Terra Americana

I love March, I love parsnips and I love this bread! 

I am torn, finally some half way decent snow...   (yes, I do realize I am probably the only one thinking that)  Charlie is running around like a crazy person, imploring me to strap on the snow shoes for an early morning adventure.  I am tempted, but I am dreaming of a warm piece of this bread, covered in melting butter and raspberry jam...

Here's it's story; I was looking to make a quick bread I could use for Brushetta that was gluten and corn free.  After an hour searching I went to my old standby 101 Cookbooks and found a recipe I could tweek with what I had on hand.  The result is a light yet dense bread.  An oxymoron I know, but that seems to be the way of gluten free baking.  It is above all else delicious.  I served it with a Tomato, Artichoke and Olive Tapenade to rave reviews.

This is what I did:

• 2 tbsp EACH sunflower seeds,sesame seeds,poppy seeds, nigella (onion) seeds, flax seeds
• 2 cups  Spelt flour (If you prefer to stay away from spelt, try a combination of   Arrowroot & Brown Rice Flour)
• 2 cups Almond Flour
• 1 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 1 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 2 cups buttermilk or whey
• 1 tbsp soy butter, my personal favorite is Soy Garden from Earth Balance

Preheat your oven to 450f. Place a rack in the center of the oven. In a small bowl combine all the seeds and set aside. Sift flours and baking soda. Stir in salt and all but 2 tablespoons of the seeds. Make a well in the flour, pour in the buttermilk, and stir.  Kneed for a brief minute to get the dough to come together.

Place the dough on a lightly floured baking sheet, preheated pizza stone or cast iron pot.  Score an X across the top, it should be about 2/3" deep.  Reduce heat to 400f.  Sprinkle on the remaining seeds. Bake for 30 50 minutes.  Remove from the oven and baste with butter.  Return to the oven for an additonal 20 minutes.  If you are using a cast iron pot, bake the bread covered for the first 30 minutes and uncovered from the last 20 minutes.  Remove when the crust is browned to your liking.
Cool before cutting.

This recipe was adapted from Heidi Swanson's Six-Seed Soda Bread, she in turn adapted it from Adapted from River Cottage everyday by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.

More for Bread lovers:

• Kesra - Moroccan Bread
• Simple Bread
• Irish Oat Scones
• Cinnamon Raisin Bread

How I've experimented:

•  
  • 1 1/3 2 cups Spelt flour
  • 1/3 1/2 cup hemp flour
  • 1/3 1/2 cup potato flour
  • 2 2 1/2 cups Almond Flour
  • 1 1/4 2 tsp sea salt
  • 1 3/4 2 3/4 tsp baking soda
  • 2 2/1/2 cups buttermilk or whey
  • 1 tbsp soy butter, my personal favorite is Soy Garden
  • 2 tbsp EACH sunflower seeds,sesame seeds,poppy seeds, nigella (onion) seeds, flax seeds

2/5/12  2/12/12

Photo Credit:  Julie Cecchini