Help! Ukrainian Welcome Bread

[David Cottrell]

This is a bit offbeat but is there someone out there in this wide world who can talk to me about Ukrainian Welcome Bread, perhaps also known as Friendship or Hospitality Bread. The bread that is part of the customary welcoming with bread and salt.

I'm slightly familiar with Ukainian pastry/bread such as Pampushka, two or three torts including CharlieD's awsome lemonick, Easter Bread (I made Babka Poltaviska) and the Christmas Eve Kolach for the Saviata Vechera.

With this one I am totally lost. Any help out there? Would be much appreciated.

 

[JoeV]

Wow, David. I haven't been on thisboard very long, but it's the first time I've seen anyone "stump the panel." Good job!

 

[David Cottrell]

Hello JoeV - I see you are in Mentor - well now, all around you are Ukrainian Americans. Do you know any? I just might be in Parma Friday (undecided). I'm thinking about ordering some perogies from the nice folks at the Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral there on State Street. I also have a box of clothes to ship to Ukraine and there are some nice people right down the street who do that. At the price of gas I'm yet undecided but if you like perogies that is the place to call. (Actually the clothes are a complete outfit head to toe my eight year old granddaughter picked out for her birthday present and told me to send them to an orphan in Zaporizhzhya - I'm proud of her, she picked out a two dollar stuffed bear for herself and then put a better one from her collection in the box.)

I might just go because I'm sure I can find out all I need to know about the bread in question - well I guess I should go don't you?.

 

[suziquzie]

well if we can manage to keep this on the first page for you, maybe charlie d will happen upon this thread.
good luck!

 

[JoeV]

Hello JoeV - I see you are in Mentor - well now, all around you are Ukrainian Americans. Do you know any? I just might be in Parma Friday (undecided). I'm thinking about ordering some perogies from the nice folks at the Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral there on State Street. I also have a box of clothes to ship to Ukraine and there are some nice people right down the street who do that. At the price of gas I'm yet undecided but if you like perogies that is the place to call. (Actually the clothes are a complete outfit head to toe my eight year old granddaughter picked out for her birthday present and told me to send them to an orphan in Zaporizhzhya - I'm proud of her, she picked out a two dollar stuffed bear for herself and then put a better one from her collection in the box.)

I might just go because I'm sure I can find out all I need to know about the bread in question - well I guess I should go don't you?.

David,

If Charlie D doesn't chime in here before your trek to Parma, I would guess that someone at the church would be able to help you out when you get there. Also, a trip to the West Side Market at W25th St & Lorain would be in order for Friday as well. I go there periodically and there are at least a dozen bakeries there with breads covering many ethnic cuisines, and that may be another source for the recipe. If nothing else, there are bulk spice vendors, meat markets and a HUGE produce section. Word of caution on the produce. Take paper and pen and write down prices of what you may want to purchase.The produce vendor prices are many & varied for the same items, and you can get some sweet deals if you watch the prices. Two weeks ago I got eggplants there for $.75 each! My local grocer is selling them for $3 each in the same size.

Have fun and I hope you get the recipe.

BTW, I am Slovenian, and there appears to be no shortage of Slovenian recipes on the Internet. Plus, I have my mother's Slovenian cookbook with all the old favorites, including the bread recipes. Truth be told, most of them are the same across many European cultures, with minor variations and enhancements.

Joe

 

[CharlieD]

I actually can't believe i do not have a recipe for any bread. I need to check at home. I posted for you in the "torte" thread about a bread. But I wonder if for the welocoming bread people would not use more refine bread, i.e. white bread. I have to check on it. I doubt there is The recipe per se for "welcoming" bread. I'm sure it was just bread, maybe a nicer variety ...

 

[David Cottrell]

Bread and more bread

Thanks Charlie, A plain white bread was my first guess - like the recipe I have for the Christmas Eve Meal where a braded bread is a religious symbol placed on the table but not eaten with the meal. I believe they probably would all be white bread - plain, not sweetened. I also saw one photo of a welcome bread being offered and eaten by children in Belarus somewhere. It was a white bread. They were all taking "pinches" of the bread and all were very happy.

My second guess was rye as it seems to be very popular and I could perhaps come up with a somewhat genuine recipe - might try to anyway. I understand the flour bit - we probably over refine it and remove alot of the natural taste and texture. Just guessing but that would be exactly how we behave, sadly.

Thanks for your suggestions - I got the one on the tort thread also. If the seeker would buy the cookbook I suggested I'll bet a hundred dollars that she could could assemble something very close to the five layer tort she remembers. She would have to take layers from each of five babkas with their recommended fillings. Bet it would be good - might try it some day! But first there is more to be learned than I have money and time to do!

 

[CharlieD]

Yes, I was thinking about white bread too. If that is what you want to do, I'd recomend to go with a simple Sour Dough recipe, but not SF, see if you can find French sour dough bread. I am sure there is no standard recipe for such a bread, it would be diferent from town to town, from one baba(grandma) to another. Schwartz Brot, was rekomended as a subsittude for a russian recipe bread. As I don't doubt that it could be dark bread too, you may want to consider that one too.