Kitchen Experiments

I love to bake bread. The house smells wonderful, and the end product is delicious. I was intrigued when I came across a recipe entitled The Life-Changing Loaf. The recipe didn't call for leavening. Just oats, seeds, and nuts baked up to golden deliciousness. More of a quick bread than what is normally thought of as bread.

While out running errands, I decided to pick up the ingredients I didn't have. Sunflower seeds, flax seeds, coconut oil. What I couldn't find I'd leave out or substitute. Found chia seeds in a granola mix. Couldn't find the psyllium so I'd just skip that.The recipe was very simple. Mix all of the dry ingredients in a loaf pan. Whisk the melted coconut oil, maple syrup (I used honey) and water. Pour the wet over the dry. Mix the dough. Let the dough sit for a couple of hours to absorb all the water. Bake and voilà.

Only when I turned the loaf out of the pan, I got a pile of birdseed, not a nice loaf. It tasted ok if a little bland, but the presentation definitely lacked voilà.

What did I learn? I should have read some of the comments. Seems the psyllium seed husks was the one ingredient that couldn't be left out or substituted. Apparently, when the seeds gets wet they form a colloidal suspension and act as the binder for the other ingredients.

Himself goes by a Whole Foods store on his way home from the dojo. He said he'd stop in and look for the psyllium seed husks or powder and chia seeds. Yeah, he's good like that.

And Timex, if he's not sleeping in a hole some place, and the birds, and other animals that forage will get a treat when I put my bird seed out at the feeder.

"I have not failed. I've just found ten thousand ways that won't work" - Thomas Edison