Wonderful Athonite sourdough for baking prosphora and bread

To this day, Athos tends to use natural ingredients and products. In this regard, they never add yeast industrially obtained to the dough for prosphora and even for simple bread.

Athos monks and the Orthodox population of Greece are aware of three methods of obtaining natural bread leaven.

The first way is connected with Pascha, or rather with the morning service of Great Saturday, when at the end of Matins the Apostle is read, which speaks of Christ as the leaven of a new life: “Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?  Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." (1 Cor. 5: 6-8).

In an appropriate vessel, a small amount of flour is prepared, which is brought into the temple (on Athos - to the altar) before the beginning of Matins on Great Saturday. At the end of Matins, after singing the "Great Doxology", as soon as the prokeimenon of the Apostle sounds, you should immediately start kneading flour, adding a little ordinary water. Some add a little more holy water, others make the sign of the cross with a hand or a cross over this unusual leaven. In addition, to perform these actions, people are selected deeply believing, blameless and devout, who before and during these actions mentally read the prayers known to them, most often the Jesus Prayer: "Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us sinners!"

The vessel can be covered (for example, with a towel) and left in the church until the end of the Holy Liturgy. At the end of the Great Saturday service, the faithful carry the "Pascha" leaven to their homes. On Mount Athos, for practical reasons, it remains in the altar during the first three days of Pascha. The next day, that is, at the end of the Pascha service, the surface of the leaven should become bubly.  On the third day after Pascha, add a small amount of flour and water and mix again. A few hours later, you can divide the leaven into parts. Save one exclusively for prosphora, and the other portion for baking bread, placing it in a glass or plastic container under a lid.

The remaining leaven can be distributed to those in need. Store it in a cool place or refrigerator. Each time, kneading the dough, add the required amount of flour and water to the resulting leaven (without adding yeast!). After kneading prosphora or bread, each time we leave a small amount of the resulting dough as a sourdough for baking the next portion, and we do this every time all year round, until next Pascha.

With the blessing of my abbot, I fulfill this obedience in our brotherhood and I am a witness to this "Pascha miracle" - this irrefutable proof of the holiness and life-giving of Orthodoxy. Indeed, before my arrival on Athos, I had not heard anything about it. And now, every year before my eyes, this amazing, obvious miracle happens, irrefutable and visible and easily accessible to everyone. I always watch the process of sourdough development and its gradual fermentation. This phenomenon always makes a big impression on all of us, strengthens our hope and brings us great joy.

… I recall with joy the Easter period of 1995, when the Englishman Charles, a reporter for the BBC radio station, and a Protestant by faith, visited the monastery. It so happened that I was setting the table and we still had the first-baked bread from the newly received Easter sourdough. Without any hints on my part, our guest began to look closely at the loaf of bread and asked me in surprise: "Is this bread really baked on Athos?" In response, I outlined to him the procedure for obtaining the leaven. Delighted with the exceptional taste of the bread, he asked me to give him a few slices so that he could bring them to his family in England, and he wrote down the story of the Athos leaven he heard in a notebook and promised to tell about it at home. " (Hieromonk Gabriel).

This is truly a gift from the Risen Christ. Unfortunately, itbis not particularly well known to the faithful of our Church.

The second way to obtain leaven is possible if you have a piece of the Holy Life-giving Tree of the Lord's Cross. He who has one can at any time, after praying, make a new leaven in the manner described above. The power of this action lies in the threefold blessing of the shrine, that is, the sign of the cross over the prepared ordinary leaven made from flour and water with the addition of holy water, with the words: “In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen".

The third possibility is to receive leaven on the day of the celebration of the Exaltation (September 14/27), if the rite of the Exaltation of the Cross is performed in this church, performed at the end of Matins and in this Cross there is a piece of the Holy Tree of the Lord's Cross.

All these methods of obtaining the miracle leaven quite definitely indicate that the Cross and the Resurrection of Christ are of the greatest importance in the Orthodox Church. It is from these two sources and from the Holy Eucharist that Orthodoxy and the people of God draws the life-giving power and grace of the Holy Spirit, thanks to which man is spiritually reborn for Eternal Life.

Hieromonk Gabriel ((Kranchuk)

From the book "Athos Offering to Modern Man"

Bread making recipe: 

Before starting work, prayers are read: troparion "Christ is risen from the dead .." - 3 times, "Seeing the Resurrection of Christ .." - 1 time, "Heavenly King ..." - 1 time.

 The resulting starter culture must be divided into two parts. In one part of at least 3 tablespoons of sourdough, add 5 - 6 tablespoons of flour and pure water and bring the sourdough to the thickness of sour cream. Leave the rest for future use by refrigerating.

Cover with a clean napkin and wrap it with a warm handkerchief, then put it in a warm place for 2 - 2.5 hours. The leaven should double in size.

Then, for baking bread, we take 6-7 tablespoons of sourdough, 1-2 glasses of rye flour and 4-5 glasses of premium flour, (at your discretion, you can just use premium flour) add 2 tablespoons of bran, salt, sugar to taste ... Knead the soft, non-steep dough by adding clean water and a tablespoon of vegetable oil. Knead thoroughly. Prepare two baking dishes, greasing them with vegetable oil. We put the forms with the dough again in a warm place, covering with a napkin and wrapping it with a handkerchief for 4-4.5 hours. The dough should double in size. Then put in a preheated oven and bake for 30-40 minutes.

After baking, cover the bread with a napkin, sprinkle with water and wrap it well so that it is soft and fragrant.