...stopped to watch an episode of Martha Bakes on Twin Cities PBS this morning. What caught my eye was the presentation by Simo Kuusisto on grains that he's using to bake Nordic breads in NYC. He talked about emmer, spelt, freshly ground whole wheat flours.....all things I like to play around with.

Then Martha went on to bake a loaf of Seeded Savory Quick Bread, containing whole wheat pastry flour and spelt flour. It looked delicious but seemed to bake up in a somewhat uneven, lopsided way. I thought....I wonder if you could dock that bread and make it come out more evenly?????

...and as always, I moved ahead.....not knowing for sure if I had most of the ingredients I needed....but lack of ingredients is also the mother of invention : )

I did pretty well...I couldn't find any whole wheat pastry flour (can't remember what I used that up on) and didn't have any sunflower seeds....but many flours and seeds could be substituted, so I went for it.

Here's Martha's Recipe:

Matha's Bread

Seeded Savory Quick Bread

No kneading or yeast required for this easy loaf! Two types of better-for-you flour -- whole-wheat pastry and spelt -- plus an array of seeds make it super flavorful. Martha made this recipe on "Martha Bakes" episode 805.

3 hours 40 mins 20 mins Makes one 9-by-5-inch loaf

Total Time Prep Yield

Ingredients

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for pan
2 cups whole-wheat pastry flour
2 cups spelt flour
1/2 cup plus 2 teaspoons sunflower seeds, toasted
1/2 cup plus 1 teaspoon black sesame seeds
2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon caraway seeds
2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon flaxseeds
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons coarse salt
1 1/2 cups whole milk, room temperature
3/4 cup buttermilk, room temperature
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly coat a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan with oil. Line with parchment, leaving a 1-inch overhang on long sides. Oil parchment.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together flours, 1/2 cup each sunflower and black sesame seeds, 2 tablespoons each caraway and flax seeds, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

3. In another large bowl, stir together milk, buttermilk, honey, and oil until honey is dissolved. Add flour mixture; beat until combined, about 1 minute. Transfer to prepared pan; sprinkle with remaining seeds, pressing gently to adhere.

4. Bake, rotating pan halfway though, until a tester inserted in center of the loaf comes out clean, about 1 hour, 5 minutes. Let cool in pan on a wire rack 20 minutes, then turn out bread and let cool completely. (Bread can be tightly wrapped and stored at room temperature up to 3 days or frozen up to 1 month.)

Cook's Notes

Whole-wheat pastry flour has less protein than regular whole-wheat flour, resulting in a lighter, more tender bread. You can substitute regular whole-wheat flour, but the bread will be slightly more coarse and dense.

Another photo of Martha's somewhat 'lopsided' loaf:

Seeded Savory Quickbread

Martha's

I substituted a freshly ground whole wheat bread flour (one with a protein content at the low end of the scale to more closely approximate the pastry flour) for the whole wheat pastry flour, and I decided that a little fennel seed might be delish, so I could forego the sunflower seeds (although those bigger seeds would be an interesting textural element).

Otherwise I followed Martha's recipe, with one exception. Before I put the pan in the preheated oven, I docked the loaf to see if I could prevent that odd-shape that was the result of her baking technique.

What do you think???