Seed Bread - nuttily delicious

I served my seed loaves at a picnic recently, and, as is usual with this particular bread, the recipe was requested. Now it's up on Gardenista, via my weekly column.

It can take a long time to develop a recipe, and many, many tests. This is now a regular in my baking rotation, and has been for about two years.  

What's the  neon topping? An intensely savory bean pâté with some raw beet microplaned in at the last minute. The bean recipe is also on Gardenista, if you're desperately curious (it doesn't have to be puréed, but can be eaten as a warm casserole or a cool salad. It's divine).

The bread's appeal, I think, is threefold. One, it tastes very good: The toasted nuttinesss of a flock of seeds is very compelling. Two, it contains no flour, so is gluten-free: That also means it is far healthier than any bread that is flour-based because it is loaded with nutrition and fiber. Still, you feel like you're eating bread, and not something you have to, because it's "good for you." (And if you are sensitive to gluten, what do you miss the most? Bread!) Three - it's easy to make. There is no kneading. After a pan-toast, you mix, pour, and bake. Done.

Four, but no one knows this until after it's made: This seed bread makes the best toast. Ever. For that reason alone I keep it in the freezer, pre-sliced, to toast as needed.

Happy baking! Go and buy your sunflowers seeds now...

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Gluten Free Seed Bread

Magnificat

Nkwe Pirelli. Pirelli to his friends. Puss-Puss to his intimates. Bushy-Brooks to the disrespectful. The cat formerly known as Percy. And Inky, before that.

Outside, now

Evenings have moved outdoors, again, and if we are very lucky, Pirelli joins us. 

Beyond the terrace the horse chestnuts are in bloom, and all around us black locust* trees are dripping with scented white flowers. At flower sellers outside bodegas,  bucketsful of peonies have replaced cold-weather tulips.

Black locust is North American Robinia pseudoacacia. In New York it is a sturdy street tree, and very welcome to bees and foragers. 

Behind the cat and the man, the calamondin tree is loaded. Today, the little, aromatic and very sour fruit will be picked, halved, and laid in salt. 

Let's hear it for the ...

...boys. Both beloved.

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