Baking Prosphora {Athonite Style}

Today I made prosphora and I decided to post how we do it here at the monastery. It's very different from the typical phrosphora used in most churches. This is the way they make it on the Holy Mountain and in other Athonite monasteries. The texture of this type of dough is very different from regular dough and usually has a sourdough sort of taste to it.

We use something called "prozimi" instead of yeast to make the bread rise. Prozimi itself is a miracle. On either September 14 (Exaltation of the Precious Cross) or on Holy Friday a bowl containing only water and flour is taken into the altar during the Gospel reading. The priest then blesses it. Afterwards our Gerondissa takes it into the kitchen and places it in the oven (the oven is not on) and leaves it there overnight. The next morning the bowl is overflowing with this "yeast". It is then separated and refrigerated in airtight containers and is used each time prosphoro is made. Every time you make a new batch of dough you tear a small piece off and set aside for next time.


What you'll need:

7 cups warm water
prozimi
5 lb. bag unbleached flour
3 cups Semolina
1 1/2 tsp. salt
prosphoro seal (often we use 2 different ones at the monastery)
beeswax candle
6 in. pans
icon/holy relics
CD (or someone reading) the Akathist Hymn
heavy blankets
plastic bag
2 white sheets
toothpick
*It's important to keep these items clean and only use them for prosphora or artoklasia. Someone should be reading the Akathist hymn (I listen to the CD and pray the Jesus prayer)

On the night before you plan to bake your prosphora you prepare the prozimi. {I also like to thimiasi (cense or bless) the house when I do this and also on the following morning before I begin.}

To begin, you'll put 7 cups of warm water in a pot. Place the pot on the stove until the water is almost hot. Add your prozimi and and mix very quickly to help it dissolve. Add approximately 2 lbs. of unbleached flour (I use King Arthur or Arrowhead Mills brand) Mix it thoroughly, place lid on top of pot and place in a thick, plastic bag. Tie bag and cover with a heavy blanket. Place in a warm room overnight. I usually place an icon or relics on top.

Prozimi before (not so much, right?):

The next morning your prozimi should look foamy and bubbly, similar to regular yeast.

Prozimi after (now look at it! and this is a BIG pot):

You'll want to lay out a blanket and a (clean, obviously) garbage bag on the surface where your dough will rise. I also keep a space heater in the room to really heat the room up. You'll need another garbage bag and heavy blanket to cover it. This dough needs a lot of heat to rise.

Next you'll measure approximately 8 cups of flour in a large bowl. Add 3 cups of Semolina, 1 1/2 tsp. salt. Then add your prozimi.

Knead the dough until completely mixed. Dough needs to be very stiff; it usually turns my knuckles red from the kneading and it's consistency. If it's too soft, add 1/2 cup of flour at a time.

Lay a plain white sheet on the table and have one ready to cover your dough once it's ready.

Separate into 11 parts. You'll need 2 parts per prosphoro (5 of them) plus a piece to save for prozimi. You want a flat, smooth surface to roll on. I use my glass table. You also want to make sure there is no flour around to leave indentations on the dough.

Roll long wise and then shape into a pyramid shape, tucking all the creases at the bottom of each piece. Make sure there aren't a lot of creases or cracks on the top. Place each piece on your sheet and cover. This prevents it from drying out too much and cracking.

Next, you'll prepare your pans. I use 5 6-inch Wilton pans. (These pans should only be used for baking prosphora or artoklasia.) You heat your pan in the oven (pre-heated to 350 degrees) and then take the bottom of your beeswax candle and coat the inside of the pan. This is done because no oil should be used in prosphora. Then set them aside.

Remove each piece and place one on top of the other.

"Bottom" sides with creases should be facing eachother. Now each loaf should look as perfect as possible with no cracks showing (as you can see I'm still working on perfecting mine), the dough will almost shine.  A better way to do it if you can rather than creating two separate loafs) would be to roll the dough out in a tube shape and then twist and pat down to shape, or to run a razor blade around the center of the sides.  This is because the Christ was fully man and fully God together, never separated.  I however, am not that good yet, so I have a blessing to do it this way for now.  But I'm practicing... :)

Place in pan and press seal down. BE CAREFUL! You should press the seal down from the sides not the center. Push down until you can't anymore, wait a second and then quickly "pop" off. This type of dough is so stiff that it often makes a "popping" sound.

You want the seal to be very distinct so it doesn't disappear when the dough rises. Next take a toothpick and poke the top of the dough (not too close to the seal) in the shape of a cross.

After you seal and poke them all, take them to the place where you prepared the blankets.


Put them down and cover with the bag and blanket. Place your icon or holy relics on top and let rise for 2-4 hours, check them periodically.

Place your new prozimi in your container and let it rise as well. After they're done rising, place them in your preheated oven. Let bake for 45-50 minutes. Once slightly golden, remove from oven and let cool. Sometimes I will slightly dampen a sponge and rub them with it to make them a little shiny.

Clean your seals very good. Scratch off any dough that may have adhered to it when stamping. It's best not to get your seal wet, put a tiny bit of water on your finger if necessary.

It is customary to include a list of names, both living and asleep, to give to the priest with the prosphora.

The antidoron (literally meaning instead of the gift) that we recieve at the end of the Divine Liturgy symbolizes the Theotokos because it is from her that we take Christ (the center piece). The unused portion is considered to be her womb.

A few years ago I found these tiny, plastic seals for the boys. They help by making their own little "prosphora". Sometimes they turn out quite well and we take them to church but most of the time they end up eating them afterwards.

Here's some pics of their seals and little "prosphora":

I found these on Ebay.

Ace admiring his seal

a close-up of it

Lucky's seal. He did a pretty good job, with his brother's help of course!

About 5 years ago when I first started to learn how to do this (it really is a craft!) my Gerondissa gave me a gift from Elder Joseph of Vatopaidi monastery on the Holy Mountain. (A friend of mine has one from Elder Paisios the Athonite!) These hand carved seals and this pouch to carry the prosphora to church in. The front flap lifts up and there's a pocket to place the prosphora in.

The seal in the picture below belonged to my great-grandmother and when I make small loaves and the priest requests that I use the whole seal, I use hers.
Here are the seals from Mount Athos. You'll notice they are carved very, very deep. This helps the seal stay perfect even after hours of rising.

These two are very small, only about 4 inches round. One symbolizes Christ and the other symbolizes Panagia's portion (square on bottom right), the 9 ranks of angels (9 angels), souls of the living and the dead. Oftentimes at the monasteries they use two small prosphora.

This is a larger seal, about 6 1/2 in. round

Whew! That's a lot of information! I hope I didn't forget anything. If I did, someone please let me know.

Monica also has a post on the traditional way to bake prosphora that is really terrific. Also, if you are interested in the Orthodox Kid's Pen Pal program, please email this information to me asap! I want to pal everyone up by Monday!

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.