Atlas Obscura — 14 Unique and Extraordinary Breads

[Mike Nolan]

The Ukrainian Wedding Bread is just gorgeous. I found a recipe for a version of it, a sweet bread with rum, orange zest, lemon zest and vanilla for flavoring.

Atlas Obscura 14 breads article

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[Joan Simpson]

Looks amazing,several of these breads looks nice.

[Mike Nolan]

There's enough of a Ukrainian community in Lincoln that there's a Ukrainian church. I wonder if they make those breads for their weddings? The recipe I found uses two different doughs, a yeasted dough for the bread, which is split in two so that there's a center and a braided outer ring, plus a non-yeasted dough made with heavy cream for the decorations.

The one pictured in the Atlas Obscura article must use two different doughs for decoration, a light one and a darker one, I wonder if it is done with a rye flour or with some kind of coloration, like cocoa?

[BakerAunt]

When I was watching a Great British Baking Show "Master Class," I saw Paul Hollywood make Hot Cross Buns. Rather than a frosting, he made a special (non-yeasted?) dough and used it to make the crosses before the bread was baked.

It might be worth a call to those Ukrainian churches to see if anyone is keeping the bread baking tradition alive. Often that gets lost before the younger generation realizes its value and wishes it had asked for the knowledge before it is gone.

[Mike Nolan]

My wife has several co-workers who are Ukrainian, I forwarded the article to her and she can ask them if they follow that custom. I understand that it isn't just for weddings, many holidays and other special occasions have similar bread traditions. I may have to play with that.

I'm tempted to try that on Hot Cross buns some time, too.

Using a second non-yeasted dough for decoration is common in Mexican pastries, too.

[Author]

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