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The Portuguese community has always been known for many appetizing foods. But when I went in search of traditional offerings at Easter time, among those whose families had emigrated from the Azores, one food was first on the lists of everyone I spoke with - the celebrated Maca Sovada (Portuguese Sweet Bread).

It seems as though no matter how large the families were and how busy, they always found time to make this delicious bread every Easter. The recipes varied just a bit, mostly in the flavoring added. Some people preferred lemon flavoring or lemon and vanilla. Vanilla alone was sometimes used, and occasionally anise would be added.

Florence BenDavid has fond memories of her Vovo (grandmother Mary Amaral) baking many loaves for Easter. During this season, she, like every other person I spoke with, would twist the dough to make special bunny-face-shaped loaves with an egg in the center of the face between the ears. When baked, both the bread and the egg would be cooked to perfection and this was a delightful Easter gift for children and adults alike.

Along with these special loaves, large round ones with eggs in the center would also be made. Florence remembers that Vovo would also shape some of the dough into small pigeons with little beaks and wings. Florence's mother, the late Elvira BenDavid, carried on this special baking tradition. When asked if she too would bake sweet bread this season, Florence laughed, responding that she was a cleaner not a baker. But she said that her daughter, Nadine Barrett, has carried on the family tradition of making sweet bread for many years now.

Magical family traditions

Sylvia Coutinho Rogers had very special memories of Easter treats to share. Her family - including cousins, aunts, and other relatives - had a tradition of visiting her grandmother, Virginia Dias, in Vineyard Haven on Sunday afternoons. The adults would be served refreshments of sweet bread and a glass of wine. On Easter afternoons, however, Sylvia remembers her eldest Aunt, Mary Dias Swartz, quietly beckoning the children to follow her into the kitchen, where unbeknownst to the adults present she would serve each of them a minute portion of wine in a Fostoria goblet along with their sweet bread. It was such a special secret between the children and their much-loved aunt that Sylvia still remembers it most fondly to this day.

Sylvia's mother, Alice Coutinho, who was kind enough to share her recipes for this article, said that the traditional dinner was usually roast lamb, and sometimes ham. Along with the sweet bread, hard-boiled eggs that had been colored and home baked cookies were a special treat on this holiday.

Frequently the sweet bread dough would be pulled off in small clumps, stretched so that it was flat and then deep-fried to make the fried dough we all enjoy at various fund-raising events today.

I have made the Maca Sovada myself a couple of times. A warning to you if you attempt it: you have to make sure to keep the batter warm during rising. A warm afghan or blanket over the bowl works out nicely. It can be a long process but definitely worth the mouth-watering result

And beware: the bread itself is extremely addictive! I challenge anyone to settle for just one slice.

MACA SOVADA (Portuguese Sweet Bread)
Alice Coutinho

5 lbs. flour
4 cups sugar
1 1�2 Tbs. salt
12 eggs, beaten
1/4 tsp. anise flavoring
2 yeast packets dissolved in 1�2 cup warm water
1 large heaping serving spoon of Crisco
1 stick margarine or butter
1 can evaporated milk in quart bottle, remainder of bottle filled with hot water

Place the milk mixture in large mixing bowl. Add margarine or butter and Crisco. When melted, add sugar and salt. Add the yeast when dissolved, and flavorings. Then add beaten eggs and gradually beat in flour. Cover with dishtowel and warm blanket to keep out drafts. It is most satisfactory to make in early evening and let rise until double in bulk and push down before retiring. Form into rolls and loaves in early morning and let rise again until double in bulk.

Before baking, brush tops with 1 egg white and 2 tsps. sugar.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes, until golden brown. After removing from oven, brush tops with mixture of 2 egg whites and 3 tsp. sugar, slightly beaten.Alice was kind enough to share her cookbooks with me, pointing out the recipes that were made especially at Easter by her and many other Portuguese families. This one is from “The Home Book Of Portuguese Cookery.”

Crepes A Portuguesa (Crepes Portuguese Style)
(makes 10 crepes)

4 oz. flour, sieved
1 egg
1�2 pint milk
salt
banha (pork fat) for frying

Sieve the flour into a bowl. Make a hole at the top, break the egg into it, and add a little salt. Thoroughly stir half the milk into this using a wooden spoon. Then add the other half and beat with a whisk. Allow the mixture to stand for one hour and beat it again before using.

Heat a little banha in a large frying pan until it begins to smoke. Add two dollops of the mixture from a tablespoon. It will spread out thinly and should be cooked until small holes and bubbles appear on the surface. Turn the crepes with a pallet knife and briefly cook the other side. Remove the crepes as they are done and lay them on a plate. Continue until all the mixture is used.

Sauce:

2 oz. unsalted butter, 2 oz. Caster sugar, juice of one orange, peel of one lemon grated

Put all ingredients into a frying pan and warm them together. Take the crepes one by one and immerse briefly in the sauce. Fold them in four and transfer to preheated serving dish. When all are ready, pour mixture of 2 tablespoons Begaceira (port or liqueur) and one tablespoon rum over them, flame them and serve with all speed.And this traditional delicacy comes from “The “Provincetown Portuguese Cookbook”
Suspiros (Sighs)
3 egg whites beaten very stiff
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup lemon juice
1�2 cup almonds or walnuts, minced, or 1�2 cup coconut

Beat egg whites until stiff, adding the sugar gradually. When stiff, beat in the lemon juice. Carefully fold in the nuts or coconut. Drop by the spoonfuls onto a flattened paper bag and bake in a 350 degree oven until brown (light tan) Be careful when removing them from the paper. They are very fragile. Yields about 3 or 4 dozen.

Megan Alley is The Times Oak Bluffs correspondent.