I was a good eater as a kid but when it came time for first communion I had major trouble with the wafer host most commonly used in our parishes.  It felt so strange on my tongue, so dry and unappetizing, that I had trouble swallowing.   As the date of the celebration approached and I seemed to be getting nowhere, my mom had the smarts to ask Sister for a few extra ‘practice hosts’ so that we could rehearse at home.  Luckily, by the time that the celebration came around I made it through without embarrassing myself. 

Since that time that I have asked myself ‘why is this most sacred aliment so strangely unlike food…?’  I have never done the research but I’m sure that there are historical reasons or events that produced the almost universal type of communion wafer that we use today.  One hypotheses, related to the rise of Eucharistic devotion and Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament in the Middle Ages, is that it was more appealing to the eye to have a uniform and white wafer; eventually leading to the development of the oculus and the elaborate monstrance of the Baroque age.

Back to the question: why is our communion wafer so unlike food?  I am a baker.  I find baking relaxing and creative, not to mention the enjoyment of the finished product.  And so, it was logical that I eventually began to make altar (communion) bread. This began years ago while I was in Montréal and part of the Loyola Chapel community at Concordia University.  Those were free-wheeling days when no one was going to slap your wrist if you made a few adjustments to the purity law of having just water and flour in the hosts by adding a bit of honey and even a bit of leaven…. The altar bread at Loyola was so good I often thought that it would be nice to have around just for snacking (imagine a honey graham scone that is moist and crumbly). 

By the time I arrived at the Jesuit school of theology in Cambridge, Massachusetts for my graduate studies in the early 2000’s things had tightened up a bit and we decided we had best use an acceptable recipe of just flour and water.  The challenge was to make something that was not only authentic but also palatable and, to be honest, less crumbly than the honey scone from my Loyola days.  This meant getting the proportions right, figuring how long to knead, how long to let the dough sit before baking, how thick to shape the rounds, what temperature to cook it at, and how long to bake it.  A fellow Jesuit scholastic and I used to make 50 large hosts at a time for our weekly college Masses.

Ultimately, I was missioned to Loyola Retreat House in Guelph and we soon began making our own altar bread; very much in line with the grassroots and ecological ethos of the Centre, with water from the artesian well under the property and organic whole wheat flour.  It was a great success.  Occasionally, we would host visiting groups, to whom we would offer the option of using the homemade communion bread.  Most were happy but others were hesitant. 

I will never forget the indignant look on the face of the guest presider who was helping out with a youth retreat when I suggested that we might use our homemade bread; made with only wheat and water, I assured him.  I even suggested that it was equally authentic or more than the wafers, due to its freshness.   His pained reply was, “Oh, but what about the crumbs?”  At that point I chose to acquiesce rather than remind him that was the reason why we used the corporal in the first place and that crumbs were minimal. 

Today I happily receive the wafer host whenever I find myself attending Mass in another place.  That said, I am consoled that my current community has opted to make its own altar bread.  It is made with reverence, with the best ingredients and, most of all, our most sacred aliment actually tastes like food.  It is full of the praise to “taste and see the goodness of the Lord.”

____________________________________

Recipe……

1/2 cup whole wheat flour 

1/2 cup unbleached white flour 

1/2 cup water

Combine and knead until well mixed (Keep a mixture of both flours handy to use if more flour is needed). Knead for at least 5-8 minutes, let dough rest for 5-10 minutes, and knead again. (The kneading and rest periods are very important in preparing this unleavened dough).

Roll out dough and cut or form into rounds of 4-5 inches in diameter and 3/8 inch thick.

Score rounds with a knife in a criscross pattern.

Place loaves on a baking sheet lined with parchment (a very light coating of non-stick spray may be used if they want to stick to the pan). Bake at 375  degrees for approximately twenty minutes.