The loaf in Slavic culture occupied the centralplace in wedding and even funeral traditions. Like Easter cake, it is ceremonial bread. Now loaves are mainly used to meet the official important guest. And ordinary people bake them exclusively for the wedding. What makes a loaf different from other pastry made from sweet pastry? Since this is ceremonial bread, it is served with salt. The bride and groom, whom they met with a loaf, were to pinch off a piece, then dip the bread in the salt shaker and eat it. This symbolized the promise to “taste together a pood of salt.” For the young loaf ate all the guests of the wedding. Another distinctive feature of ceremonial bread from just delicious pastries is the abundance of decorations. And not just vintage, like the original cake, but traditional ones. After all, every detail of the decor carried a special symbolic meaning and influenced, as our ancestors believed, the future joint life of a young married couple. Therefore, the theme of our article will not be baking, but decorating loaves. We will present the master class for decorating wedding bread below.
Loafs in the pagan culture of the Slavs
This bread was baked by our ancestors even beforeRus came Christianity. Loaf must be round, in honor of the god of the sun Yarila. It was very important that the dough rose. The higher the loaf came out, the greater the prosperity the young expected. By sympathetic magic, the woman who kneaded the dough, baked and decorated ritual bread, passed a piece of her fate to the bride. Therefore, only special “slings” were allowed for such work. They were supposed to be married, happy in marriage and have children. And widows were allowed to bake only the so-called memorial loaves. Such ritual bread was shared between relatives and relatives of the deceased. Now wedding loaf can be ordered in the cafe-pastry shops. But if you put in a piece of your soul in bread, this may affect the fate of the young. Previously, the process of kneading dough and baking was accompanied by ritual songs and prayers. Perhaps today you can do without it. But the decoration of the product remains an important step. Therefore, you need to know how to decorate the loaf with his own hands.
The symbolic value of the details of the decor
Do not forget that this bread is ritual.Therefore, its decor should be approached differently than to decorate the cake. What is important here is not fantasy, but knowledge of the symbolic meaning of certain elements. First of all, do not forget to leave room for the salt shaker. It should be placed strictly in the center of the loaf. Floral ornaments should be placed around the saltcellar. As a rule, it is a pigtail (a symbol of long-term relationships), wheat ears (fertility, which in a wedding loaf is identified with large families), flowers and leaves (well-being and wealth), pigeons and horses, stars (happiness, loyalty). In Ukraine, clusters of viburnum are a constant attribute on such ritual bread. It is not only a national symbol, but also a sign of love and marital fidelity. Of course, you can show a more modern look at the decoration of a loaf and decorate its surface with wedding rings, swans, figures of the bride and groom. You can stay true to pagan traditions and display stylized phallic symbols on a loaf. But it is better to adhere to the "golden mean".
What to do decorations
Mastic - fertile material for decoration.Elastic, like plasticine, it is good for modeling any figures or complex fragments. In addition, it can tint. Mastic and marshmallows will transform the product into a super-elegant wedding loaf. Photos of such culinary masterpieces look impressive. You can create multi-tiered wedding cakes, because mastic (with proper storage) is a very durable material. But if you want to know how to decorate the loaf according to Slavic traditions, you need to learn how to work with dough. After all, our ancestors did not know what mastic is. All the details of the decor they made of dough. But it is important to know not only how to create decorative elements, but also how to sculpt them and when to cling to the surface of the loaf.
The dough to decorate the loaf
You can postpone a certain amount ofmaterial from which we bake our wedding cake. Based on the fact that the loaf must necessarily be large (each participant of the celebration relies at least a small piece), decorating the product will need at least six hundred grams of dough. But here it is necessary to make a reservation. If we decorate our loaf before sending it to the oven, then the pastry will spread and mix with the base during baking. Because of this, the details of the decor will be subtle. Therefore, for decoration use fresh, like dumplings and dumplings, or shortbread dough. In this case, the details of the decor will be more prominent, convex and retain a clear outline. Modern technology allows us to color ornaments in different colors. But our ancestors used for these purposes burnt sugar, egg white, buckwheat and rye flour.
