Hello bread and grain friends,
Happy Vernal Equinox. Easter greetings. Ramadan Mubarak. Chag Pesach Sameach. I hope however you are ushering in spring and celebrating all it has to offer, you are enjoying it.
Here’s what’s on the menu this month:
Matzah
Every year, I use some of my best flours to make matzah for our Passover meal and the whole week of breakfasts and non-leavened bread baskets on our family table. This year, I’m using emmer, einkorn & barley. These are the flours that my ancestors probably worked with in their Pesach meals, and this is my nod to my roots.
Kimmel Bread
My grandmother used to send my dad to their local bakery in Montreal to get bread for their dinner. She learned quickly that if she didn’t give him enough to buy a second loaf, there wouldn’t be bread with dinner. He’d walk home taking small bites until there was barely any left. The bread he loved was called Kimmel bread, which many people probably know as Jewish deli rye, but in Montreal, it’s known as kimmel, which I think is the word for the caraway seeds. To this bread, I add a bit of malted rye flour from Tuality, which makes it an eat-while-you-walk-home worthy bread to me in every way.
Seedy Einkorn & Rye
100% whole grain hearty goodness. I grind all of the grains myself and diligently toast and soak the seeds, and it’s so worth it! The rye comes from Tuality Plains and the organic einkorn, from Bluebird Grain Farms. I pack it with organic flax seeds and Anson Mills Sea Island benne seeds. I also include sprouted pumpkin seeds. As one friend put it, a slice of this bread is a meal unto itself.
Other news from the world of grain:
-The Kneading Conference was announced for this summer. Check it out here.
– I am hosting a monthly Zoom meeting as a free resource for all bakers who want to ask questions and share ideas. It will be the first Sunday of each month, and you can join the first one on Sunday November 7th from 10am to 11:30am PST by going to this link. Hope to see you there!
-For information about the Flour Hour experience on Airbnb, go here.