Happy Solemnity of Saint Joseph! Today was my first day back in the office after vacation and my annual retreat. I have loads of emails and voicemails backlogged alongside various things needing done in preparation of Holy Week & Easter as well as in the long-term (think Partners in the Gospel). As the day played out, various and sundry unexpected things popped up. As the day draws to a close, I realized that I had missed an opportunity to join my prayers to those of Saint Joseph: “Lord, I had plans!”

That said, today HAS been pretty awesome, with Mass for the solemnity bookending the day. To boot, I discovered a neat tradition that I got to share at tonight’s reception at the Mass at Saint Joseph (celebrating their patron): Pane di San Guiseppe! I’m including the recipe with my own alterations below, but want to give credit to Peggy, who posted this recipe over a decade over at her blog The House of Kent. I recommend checking it out, anytime of the year!

Pane di San Guiseppe (bread machine recipe by Peggy of The House of Kent, with mild alterations from my efforts today)

• Liquid ingredients
  • 1 1/4 cup warm water
  • 1 tablespoon honey
  • 2 tablespoons butter
• Dry ingredients
  • 3 cups bread machine flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/4 teaspoons anise, ground (powdered)
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
• Special ingredients (add at indicated time, see below)
  • 1/3 cup raisins (golden, if possible)
  • 1 tablespoon cornmeal
• Baking instructions
  • I use a Zojirushi Home Bakery Supreme Breadmaker, which directs users to put in the liquids first, followed by the dry ingredients, with the yeast added last (on top of everything). I ran a basic course at the standard settings for a 2 lb loaf – that worked great for me! However, be sure to follow the instructions for your particular machine
  • The raisins are put in at the ‘add’ beep
  • The cornmeal is sprinkled across the top of the loaf of bread before the final bake cycle – they represent the sawdust of Saint Joseph’s trade!

P.S. I didn’t change much from Peggy’s recipe:  a bit more water (as 2/3 cup of water left the loaf a bit too dry), melted the butter for a bit before adding it, using regular anise from the local grocery store (only mildly ground it with a spoon in a bowl – I definitely need to get a mortar & pestle!)