An apparatus is disclosed for concurrently imprinting and piercing of dough consisting of flour, water and yeast to produce loaves imprinted with an image that represents Coptic religious symbols including Coptic letters, crosses, circles and squares. The imprinting is accomplished using embossed patterns engraved onto an upper plate that is pressed onto a lower plate containing the dough placed inside depressions disposed below the surface of the lower plate. The imprinting is implemented after the step of proofing the dough in a process for preparing the loaves that includes the steps of flattening, proofing, imprinting and baking.