A recipe for making 'U.G.T. Bread'

The above image is a still from the documentary 'The Spanish Earth, by Joris Ivens made in 1937. It shows a loaf of union baked bread (UGT - Unión General de Trabajadores , the socialist trade union) in a village just behind the front line in Madrid.

It got me thinking that it would be a great bit of set dressing at a SCW event and at the same time give you something to eat!

Below is a recipe for a spanish white bread taken from a 'Spanish Style Cookery' book. Apologies to any Spaniards if this is a pale imitation of a good Spanish bread recipe but it's the only one I have got!

Recipe:

• 2 teaspoons (7g) dried yeast

• 1 teaspoon sugar

• 1/2 cup (125ml) warm milk

• 1 cup (250ml) warm water, approximately

• 4 cups (600g) plain flour

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

1. Combine yeast, sugar, milk and water in small bowl. Cover, stand in, warm place about 10 minutes or until frothy

2. Sift flour and salt into large bowl, add combined yeast mixture and oil; mix to a soft dough.

3. Knead dough on floured surface about 10 minutes or until smooth and elastic. Place dough in oiled bowl, cover tightly , stand in warm place about 30 minutes or doubled in size.

4. Turn dough onto floured surface knead until smooth. divide doe into 4 pieces. Shape each piece into a a round flattish shape, place on greased oven trays. Make 2 Scores on the top of the bread as in the picture above. Cover loosely with a tea towel, stand in warm place about 20 minutes or until doubled in size.

5. Just before putting in oven make UGT design in top of bread. Place in cold oven, turn to moderately hot, bake about 25 minutes or until bread has browned and sounds hollow when tapped.

How to make the UGT lettering

This is easier you can either make a stamp with a piece of wood and some nails (this is how the baker does it in the film) or use a skewer to prick the holes as in the picture above. The important thing is to do it just before you put the bread in the oven otherwise if you do it too early the bread rises more and distorts the letters. (yes, I did that.)

Potential variants

Though I don't have any evidence of it maybe as an alterative you could produce C.N.T. (Confederación Nacional del Trabajo, the Anarcho-sindicalist trade union) bread instead?

If you know of any images of C.N.T. bread I would love to know, please email me at

Revolutionarydoeboy@[nospam]lacoloumna.org.uk

(You will have to remove the [nospam] bit for the email address to work.)

Salud, James