Seedy indeed(y)

Life is a mixture of circumstances

Recipes migrate into our lives the way people do - in wonky, unexpected ways. I would compare the way this recipe came to me to the way I befriended my friend Morgan in Seattle: it walked up to me at work, wearing a Mohawk, and it asked for borscht sauce, sauerkraut, and chili on its veggie dog. I knew immediately we'd hit it off.

Ok, maybe that's just what Morgan did, but this recipe has its own charm.

Sometimes, I work at this natural foods store in Wichita called Whole Foods Association. It's not part of the national chain, Whole Foods Market; the Who Foos in Wichita are a trio of family-owned stores. Though you can't find freshly made sushi or an olive bar at my Who Foos, you can find eight - count 'em - eight full aisles of supplements and vitamins, as well as a grocery utopia. Employees at this particular store are used to scoring free supplement samples, the occasional food freebie, and information pamphlets on, say, flax oil, but we don't often get cookbooks.

But Flax, World-class Recipes did come to me through a supplement rep named Brian, who works for a company that doesn't really sell much flax. This free anomaly contains recipes from around the world -- from Germany, England, Greece, Italy, Japan, and the American South -- and each one contains some of that super seed, flax. Since I already have a reputation for using flax in everything I cook (like pie and pizza crusts, muffins, and rolls), I loved this little book as quickly as I loved crazy Morgan.

To showcase the down-home charm you'll find in Flax, World-class Recipes, I give you an English quick seed bread, which I found nestled between recipes for strawberry rhubarb muffins and thimble cookies.

Seeds aren't just for birds in winter, man

English quick seed bread
from Flax: World-Class Recipes

• 1 1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. sea salt
• 3/4 cup lightly packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup raw, shelled sunflower seeds
• 1/3 cup ground flaxseed
• 2 Tb. whole flax seeds
• 2 Tb. poppy seeds
• 2 Tb. sesame seed (or 1 Tb sesame and 1 Tb. black sesame, as I used)
• 1 large egg, beaten
  
• 1 1/4 cups buttermilk
• 1/4 cup cooking oil
• 1 tsp. each flaxseed, sesame, and sunflower seeds (topping seeds)
  

Preheat oven to 350 degrees while you prepare the bread. Grease a 9 x 5 loaf pan and set it aside.

In a large bowl, combine flours, baking powder, soda, salt, brown sugar, and seeds. Stir well. I found mixing the dry ingredients to be the most meditative part of the whole recipe. Something about how the seeds sound as they slide into the bowl.

In another bowl, beat egg briskly, then beat in buttermilk and oil. Give those liquids a real kick in the pants before you combine them ! gently! with the dry mixture. Stir until just moistened. Pour the (thick, but not dough-like) batter into the prepared baking pan. Sprinkle the batter with the topping seeds, and bake the bread for 55 to 65 minutes, or until an inserted knife comes out clean.

Let the bread cool in the pan for several minutes before running a knife along the sides and turning out on a cooling rack. Serve warm, with butter. Mmm, butter.