Lita’s Kitchen: Summer Solstice Bread Recipes

The summer solstice is magical, the longest day of the year. We celebrate the flowering of nature, warmth and flowering.

At the end of the day, the sun begins its journey towards the shortest day of the year. The wheel moves on. We accept the generous gifts of the sun: light, heat, energy.

One of Lita’s gifts we use to make our bread: the ability to leave the dough in the sun.

By itself, the bread turns out to be light and a little fluffy, rapidly growing and rather quickly preparing. And very, very tasty!

🥐 “Sunny” bread

Ingredients:

• 1 sachet dry yeast
• 1/4 cup warm water
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 4 tbsp. softened butter + 2 tbsp. oils
• 1/4 cup milk
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• a pinch of salt
• zest of one orange
• 3 cups sifted flour

Cooking:

1. Dissolve yeast and sugar in water.
2. Add eggs, softened butter, milk, vanilla, salt and zest and mix thoroughly until smooth.
3. Whisk in two and a half cups of flour until you get a soft dough.
4. Transfer the dough to a floured surface and knead for 5 to 7 minutes, adding more flour if needed.
5. Using 2 tbsp. oil, grease the walls of the mold in which you will bake the bread, and the ball of future bread itself.
6. Cover with a towel and leave in a warm place to rise (this will take 25-30 minutes).
7. When the dough is ready, lay it out in the form of a sun and bake at 180 C in the oven until cooked (until the crust turns golden).

🥐Summer bread with herbs

It is always nice to put something tasty on the festive table, but this bread is good not only for the holiday. The main secret of the recipe is to let the dough “set up”.

And the very next day you can enjoy the smell of fresh, homemade bread.

Ingredients:

• 2¼ cups warm water
• 3-4 tsp. salt
• 1 sachet dry yeast
• 4 cups of flour
• ⅓ cup bulgur
• ⅓ cup fresh boiling water
• a large bunch of parsley
• small or medium bunch of mint
• 4 small shallots, thinly sliced
• 4-5 cloves of garlic, crushed
• zest of one lemon
• mini tomatoes cut in half
• 3 or 4 sprigs of parsley or mint for garnish

Cooking:

1. Boil water and add bulgur to it. Let stand for about 20 – 25 minutes until the bulgur is soaked with water.
2. Chop the mint and parsley, then crush the garlic.
3. Pour warm water into a container, add salt, yeast and gradually add flour.
4. When you begin to knead the dough, gradually add the bulgur (draining the water, if any), garlic, lemon zest, parsley, mint and onion. Mix thoroughly.
5. Cover with a clean towel and leave in a warm place to rise for an hour and a half.
6. When the dough has risen, remove the towel, knead and mix the risen dough again, close the container tightly and refrigerate overnight (10 – 14 hours).
7. The next day, heat the stove to 220 C.
8. Remove the dough from the refrigerator, decorate with tomatoes and dill with mint, and send the bread to bake for 35 – 40 minutes.

🥐Honey Wheat Bread

Ingredients:

• 2 ½ cups wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
• ½ cup honey
•¼ cup vegetable oil
• 1 ½ cups buttermilk
•½ cup chopped walnut
• 1 tablespoon chopped orange peel

Cooking:

1. Mix all the ingredients, beat until a more or less homogeneous mass is formed.
2. Place the resulting dough into a baking dish.
3. Let stand 20 minutes.
4. Then bake in the oven for 45-60 minutes at 190 degrees. Remove from oven and cool.

🥐Rhubarb Bread

Rhubarb has been cultivated by humans for at least 5,000 years. This is one of those rare edible plants that can also be very poisonous.

Its leaves, whether raw or cooked, can be said to be deadly. However, rhubarb stalks can be eaten and used in cooking and are very tasty.

Ingredients:

• 2 ½ cups plus 2 tablespoons flour
• 1 ½ cups dark brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt or to taste
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 cup buttermilk
• ½ cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup fresh chopped rhubarb
• Butter, cinnamon and sugar to decorate the bread.

Cooking:

1. Mix 2 ½ cups flour, brown sugar, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.
2. In a separate bowl, mix the egg, buttermilk, vegetable oil and vanilla; then add this mixture to the flour mixture and mix well. Put the pieces of rhubarb and the remaining flour into the dough and transfer the resulting dough into 4 baking dishes.
3. Top with butter and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon.
4. Bake for 45 minutes in an oven preheated to 175 degrees. Remove from the oven and let the bread rest in the pans for 15 minutes before taking it out and cooling it on the baking sheet.

🥐Rye bread with cumin

Once used to flavor cheeses and soups, cumin is now found only in rye bread.

Place cumin seeds under a baby’s crib to ward off evil spirits. Put cumin in or around an object to make it invisible to thieves.

Ingredients:

•3 packs of dry yeast
•1 ½ cup warm water
•¼ cup molasses
•⅓ cup sugar
•4 teaspoons salt, or to taste
•3 tablespoons of cumin seeds
•2 ¾ cups rye flour
• 2 tablespoons of fat, which is added to the flour for friability
•3 ½–4 cups white flour
•1 egg white
•2 tablespoons of water

Cooking:

1. Dissolve yeast in warm water. Add molasses, sugar, salt and cumin seeds to it. Mix well to form a soft dough.
2. Add fat. Use your hands to stir in the white flour and knead to form a dough that can be easily handled.
3. Then put it on a floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes until the dough is smooth.
4. Place the dough in a clean, oiled pan and leave to rise until it doubles in size.
5. Knead again. Divide the dough into two equal parts and give them a rounded shape, slightly flattened at the top.
6. Place on a large, oiled baking sheet to leave room for the dough to rise.
7. Cover with a damp cloth and let it double in size.
8. Heat the oven to 190 degrees.
9. Mix the egg white with water and brush both breads with the liquid.
10. Bake the bread for 30 to 40 minutes until it is ready.