Six-Seed Soda Bread

I've made many quick breads that use baking soda or baking powder, like pumpkin bread or muffins. I never realized baking soda could be used to make savory bread, but I should have remembered that is how biscuits are made. So here's a soda bread recipe that is very quickly thrown together and then immediately put into the oven. Easy as pie! Or soda bread.

If you don't have all six seeds on hand, try omitting some. I happened to have all available; I guess I'm a seed collector. Also, the recipe calls for spelt flour, but you can use whole wheat pastry flour in its place. I bought spelt flour for the first time last week at the farmer's market. The farmer grew and ground it himself. It's a light grain and I can't wait to try it in other baking ventures.

before baking

Six-Seed Soda Bread
from 101 Cookbooks

2 1/2 tablespoons EACH sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, flax seeds
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 3/4 cup / 9 oz / 250 g spelt flour
2 cups / 9 oz / 250 g unbleached all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
1 3/4 cup / 14 oz / 400 ml buttermilk
a bit of extra buttermilk/milk

Preheat your oven to 400F . Place a rack in the center of the oven. In a small bowl combine all the seeds and set aside.

Sift the flours, baking soda, and salt into a large mixing bowl. Stir in all but 2 tablespoons of the seeds. Make a well in the flour, pour in the buttermilk, and stir until the dough just comes together. Adjust dough - add an extra splash of buttermilk if the dough is too dry, or a tablespoon or two of extra flour if the dough is too wet. The dough needs to mainly stick together, and all the flour should be incorporated with about 10 seconds of kneading.

Place the dough on a lightly floured baking sheet and mark it with a deep cross across the top, cutting two-thirds of the way through the loaf with a serrated knife. Brush with buttermilk and sprinkle with the remaining seeds, making sure plenty of seeds make it down into the cracks.

Bake for 35 - 40 minutes, or until the bread is golden crusted on top and bottom (you may want to move the oven rack up for the last 15 minute if you need more color on the top of the loaf). Cool on a wire rack.