Guess what? We're moving back home on Monday! The house is almost finished and looks amazing. I might post before and after pictures next week sometime when everything's in place. Some of you might remember the house fire that happened in the summer. I'm so happy to be back for Christmas. The place we're in right now sucks the big one. The guys working on the house have been great, though, and got everything done in time for us to move.
Gus has been there alone for the past few months and he'll be ecstatic to have company again. He's really old and refuses to leave the farm. He panics when we try to get him into a car and would have been really unhappy inside all day (he refuses to be in the house longer than an hour). We go there every day and spend time with him, and the construction guys hang out too, but I know he's missed us and the other dogs, and I missed him too. We're best buds. Just look at that beautiful face. Glamour shot!
These buns are made with a blend of light and whole spelt flour, so they're more easily digestible if you have some issues with standard wheat gluten but aren't celiac. They're soft and lovely and very high in protein because of the walnuts in the bread the seeds coating the outside. I tried to make a much easier and less time intensive version of my favourite German seedy buns, which need fermentation. They need hardly any kneading (ha) and rise beautifully, so it's a good option if you're not that confident with bread making. If you're still concerned, try this no-knead bread recipe instead. The seed coating isn't necessary, but it's delicious. You can make them like I did or leave the seeds off and bake them in a high sided pan to get soft dinner buns. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy. I almost lost my scrap paper with this recipe again. I hinted to Graham the other day that a journal would make a nice Christmas gift and he told me it was part of my gift. Soul mates.
Woah, I just searched "bread" on here to find a link for below, and only one bread recipe came up! I'm going to make a recipe index soon so things are easier to find, because apparently the search bar stinks.
Ingredients:
1/4 cup warm water
2 1/4 tsp instant or quick yeast
1 teaspoon coconut sugar
1 cup non-dairy milk
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 cups light spelt flour
1/2 cup ground walnuts
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 cups whole spelt flour (sprouted if you can get it)
Seeds for coating*
Add the water to a large bowl and sprinkle the yeast and coconut sugar over it. Let this sit for five-ten minutes or until frothy looking.
Stir in the milk, olive oil, light spelt, ground walnuts, and salt. This will make a very sticky dough.
Add the whole spelt flour 1/2 cup at a time, stirring well with each addition. The last half cup will likely be too difficult to stir in, so mix it in with your hands.
Lightly flour a flat surface and knead the dough several times. You want it to be a smooth, soft dough. See here for a photo example.
Place the dough in a greased bowl, cover with a tea towel, and put the bowl in a warm place. Let the dough rise for about an hour or until doubled in size (see above).
Punch down the dough and form buns. Pour your seeds into shallow bowls, making sure the bottom of the bowl is fully covered. Brush water onto the buns and gently push them into the seeds to coat. Some will fall off, but don't worry about it. You need an egg wash to get seeds to really stick.
Place the buns on a baking sheet to rise for another half an hour, or until doubled in size again. During this time, heat the oven to 350F. Bake the buns for 25-30 minutes or until they're lightly browned and sound hollow when tapped. If you're baking them close together for dinner buns, they'll need an extra five minutes.
Notes:
1. Raw seeds will work better than roasted, as roasted seeds have oils on the outside that will keep them from sticking to the dough properly.
Labels: bread, christmas, holiday, Seventh Day of Christmas, spelt, Twelve Days of Christmas, vegan, whole wheat
