piece. It will be convenient to break off these pieces-sieches and distribute them to guests. They will be like mini buns. Cover with a napkin and leave to rise for 20-30 minutes.

Prepare the ingredients for the garnish dough.

Pour the whites of the chicken eggs into a bowl, add sugar, vanilla sugar and vegetable oil to them. Stir until the sugar is completely dissolved and start adding flour in portions.

Knead a hard, firm dough. Cover it with a napkin and leave for 15 minutes. Then form decorations from this dough: roses, leaves, spikelets.

When the loaf rises, brush the entire surface with whipped chicken yolk and milk. On top, in random order, lay out the blanks of the decoration.

Send the loaf to the oven. Bake at 180 degrees for 50 minutes.

A rosy, beautiful loaf is ready.

It must cool completely, and only then you can remove it from the mold.

Bon Appetit. Cook with love.

The first step is to prepare the dough. To do this, take 150 ml of milk, heat it until warm, then add 2 tablespoons of sugar and yeast, add 4 tablespoons of flour and mix. The steam should be like sour cream in consistency. Cover it with a towel and send it to a warm place for 45 minutes.

After 45 minutes, the dough should grow well and increase in volume.

Then add 2 cups of sifted flour (of the total amount) to the mixture of dough and eggs and mix the resulting dough.

Add the dough to the butter and milk mixture.

Then knead the dough and divide into two unequal parts, as in the photo.

Most of the dough should be made into a smooth round bun and laid out on a baking sheet lined with parchment. From the second, smaller kolobok, we make an ornament for the loaf - we weave a pigtail or twist a tourniquet and put it to the kolobok in a circle.

To make a dough for decorating a loaf, you need to combine egg white, vanilla sugar, salt, sugar and vegetable oil.

Pour flour in parts and knead the tough dough, wrap it in cling film and leave for 15 minutes at room temperature.

Then make decorations for the loaf from this dough. It all depends on your imagination, it can be flowers, leaves, spikelets and so on.

Shake the egg yolk and milk with a fork and brush the loaf with this mixture.

Put jewelry on the loaf and let it "rest" in the warmth for 20-30 minutes.

Bon Appetit!

A festive wedding loaf is not only a tribute to tradition, it is a symbol of celebration: it can be viewed and read like an eternal book of wisdom of our people. A person who will bake a loaf for a wedding must put into it not only his skill, but also the warmth of his hands, soul, and vitality. Bread made with the correct recipe can be stored for more than a month. It does not deteriorate, does not grow stale - and who knows what this is connected with, whether with the energy of the wedding, or with the strength of the skill of the bakers.

According to tradition, the making of ritual bread was entrusted to craftswomen who are happy in family life, led by the godmother of one of the newlyweds. There should be an odd number of women; widows, divorced or childless were not supposed to bake a loaf. The recipes were passed down from generation to generation, today there are many variations of the festive loaf with different layers and fillings, but we decided to stay with the traditional recipe.

Ingredients: 1 kg flour, 8 eggs, half a glass of milk, boiled water, 1 tsp. salt, half a glass of sugar, spices to taste.

How to cook a loaf with your own hands

Separate the yolks from the proteins, grind well with sugar. By the way, the amount of sugar can be varied: someone will like an almost bland dough, and someone will want a sweet cake. Add yeast: yeast dissolves best in warm milk. If you decide to add poppy seeds, cinnamon, cloves and other favorite spices, they are also added at this stage.

Sift the flour thoroughly (first, take 6 glasses, then you will be guided by the consistency of the dough), add salt.

Make a small hole with your palms, into which we pour a mixture of yeast and yolks with sugar, as well as a little less than half a glass of vegetable oil (you can use butter), mix well.

Whisk the whites well, add them to the dough last, and smoothly start kneading. The mass should be elastic, and so that the dough does not stick to your hands, periodically sprinkle it with sifted flour. Knead thoroughly and for a long time, at least 20-30 minutes. This work is not easy, therefore our ancestors at this stage often called for help from a happily married man.

When the dough is smooth and smooth, it should be placed in a clean and lightly oiled bowl. Cover with a towel or cling film and leave in a warm place for 1.5-2 hours.

The dough should fit about 2 times, it needs to be kneaded again. We divide the dough into three parts: one will be used to make jewelry, the second - for the loaf itself, the third - for the braid. Put parchment paper on a baking sheet, form a loaf, wrap it in a pigtail.

Beat the egg and brush over the top of the loaf. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees in advance, send the base on a baking sheet for 20 minutes. If you put the loaf in an unheated oven, the dough may fall off. After 20 minutes, lower the temperature to 150 degrees, bring the bread to readiness. It is very simple to check this: pierce it with a match or a toothpick - if it is dry, then the loaf is ready. During the baking process, you need to apply an egg to the surface several times - then the loaf will be rosy. Remove the finished bread from the oven, cover it with a towel.

Wedding loaf decoration

We recommend that you make a sketch according to which you will decorate the loaf. To keep the decor elements stronger, you need to grease the bread with water. The dough should be rolled out thinly (up to 5 mm), the surface should be constantly moistened with a spray bottle. It is better to bake massive products like pigeons or rings separately, then you can be sure that the surface of the loaf will not sag under their weight.

It is not so difficult to sculpt flat decorations, it is better to make them from unleavened dough without sugar, then they will remain light after baking. For figurines, grated dough is used: flour is rubbed into it until the consistency is similar to clay.

You can decorate the product not immediately, but 15-20 minutes before readiness. They take it out of the oven, decorate it, and then send it back to the oven, then the contours of the figures will remain clearer.

Secrets of baking loaf at home

• It is better to bake the product in the middle of the oven, then it will be baked evenly
• If the bread starts to burn on top, you can put foil on it;
• If you want to make the decorations unusual, you can tint some of the dough with cocoa, and then alternate the figures. You can not grease the decorative elements with an egg - then they will stand out against the general background;
• Periodically, the surface of the loaf must be moistened so that it does not become weathered and cracked;
• Using dry yeast, molding can be done immediately, live yeast should "play", after kneading the dough is covered and kept warm for a couple of hours;
• So that the bottom of the loaf does not become damp when it cools from moisture, it is placed on a towel or napkin;
• It is easier to remove stuck parchment paper when the bread is warm; you will have to soak it from a cold loaf;
• In a gas oven, additionally put a wide dish with boiling water from below so that the dough does not dry out. This method is rarely used for an electric oven.

The following decorations are used for the loaf:

• Braids. They are braided from two or three strips of dough;
• Flowers. Take a piece of dough, form a cake out of it, make cuts along the edges so that petals appear;
• Leaves. Roll out the dough, cut the veins with a knife to make the products look more believable;
• Ears of corn. Form a thin strip, make cuts on both sides, pull slightly at each edge to make the product more convex;
• Bird. The elongated oval is the body, then roll out the cake, form the wing and tail. Use a knife to make small cuts to simulate plumage.

The symbolism of wedding loaf jewelry

Leaves - health and youth, wheat - fertility and prosperity, flowers - beauty, pigeons or swans - loyalty, scythe - family, grapes - wealth, viburnum - love.

A two-kilogram loaf is on average enough to regale 30-40 guests. Festive bread will become not only a tasty and symbolic dish, but also a decoration of the wedding table!