Sunday, July 30, 2017

Lammas Bread

Lammas is upon us and we've chosen to celebrate on this beautiful warm sun filled Sunday. Corn husk dolls are made, bread is baked, a big garden harvest is had, and feast prepared with whatever the groundhog hasn't taken for himself. We give thanks to the sun, thanks to this season, and thanks for this delicious food!!!


I wish I could say I had a recipe for this bread... but the truth is that I simply do not! It was all.. a bit of yeast here... a bit of oats there... some brown sugar.. warm water.. a splash of buttermilk, and enough flour to get a good wet dough consistency. I made this in my great grandmother's small corn bread skillet.. so to replicate a similar bread, I'd take your favorite easy peasy bread recipe and make a third of what the ingredients call for in the case of a small skillet... Or if you have a larger skillet, adjust it to what feels right.  My all time favorite bread recipe I found here: "  My Mother's Peasant Bread " . I have made this recipe 300 times over. So much so that the very act of it is imprinted in my hands and I can seem to conjure it up at will whenever bread needs to be made. I highly recommend you write this recipe down and tuck it away in your most treasured recipe book or box or tin!

(So here is the bread! First pictured is the wet dough so you can get a feel for the consistency topped with the tomatoes and herbs. Pictured after is the warm browned bread currently driving my nose to wheat heaven. I topped it with even more herbs then and also some grated cheese!)


This was a no knead wet dough stirred about with nasturtiums, rosemary, lemon thyme, tomatoes, oats, basil, sage, and chopped pumpkin flowers.


I let my dough rise for an hour outside, covered, in spotted sunlight for warmth. ( it's a cool new england day here ). And when it was ready I floured my surface and hands and without punching down the dough.. just letting it gently slide to the flour.. I took my floured hands, formed the dough into a disc, and placed it in my grandmother's lightly oiled skillet. I drizzled some olive oil on the top, topped it with even more nasturtiums and herbs and sliced some cherry tomatoes for the top. I'd previously set the oven to 400 degrees and then baked it till a nice golden brown. While warm I topped it with a bit of grated Dubliner Cheese. It's still cooling as I write this and the scent is driving my stomach absolutely mad! I can't wait to cut into it with some smoooooth butter and cuddle up next to my husband for some poetry, many a candle, and a good game of Scrabble!









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