I was tweaking and cleaning up the blog yesterday and realized that Sunday’s tartine post was my 200th blog post! For someone who’s shy and not particularly loquacious, it’s amazing I’ve had this much to say. Although when the topic of food comes about, I usually have no trouble finding my words.

I wanted to make something special to honor the feat. Something I crave regularly but cannot get here. Something I tucked behind everything else in my recipe folder when we started dating, because he’s not into baked goods/breads with nuts or crunchy things inside.

Whole Foods’ Seeduction Bread. A hearty, nutty, seedy whole grain bread filled with bulgur, poppy seeds, millet, pepitas and sunflower seeds. Perfect for eating plain, toasted, slathered with butter, peanut butter or jam, torn off in hunks and dipped in hummus, served alongside salad or soup, as sandwich bread or for egg-in-a-hole . . .

Egg-in-a-hole has been on my radar for the past month. Warm from the oven we cut thick slices of the Seeduction, tore out a hole, cracked an egg inside and ate the childhood treat as a simple lunch with cubed papaya.

For his sake I omitted the pepitas and sunflowers; the millet and poppy seeds would just toe the line — enough crunch for me but still not too much for him.

This recipe produces almost an exact replica of the Whole Foods Seeduction. I’m not sure I could tell the two apart. In the wild world of whole grains, this is without a doubt my favorite bread and well worth you giving it a try, too. Even if you’re not a bread baker!

Seeduction Bread [makes 2 small loaves]

Printable recipe

1/2 c lukewarm water, 95° to 105° F

2 1/2 t [or 1 packet] active dry yeast

1/4 c mild-flavored honey [such as Wildflower or Mesquite]

2 3/4 c bread flour [AP works fine]

1 c whole wheat flour [I used King Arthur’s WW Bread flour]

1/2 c bulgur or couscous or cracked wheat [went with bulgur this time]

1 1/2 t salt

1/4 c sunflower or grapeseed oil

1 c cool water

1 c raw sunflower seeds

1/2 c millet, toasted if you like

3 T poppy seeds

1/2 c plus 3 T raw pumpkin seeds [pepitas]

Pour lukewarm water into a 2-cup measuring cup and sprinkle with yeast. Mix in the honey and let sit about 10 minutes so it gets foamy.

Put flours, bulgur [or couscous or cracked wheat] and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment and mix a few times, to combine. Pour the oil and cool water into the yeast mixture and then, while the mixer is running, add in a slow and steady stream. Let it run until the dough stops sticking to the outside walls and forms a ball; add 1 to 2 t water if it’s not sticky enough to form the ball, or add the same of flour if it looks too wet. Let the mixer run for another minute to knead the dough.

Remove the dough ball to a greased bowl and flip it around so all sides of the dough get a little greased. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough rise in a warm spot for 2 hours.

Line a baking sheet with parchment or a Silpat liner. Turn the dough out onto a clean work surface, knead a few times and then form into a large flat-ish oval. Sprinkle the millet and seeds [reserving 3 T pepitas] over top of the dough, and fold in half. Knead the dough to distribute the millet and seeds evenly. Divide the dough into two and form each into tight round balls.

Coarsely chop the remaining pepitas and roll the tops in the chopped pepitas. [You could also substitute more poppy seeds here.] Place the loaves on the prepared baking sheet, cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 375° F.

Bake the loaves on the center rack for 30-35 minutes, or until golden and sound hollow when tapped on the bottom. Cool before slicing.

Adapted from Robin and inspired by Whole Foods

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11.18.2009

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