Retreat recipes part one!

The weather has been so good that it would have been a pity to spend time typing on a keyboard…

I went to Wicklow to cook for a Vipassana/Mindfulness and Loving Kindness retreat taught by Marjo Oosterhoff of Passaddhi . When at the end participants could speak again (it was a silent retreat) some asked for the seed and nut bread recipe – and it is about time to post it!

Spring flowers in the gardens at Magheramore

The recipe is a slightly modified version of Sarah Britton’s  The Life-Changing Loaf of Bread  – please click and go to the original website.  My New Roots is one of my favourite and inspirational food blog/sites, and I honestly think everyone should cook something from it at least once a week!

My version of the bread came to life because I wanted to try a gluten and oat free version of it. So I replaced the oats with millet flakes.

And I found out that millet flakes absorb much more water than oats, so I had to add about 100 ml more. The other  differences are that I do not use anything to sweeten the bread and use olive oil instead of the coconut or ghee.

Here are the ingredients for one loaf:

100 gr sunflower seeds

35 gr pumpkin seeds

90 gr linseed

65 gr almonds (I use whole unpeeled almonds)

145 gr millet flakes

2 tbs Chia seeds

4 tablespoons psyllium Husk

1 1/12 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoon olive oil

450 ml water

For the method follow the original recipe: I also add seaweed sometimes, or sesame seeds.

Mix everything together, in a bowl or you can try in the tin, and let rest for at least 4 hours or overnight. Preheat the oven at 170˚C and bake for about 30 minutes, remove from the tin and bake for another 20 minutes.

A note on the tin: I tried to grease the tin but the bread – probably because of the wet mix, really stuck to it. I line the tins with parchment now.

Again, thanks to Sarah for publishing this amazing recipe, and if you want to see pictures of it have a look at her website.