Sun Bread for Litha, the Summer Solstice
If you were never raised in a pagan household, like myself, you might not be sure how to celebrate the holidays on the Wheel of the Year, and it might feel like you’re making it up as you go along. Or maybe you don’t consider yourself pagan at all, but want to honor the changing of the seasons, and just have some kind of celebration on the solstices. Either way, making sun bread has been my go-to tradition for the past couple years since I started to carve out my own special time for this holiday.
The recipe is part of this lovely book called Sun Bread by Elisa Kleven. It’s all cute children’s book about bringing warmth and light to the darkest time of the year by baking a sun out of bread. I originally got the book and started making sun bread with my kids for Yule, the winter solstice. HOWEVER, as I’m writing this, it’s almost June, and I 100% believe in making this recipe on the summer solstice as well to honor the sun. And, let’s be honest, who doesn’t love cooking easy but delicious bread?
This is the recipe at the end of the book, but you know, “toss a coin to your witcher” if you can and pick up a copy of the book yourself.
Ingredients:
3 eggs
3 tablespoons sugar
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 stick (1/2 cup) salted butter, melted*
2 packages dry yeast (1 package = 2¼ teaspoons)
3 tablespoons lukewarm milk
Directions:
Mix eggs and sugar well.
Combine flour and butter.
Add the eggs mixture to the flour mixture and beat well.
In a small bowl combine yeast and milk. Allow to stand until mixture is foamy, at least 5 minutes.
Add the yeast mixture to the batter and stir. Knead dough on greased, floured surface for 8-10 minutes. (I find it sticky, so some extra flour might be necessary)
Place dough in greased bowl, cover with a cloth and allow to rise in a warm place for about an hour.
Gently deflate dough, knead for 5 minutes, then separate into 2 portions.
To form the sun's face, shape one portion of the dough into a round, somewhat flattened ball, then place on a large greased baking sheet. With the greased end of a wooden spoon or with your finger, poke two "eyes" in the sun: draw a mouth with same way. Make sure the lines are deep so they won't close up during rising and baking. Make a nose by securely attaching a small ball of dough to its face.
Make the corona of the sun by rolling one half of the remainder of the dough into four or five long "snakes." Curl the snakes into puffy "snail" shapes. Shape the rest of the dough into four or five puffy triangles. Firmly attach the snails and triangles to the sun's face. Use some water if the dough is dry.
Cover the sun and let it rise again in a warm place for about an hour.
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Bake for about 10-20 minutes.** Test for doneness by inserting a toothpick into the center of the bread. It should come out clean. (**My oven seems to be super-efficient I guess, so I set mine to convection bake at 350 degrees and it comes out perfect after just 10 minutes, so check on yours the first time you make this.)
We love to eat this plain, with butter, jam, or honey!
after turning the dough into a sun-bread
After rising, all poofy! and so cute!
all done, and so yummy!
I’d love to know any hiccups you ran into while making this recipe, or if you made any alterations! I have been making this bread for years now, and I swear it always turns out a little bit different each time.