From time immemorial, the wedding was considered a joyful unforgettable holiday, uniting two lovers, the so-called birthday of a new family, so everyone wanted everything to be just perfect on this day.
Among the pastries that adorn the festive table, bread was always in price, since it played an important role in family ceremonies and was a symbol of fertility and prosperity. That is why a loaf was always baked for a wedding, the absence of which meant an inferior rite. They were called young for a prosperous long life.
It was made from the highest grades of flour, on which knead the dough with the addition of butter and eggs. On top of the pastries were decorated with cones, ducks or pigeons, spikelets and flowers, which were made from the same dough. And in some regions of Ukraine a wedding loaf was decorated with branches of fruit-bearing trees, tied with red ribbons, various greens, spikelets of wheat, viburnum flowers, berries. All this was done for several reasons. Firstly, most of the events were held in the autumn season, at the time of the harvest, and secondly, viburnum and wheat symbolize strong love and well-being. Sometimes the symbol of wealth was tied with a towel.
Since the loaf prepared for the wedding symbolized the status of a young couple, they tried to make it large, sometimes reaching the size of a wedding table. They met the bride and groom, offering them to taste this fragrant sweet bread from the middle, which meant the birth of a new life. It was also believed that anyone who tries this baking will be lucky in everything.
It should be said that this tradition has taken root in Slavic culture. Each time we meet a young loaf with various patterns and decorations, which blesses a long family life.
Consider how a loaf is baked for a wedding.
So, for this you will need the following ingredients: eight glasses of flour, twenty grams of dried yeast, one hundred grams of butter (vegetable or creamy ghee), half a glass of milk, ten eggs, seven tablespoons of sugar, two tablespoons of salt, zest of one lemon, cinnamon to taste.
Yeast, along with one spoonful of sugar, is bred in milk, add yolks, ground with sugar, and mix well.
Pour flour into a large container and make a depression in the middle, where the resulting yeast mass is poured, knead the dough.
Half a glass of flour is poured onto the table, put the resulting dough and knead it well until it becomes smooth (in time it will take about twenty minutes). Thus, it should turn out two kilograms.
Before baking a loaf for a wedding, it is necessary to separate six hundred grams from the total mass of the dough, make a ball from the rest and place it on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. This ball is lubricated with water, and various ornaments, for example, leaves, flowers, spikelets, etc., that are placed on the loaf are molded from the remaining mass. The surface of the entire product is greased with yolk and baked in the oven at high temperature at a lower level for about an hour and a half.
After that, turn off the oven, open the door and allow the baking to cool. After that, they take it out, cover with napkins and let stand for one night.
Thus, a loaf at a wedding is the indispensable attribute that prophesies a long and happy life.