Mexican Wedding Bread

Instructions

In a large bowl, stir yeast into water to soften. Add milk, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and 2 cups of flour. Beat vigorously for 2 minutes. This is a sponge, and has the consistency of cake batter. Cover and let rise for 45 minutes.

Add salt, pecans and 1 cup flour to the sponge. Beat for 1 minute.

Gradually add flour, a little at a time, until you have a dough stiff enough to knead. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead, adding flour as necessary, until you have a smooth, elastic dough. Put dough into an oiled bowl. Turn once to coat the entire ball of dough with oil. Cover with towel and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour.

Turn dough out onto work surface. Divide into 40 equal pieces. Roll each piece into an 8-inch-long rope. Pinch the ends of one rope together to form a circle. Take another rope and slip it through the first circle before pinching the ends. You now have two circles joined together to form one roll.

Place on parchment-lined baking sheets. Cover and let rise 45 minutes. Bake in a preheated 375°F oven for 15 minutes, or until done.

Combine confectioners' sugar with water in a shallow bowl. As soon as bread is done, remove from baking sheets and dip the tops into the confectioners' sugar mixture. Or, use a pastry brush to brush tops of rolls with icing. Place on a rack until icing is set, about 30 minutes. Makes 20 individual breads.

Author's Comments

This bread is served at weddings in small villages in southern Mexico. It is a fertility bread to bless the marriage with many children. The shape is to signify the joining of two into one.

Traditionally in this country, we celebrate weddings with a lavish cake. But in other countries, and other times, the "cake" has been an elaborate bread.

We applaud the idea of a wedding bread. Bread is the staff of life. To break bread together is a kind of communion, a sharing of oneself with another. As has been said, "bread is life itself." What could be a more fitting way to embark upon married life than for a new husband and wife to ceremonially break bread together, made especially for them by someone who can fill it with good omens, hope, and love.

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