Savory Quick Bread with Seeds & Sea Lettuce

Typically I find myself reverting again and again to making sourdough but every once in a while I crave freshly baked bread NOW! Enter this savory quick bread. I developed this particular recipe for a class called Beyond Nori: Sea Vegetables 101 that I taught at 18 Reasons in San Francisco. Some of the recipes for that class were more sea vegetable forward but not this bread. Sea lettuce is a mild flavored sea vegetable so the flavor peeks through only a little.

The leavening comes from both baking powder and baking soda instead of a sourdough leaven or a packet of yeast. Although sometimes I do sneak in a tablespoon of leaven and let the batter sit for an hour or so to give the resulting loaf a bit more leavening, tang and nutrition.

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INGREDIENTS

• 1 ½ c (250g) whole wheat flour

• 1 ½ c (250g) bread flour

• ½ c (75g) sunflower seeds + 1 Tbsp for garnish

• ½ c (75g) pumpkin seeds + 1 Tbsp for garnish

• ½ c (75g) black sesame seeds + 1 Tbsp for garnish 

• 1 ½ Tbsp sea lettuce

• 2 tsp sugar

• 2 tsp salt

• 1 tsp baking soda

• 1 tsp baking powder

• 2 c (445g) water

• ½ c (140g) mature sourdough starter, optional

• 2 Tbsp olive oil + extra for greasing

• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar

• Flaky salt

 
DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C).

2. Line a bread tin with parchment paper and grease with olive oil. 

3. In a large mixing bowl combine flours, seeds, sea lettuce, sugar, salt, baking powder and baking soda.

4. Pour in water, starter (if using), olive oil and apple cider vinegar. Stir until just combined. The dough should be tacky and slightly loose.

5. Transfer to bread tin and top with remaining sunflower, pumpkin & sesame seeds. Sprinkle on flaky salt. Place in oven and bake for about 1 hour and 5 minutes. A knife inserted in the middle should come out clean.

6. Remove from tin and let cool. 

NOTES

• This recipe was tested using a glass bread loaf pan. If using metal check after 50 minutes or so. 

• Feel free to change up the seeds if you like. Other delicious options include hemp seeds, poppy seeds or various kinds of nuts.

Yield: 1 very tall loaf