‘Country Breads of the World’ features a taste of Bangor

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The rose water made by the Shakers at Sabbathday Lake is an essential ingredient in one of the breads baked at the Franciscan Friars’ Bakehouse in Bangor. That interesting tidbit is but one of many revealed in the new cookbook “Country Breads of the World.”

English writer Linda Collister and photographer Anthony Blake scoured the world for 88 recipes that reflected time-honored methods and relied on authentic ingredients. The pair traveled throughout their native British Isles, then to India, Luxembourg, Sardinia, Sweden, New England and many other regions of the world.

Printed on glossy paper with many color photographs, this book is more a cultural guide to the world of bread than it is a cookbook. Its chapters tell the story of how each loaf begins with the milling of the grain, moves on to the leavening process, then progresses to the essential working and shaping of the dough and, finally, the fragrant baking of the bread. The final chapter is devoted to celebration breads created for holidays, saints’ days and weddings.

Four pages with eight photographs are devoted to the Center Street bakery in Bangor run by the brothers affiliated with St. John’s Episcopal Church. Recipes for their signature St. Elizabeth bread and maple-date wheat bread are included. A larger section is devoted to Maine’s Shaker community, located halfway between Gray and Poland, and its living history museum in Canterbury, N.H.

While the community at Sabbathday Lake has been baking bread since its founding more than 200 years ago, the Franciscan Brothers of St. Elizabeth have been baking for only about six years. Brother Donald and Brother Kenneth sold bread at makeshift roadside stands, local markets and Episcopal churches in three counties before opening a shop in downtown Bangor last year.

Collister learned of the brothers’ bakery from her mother-in-law who lives in Hancock County, according to Brother Donald. Collister and Blake spent a day in the summer of 1999 at the shop and told the brothers that if their bakery were included in the book, she’d send them a copy.

A year later, “Country Breads of the World” arrived in the mail, said Brother Donald. While he has not communicated with any of the other bakers, he plans to use a recipe for Swedish Lussekatts on Wednesday, Dec. 13, St. Lucia Day.

“Being included in such a book is flattering as all get out,” he said. “When you look at the caliber of the bakers, we’re in pretty rare company. We are thrilled to be included.”

Collister described Brother Donald, a Biddeford native who has a degree in culinary arts from Southern Maine Vocational-Technical Institute, as “the most relaxed baker I’ve ever met.” He does the baking while Brother Kenneth, a native of Salem, Mass., is responsible for bagging, labeling, delivering and accounting.

Their most popular bread, which they also shape into rolls, is named for the patron saint of the Franciscan order to which the two brothers belong.

Collister included Saint Elizabeth’s story to explain why the brothers wanted to bake a bread that contained rose water. “Brother Donald told me: ‘St. Elizabeth, Queen of Hungary at the very start of the 13th century, devoted herself to feeding the poor, against her husband’s wishes.

“One day he stopped her as she made her way out, but miraculously all the loaves of bread hidden in her cloak turned to roses, and she was saved. Because of this I wanted to make a bread flavored with rose water. … after much trial and error I found it only worked with ginger as a counterbalance.'”

The baking brother invented the maple-date wheat bread when the brothers were given 60 pounds of cooking dates “out of the blue,” according to Brother Donald. “They work very well with maple syrup, which is very popular in Maine. It’s a good bread for brunch and at tea or coffee time.” The recipe calls for 3/4 cup of maple syrup for a two-loaf recipe.

Collister wrote that she visited Sabbathday Lake at the height of the summer season. Sister Frances Carr is the eldress of the Shaker community. She allowed Collister to read some of the old notebooks, diaries and recipe books in their library.

“The recipe books were obviously used by the rota of cooks in the community kitchens, and Sister Mary Ann Hill devotes most of her 1857 Canterbury notebook to passing on hr wisdom to the novices, ” worte Collister.

“After a large section on the best recipes for wool dyes, some cures for human and animal ailments [and] a recipe for making coffee from rye grains, … she writes about bread making:

“‘In order to have good bread, there are three things very essential – good flour, good risings and a careful hand. Now, if any lady friends will comply with the following directions, I will guarantee them as good bread as ever was broken by mortal hand.’

“‘For wheat bread, milk is the best wetting; the sponge should not be permitted to get too light. It is ready when bubble just breaks on the surface; Bread should never be cut until it is 12 hours old, and then only what is to be eaten immediately.'”

Excellent advice, agreed Brother Donald, except for the part about waiting a dozen hours to eat it.

“Our bread is so good, it doesn’t last that long,” said Brother Donald.

St. Elizabeth Bread

6 cups unbleached white bread flour

2 teaspoons fine sea salt

61/2 tablespoons sugar

3 tablespoons dried milk powder

11/2 teaspoons ground ginger

1 large egg, beaten

1/3 cup vegetable oil

11/2 tablespoons rosewater

2 packages of dried yeast or 2 fresh yeast cakes

11/2 cups lukewarm water

2 greased loaf pans

Thoroughly combine all dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Mix the egg with the oil and rose water. Crumble the yeast mixture into the flour and work together to make a slightly soft but not sticky dough.

Turn out onto a work surface and knead thoroughly for 10 minutes. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and leave until doubled in size – about 1 hour in a warm but not hot spot in the kitchen.

Punch down the dough with your knuckles, then turn out onto a work surface and divide in half. Shape each piece into a sausage about 16 inches long, then fold in half and twist to make a tight figure of eight Put the shaped loaves neatly into the pan and leave to rise as before until double in size – about 45 minutes.

Bake the loaves for about 35 minutes in a 350-degree oven, until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.