Here's a recipe I used for years in the late 60's/early 70's and
handed off to another family when I relocated. For services in the
very formal main church, I baked in regular pans; the prep crew cut
off the crusts and cut the remaining bread into cubes to be
passed. For the informal services held in the campus ministry
offices, I'd braid it and each person would tear off the chunk of
their choice. For that presentation, I'd always brush butter over
the risen braid just before baking it. I'm sending the recipe just
as I have it written down ... pretty minimalist, but then it's an
entirely straightforward bread.
WHITE BREAD
3 cups milk
3 packets dry yeast
4.5 Tablespoons butter
1 Tablespoon salt
enough flour
I didn't note any further instructions, but just follow normal
process for assembling the bread -- warm the milk, dissolve & proof
the yeast, stir in the soft butter & salt along with more-or-less 2
cups of flour per cup of liquid. Knead, let rise at least
twice. Bake at 350-375F, depending on what your goals for the crust
are (higher temperature = darker crust).
Here's a different recipe which I originally received when I ordered
shaped tubes which could be greased on the inside, you put the dough
into the shaped tube for the final rise, seal the ends with metal
caps, and bake ... the result was a sturdy bread in a fancy shape,
fun to cut thin slices for party canapes. The idea of baking in a
sealed container is to prevent the dough from rising much, resulting
in a very dense loaf and virtually no crumbs.
CANAPE BREAD
1 packet dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
2 Tablespoons warm water
3.5 cups flour
1.25 cups warm milk
1/4 cup soft, unsalted butter
Combine the yeast, sugar & water until dissolved. Add flour, milk &
butter; knead. Dough should be soft but not sticky. Let rise (1-1.5 hours).
Punch down, divide into thirds. Place into three buttered molds;
place buttered covers on ends. Let rise 45-60 minutes.
Bake at 400F for 10 minutes, reduce heat to 375F and bake another
20-25 minutes until lightly browned. Slice into quarter-inch pieces, decorate.
These two recipes are very similar and either would work for your
purpose (with or without confining the dough to a tube). To minimize
crumbs, add as little flour as you can while still making a
knead-able, controlled dough. Keeping the dough very "slack" gives
you a moist, yielding bread which should tear easily and not shed too
much. The other thing to consider since you're tearing the pieces
off, is braiding the final loaf with as many strands as you can
handle (there's a great explanation of multiple-strand braiding for
Challah in _Secrets of a Jewish Baker_ by George Greenstein, or you
can consut craft sources such as macrame instructions). Much like
Monkey Bread (where individual lumps of dough are doused in butter
and tucked into a pan for baking), having many pieces of dough
simplifies breaking off a small piece without a big mess.
And speaking of Challah, if a rich YELLOW bread would be acceptable,
any Challah recipe will handle beautifully in the tear-and-pass scenario.