How to decorate a wedding loaf in an original way?

According to the tradition of our ancestors, at the wedding, parents should meet the newlyweds in front of the house with a loaf in their hands. The loaf personifies family happiness, fertility. The richer and more beautiful the loaf, the more happiness the newlyweds will have in family life. Therefore, great importance is attached to its decoration.

Usually the festive wedding loaf was baked on Saturday. For its preparation, married, experienced and happily married women were called. It was believed that through the hands of such women, happiness and good luck are transmitted to the married life of the newlyweds. Therefore, childless and divorced women and widows were not allowed into this business. It was believed that in this case, the same fate could be repeated for the newlyweds.

Decoration details and their meaning:

• Bunches of viburnum - an essential attribute of any wedding meal. Kalina has long been considered the berry of love and abundance. Therefore, it is abundant on the cake. To prepare such a decoration, you need to roll up large balls and cut them in half. Attach the resulting halves to the surface of the pie so that bunches of viburnum are obtained.
• Pigtail, located along the edge of the loaf, symbolizes the sun. It is designed to light the way for a young family so that their life is bright and long.
• Ears of wheat mean fertility and wealth in the family.

• Roses symbolize love. Their presence on the birthday cake will perfectly complement the overall decoration and make the product more elegant.
• Leaves mean youth. This is the simplest decoration element.

When preparing a pie, a salt depression is made in the center. It is decorated with different elements. According to tradition, the newlyweds should pinch off the edge of the loaf together, dip in salt and eat. This will mean that they ate a pound of salt together and in the future they will have a happy life together.

Let's consider the preparation of each decoration element step by step. The decoration material is the same dough as for the main cake.

• To prepare a rose, roll out five circles with a diameter of about five centimeters. We lay them on top of each other a step. Then we roll them together into a roll. You will get a small puff roll. We cut it in half. Turn over both halves and lay them out on a flat surface. Fold back the top edges of each layer. We got two beautiful roses.

• To make ears of wheat, you have to craft three constituent elements. This is the ear itself, stems and branches.

1. To make an ear, we roll a small dough roller with a diameter of one centimeter. Flatten one end to form a cone. With small scissors, we make cuts along the entire surface of the roller to make thorns. Then we pull out our roller a little, grasping its ends. The result is a spikelet of wheat.
2. For the stem, you need to roll out thin twigs from the dough. Their thickness will depend on the test, the length is about 30 centimeters.
3. We make the branches from thin dough, having previously rolled it out with a rolling pin. Cut it into strips one centimeter wide. At the end of the strips we make a cut to make a sharp end.
4. We connect all the elements together. We spread the stem on a loaf. We attach a spikelet to the upper part. Along the edges of the stem, we fasten the branches on both sides in the direction of the sharp end to the spikelet. The ear of wheat is ready.

• To prepare the leaves, we sculpt rhombuses of different sizes from the dough. Cut out small pieces of dough with a knife along the edges of the rhombus. You should have jagged edges. The decoration is ready.
• Pigeons are an integral part of the loaf. According to tradition, there should be two of them, as they symbolize peace and love. It may seem that preparing pigeons is a daunting task, but in reality the process is very simple. We make strips of dough about three centimeters long and half a centimeter wide. We tie knots at the ends of the strip. On one of them we make an incision with a knife to make a beak, and on the other several cuts to make a tail. Let's flatten the base of our pigeon a little. Use a sharp object to draw wings on it. Pinch off the feathers with small scissors. The pigeons are ready.

• Often, instead of pigeons, the loaf is decorated with swans. Making them is as easy as making pigeons. Roll out two rolls 6 centimeters long from the dough. It is necessary to stretch each of them in such a way that a small ball (head) forms at the top, and an oblong oval (bird body) at the bottom. With a needle we make eyes and a beak on the head. Extrude the wings and tail on the body.

As such, there are no principles and rules for decorating a wedding loaf. But there are some traditions that they are trying to observe when decorating the cake. Usually, a recess is made in the center of the loaf and a salt shaker is installed. To decorate it festively, they use elements such as roses, ears of wheat.

A pigtail is usually laid along the edge of the pie or ears of wheat are laid out in the form of a small sheaf. You can also use all kinds of bunches of berries.

The rest of the loaf space is filled with all sorts of elements mentioned above. Recently, natural berries, ears of wheat and various decorative ornaments are often used. This makes the cake not only festive and beautiful, but also original and unique. However, it should be remembered that everything should be in moderation. No need to get carried away and overdo it with decorations.

For information on how to bake a wedding loaf with your own hands, see the next video.