Seedy Buckwheat Bread (gf)

First things first. As you may have noticed, things are looking a little bit different around here. The site has had a (small) makeover and is now also the proud owner of its own domain: realsimplefoodblog.com. There are still a few kinks to sort out but that should hopefully take no more than a few days. So please update your bookmarks, browser settings etc. to make sure you will not miss any future posts!

Now let’s move on to more interesting things. There seems to be a never-ending discussion on the pros and cons of social media, whether Twitter is dying, whether Instagram ‘sold out’ by featuring promoted content or how to use Snapchat (I mean, how DO you use snapchat?). I tend to ignore those discussions for a large part because right from the start both Twitter and Instagram have been infinitely useful and fun for me to use. Twitter is great both when it comes to real news (which these days seem to make it onto twitter before any of the major newspapers or networks pick up on them) and anything foodie-related. And Instagram is one of the first sources I turn to when holiday-planning. Once pesky things like flights and accommodation are sorted, Instagram is great for searching restaurants, bars, cafe and shops at your destination – it is how I came across  Semilla in Brooklyn and Atelier September in Copenhagen.

If you have never been, Atelier September is a cafe in the city centre of Copenhagen serving what they refer to as ‘natural food’ for breakfast and lunch. As overhyped as it is, I really like Atelier September. As one would expect from a trendy cafe in Copenhagen, the place oozes Scandi chic – think minimalist design, light wood, vintage mid-century furniture etc. If the food and the coffee weren’t as good as they were, it would be rather easy (and tempting!) to poke fun at the Kinfolk-esque-ness of this place. But I must admit, Alessandro and I had what is probably the best ever Avocado toast at Atelier September.

It took forever to arrive, but the wait was worth it. Not only was the amount of perfectly ripe avocado rather generous (I think we both ate one whole avocado that day), but each slice of avocado toast came heavily dusted with lemon zest, finely chopped chives and piment d’espelette. Aside from the fact that this delicious combination was a good reminder just why one should shell out the EUR 8 or so required to buy a small jar of piment d’espelette this side of the Pyrenees, what was even more special than the topping ingredients was the bread they used: the seediest of rye breads.

As much as I love toasted sourdough bread, especially when topped with perfectly ripe Hass avocados, that seedy rye bread really stood out. We all know that Danes (all Scandis really) excel at rye breads of all kinds. And the bread we had at Atelier September was the perfect reminder of this.  It was so crunchy, almost like a compact slice of savoury granola, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since my visit in December 2014!

So a few weeks ago, after staring into my over-flowing pantry full of half-empty bags of various flours, nuts and seeds, and reminiscing about Atelier September’s seedy rye bread, I decided to tackle the problem head-on and use at least some of those odds and ends to make the seediest bread my pantry would allow. The end result was this seedy buckwheat loaf.

Seedy Buckwheat Bread (glutenfree)

Loosely adapted from Bernd Armbrust ‘Brot’

Notes: Full of buckwheat groats, pumpking seeds, black and white sesame seeds, chia seeds and linseeds, all held together by nutty buckweat flour, water and some psyllium husk to avoid any risk of this glutenfree bread turning into a crumbly mess, this is one of those breads that can be sliced super thinly, toasted to a savoury granola-like crunch and that is sturdy enough to be the perfect vehicle for open-faced sandwiches (but really just screams for a layer of perfectly ripe and creamy avocado and a scattering of piment d’espelette – optional but highly recommended).

Ingredients

500g warm water
30g fresh yeast or 15g dried active yeast
250g coarsely chopped buckwheat groats (I use a foodprocessor to do this)
250g buckwheat flour
200g mixed seeds (e.g. pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, chia seeds and linseeds) – keep apart 3 tablespoons of the mixed seeds to scatter on top of the loaf before baking.
10g salt
25g psyllium husk

Directions

Dissolve the yeast in the warm water and set aside for 10 minutes.

In a large bowl mix the chopped buckwheat groats with the buckwheat flour, the mixed seeds, the salt and the psyllium husk. Add the yeast mixture and stir to combine.  Cover the dough and let rest for 2h at room temperature.

Pre-heat the oven to 220 degrees Celsius and grease a loaf pan with oil or butter.

Fill the loaf pan with the dough, flatten the top gently with a wet spoon and scatter the remaining seeds over the top. Place the loaf pan in the oven. Bake at 220 degrees Celsius for 15 minutes, then turn the heat down to 200 degrees Celsius and continue baking the loaf for ca. 1 h 15 mins. If the loaf starts colouring too much, cover with some parchment paper.

Leaf the loaf to cool in its pan for 15 minutes. Carefully remove the loaf and place on a cookie rack to cool overnight before slicing.