this week in bread

Does this bread look familiar to any of you?

 

What if I tell you I got it at a place that also displayed this:

 

(experimenting with iPod pictures on the theory that it’s better than no pictures; which is what there were a lot of for a long time there when I was constantly forgetting my camera)

Anyway, that not especially good picture is from GREAT HARVEST!

I equate going to a Great Harvest to meeting a celebrity, based on the fact that Kath has one and also just based on the deliciousness and nutritiousness of their items. I live vaguely close to two of them but rarely go (fortunately for my wallet) but when I do it is dang exciting.

Well and cause I live for samples.

And Steve lives for butter on samples. Hers (hot cross buns bread) and his (butter with a side of potato-dill)

But the highlight, my friends, was decidedly the Dakota pictured above. I balked at the price (cause let’s be honest, being a Great Harvest employee and getting a loaf every shift is a STEAL, buying a loaf of bread for $7 is HIGHWAY ROBBERY) but my awesome boyfriend treated me (and I think it was day-old and we got a discount?)

Because Steve can’t eat anything without topping it with Sriracha or dunking it in something fatty, he plated up a ton of it with huge amounts of olive oil and Parmesan. I ate mine plain, which he later fully admitted was better.

  

And then enjoyed it at breakfast time in proper lighting.

Gosh, Dakota was SO GOOD! It seems to be much less a traditional wheat bread than an amalgamation of zillions of kinds of seeds (definitely poppy, sesame, pumpkin, and sunflower; quite possibly more) somehow mystically bound together by flour in some configuration. I suspect a sourdough or starter or biga or whatever you want to call it was involved, cause it also has a great tang.

What I consider the characteristic green pumpkin seeds on the top. Plus all the other seeds.

I had a slice (and… more) with an egg.

  

It was meant to be soft boiled but it was sorta… play-doh consistency boiled. C’est la vie. Still tasty.

 

Steve came up with a… what would we even call this?

Sandwich?

In other bread news, I also MADE delicious bread recently. (For way, WAY less than $7. It contained some apples rescued from going to waste at work. As usual. And some yogurt I was pretty sure had gone bad but was okay for baking).

Oh, it is also CRAZY DELICIOUS. Like… CRAZY. CRAZY. Like… an entire loaf disappeared in less than 48 hours.

Lest you think this is a typical me recipe, let me shock you by saying this is SAVORY apple bread (or savoury, as our overseas friends say oh-so-much-more-glamorously.) Just enough honey to take the edge off the yogurt, the real secret ingredient is SAGE.

Oh my goodness, particularly if you’re a vegetarian who no longer gets to enjoy a nice apple-sage sausage (anyone a fan?), this is for you. Apples and sage are BOSS. And so is this bread.

Also, people who hate the word moist, sorry: So, so so moist. Crazy moist.

 

Apple Oatmeal Sage Yogurt Bread

1 c plain Greek yogurt
1 c oats
1 T ground flaxseed mixed with 3 T water
2 T canola oil
1 T honey
2 T milk
¼ c. applesauce
1 cup whole wheat flour
3 T wheat germ
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. dried sage
1 c. finely diced apples (I didn’t bother peeling, as usual)

Spray a loaf pan with cooking spray. In a small bowl, mix together yogurt and oats and set aside. In a large bowl, mix together flax egg, oil, and applesauce. Stir in flour wheat germ, baking soda, baking powder, rosemary, salt and yogurt mixture (batter will be lumpy). Fold in apples. Pour into greased pan.
Heat oven to 350°F. Bake 45 minutes or until golden brown or a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Mm mm mm mm mm.

Finally, sometimes you just want a bagel.

Which I found myself doing, suddenly and intensely. Fortunately, it happened while in Entenmann’s discount bakery… directly in front of a bag of bagels. So it was sated delightfully quickly, thanks to Thomas’ impressively delicious whole wheat variety.

Post-church brunch:

 

With my usual mega mug of tea, a bagel with hummus (so good, and I just haven’t been able to come to terms with cream cheese since I gained the most basic and rudimentary knowledge of nutrition):

 

Annnnnd sunshine kale salad, a recipe from Mama Pea which I read in Snackface. Love you, blog world.

Also love you kale. And tahini and lemon juice and the total STAR ingredient, chili powder. Brilliant!

 

And so we end this carbs-carbs-carbs bread-bread-bread post with a green vegetable. Well done for me.