Decorations from butter dough
So that the details of the decor do not blur, but remainrelief, they should not be attached to the surface of the cake immediately, but fifteen - twenty minutes before the readiness of the loaf. The exception may be pigtails from the dough. Since this is a rather large piece of jewelry, it needs more time to bake. In addition, the pigtail, like a barrel hoop, holds the surface of the wedding cake together, preventing the spreading of dough. This detail is very easy to make. Cut off three identical strips of dough. In length, they should be two and a half times the diameter of the loaf. We fasten one end of the three strips together. And then weave a braid. We put it on the perimeter of the top of the product. We hide the tip of the scythe under the bottom. After all, this braided line should symbolize the infinity of marital happiness. You can weave another small and thin braid, decorating her place for the salt shaker.
Roses
Flowers on the wedding cake symbolize the familyhappiness and motherhood. Especially festive look on the cake rose. How beautiful to decorate the loaf of this "queen of flowers"? We cut out four cups from unleavened dough. Fold them together and roll them up. Break it into two halves, squeezing in the middle with your fingers. There will be two little roses. To make a big flower, let's resort to another method. Take one circle of dough and twist in the center, straightening nicely edges. On top of it we will lay another similar piece, and then another and another, until a magnificent and beautiful rose comes out. We attach leaves to the flowers. To do this, roll out the dough in a thin layer and cut diamonds. Then we make cuts on them with a knife in order to give them a resemblance to the leaves of a rose. A needle is drawn on the dough streaks.
Details of floral ornament
Everyone knows about how it should lookwedding loaf. The photo presents him as a round and high bread, the top of which is decorated with flowers, ears of corn, clusters of viburnum, oak leaves. Stems - this is the easiest to prepare floral ornament. Elastic varenichnoy dough can be rolled into very thin flagella. Viburnum berries can make even a child. It is necessary to roll the small balls of dough. In the color version of the loaf, you can tint it with powdered paprika. These balls should be cut in half and semicircles put in bunches. Create spikelets (fertility symbol) will be somewhat more difficult. Roll out the dough into small sausages (two or three centimeters long). Manicure scissors make incisions from the sides, to give a resemblance to the ears of wheat.
Swan birds
Pigeons - the favorite character of decorationritual pies. But on the Easter cake, this bird symbolizes the Holy Spirit, and at the wedding - peace and love. Therefore, there should be two pigeons. Sculpt these birds easily. Roll out the dough strips with a length of three centimeters and a width of 0.5 cm. We tie knots at the edges. On one of them we cut a beak with the tip of a knife, and a tail on the second. Let's eat the main piece of dough. We draw wings with a needle, and feathers with manicure scissors. How to decorate the loaf with two swans? They will be made as easy as pigeons. We roll two sausages six centimeters long with fingers of dough. Stretch each of them in such a way that at one end a large oval (the body of a swan) is formed, and on the other - a small ball (its head). Fasten both birds to the loaf. On the ball we form a beak and eyes, flagellum (neck) is beautifully bent. We make a tail on the oval, draw wings and feathers.
Play color
So that the details of the decor as different fromBackground basics, you need to know when and how to decorate the loaf. You can stick them at the very beginning, before you send the product into the oven. But then they should not be greased with yolk. In this case, the cake itself will come out ruddy, and its decorations - white. You can go beyond such a monochrome "grisaille", and make a color loaf. In this case, the burnt sugar, cocoa, turmeric, paprika powder, crushed dry tomatoes should serve as paints. Since the details of the dough are also edible, dyes should be exclusively edible.
How to "stick" jewelry on the product
If we use the same for decorationyeast pastry dough, as for a wedding cake, we should not attach it to the base before baking. In the oven, all the details will blur and become barely noticeable. How to decorate the loaf made with blanks? Fifteen to twenty minutes before the loaf is ready, take it out of the oven. Need to work very quickly. After all, overcooling unbaked products can lead to the fact that the dough will fall off. Top lubricates sugar syrup or whipped egg white. On this culinary "glue" we catch decorations. We put in the oven and bake until cooked.
