Cape Seed Bread in a Lekue Baker

This South African Cape Seed Bread is a no knead and non-yeasted bread full of seeds and nutrition. The Glycemic index (of the original recipe) is only 48 so it’s very healthy.

Edited 6/24/2014: Daniel, from Australia was kind enough to share the story of Cape Seed Bread.  I hope you enjoy this bit of history as much as I did.  Thank you Daniel!

Cape Seed Loaf is from Cape Town, a local farmer style bread using whatever seeds one has to hand (linseeds from flax growing, maize seeds, poppy seeds, sesame seeds, mustard seeds, whole wheat, barley etc.). Also it is a batter bread, no messy kneading and able to be churned out quickly. A particular benefit as those originally making it would have been slaves. During grape harvest, must would have been used as a starter. It also has the added benefit of being really moist, thus keeping and improving for up to a month. The climate of the Cape is dry Mediterranean, and until the twentieth century the bread was rarely made in other parts of South Africa. Higher humidity caused it to rot or if too dry it would crack. Nearly every restaurant in the Cape now has it as a common table bread whenever you sit down, and most chefs with time there have at least one recipe up their sleeves.

I had never tried cape seed bread. Actually, I had never heard of it until one of my contacts emailed me the recipe. She thought I might like to try it. I took a look at the ingredients and decided this would be an interesting diversion from the breads I usually make.

I should also mention that along with the bread recipe, I received a Lékué Bread Maker to test. I had never heard of or used this type of baker before so I knew this was going to be a fun and tasty experiment.

The Lékué Bread Baker is made of 100% platinum silicone and is BPA-free. It’s oven proof, dishwasher and microwave safe. You can mix, knead, proof and bake bread in it. Very interesting indeed.

 

South African Cape Seed Bread

Makes: 1 Loaf

Adapted from the South African Cape Seed Bread found on equipmykitchen

This bread is crusty on the outside and chock full of seeds on the inside and sprinkled on top. It’s pretty chewy and dense, but like most quick breads, it has good keeping quality and tastes even better the next day.

I made a few changes to the original recipe. I used Einkorn flour (that I milled myself) instead of whole wheat, almond milk instead of buttermilk and Turkish bulgur wheat, which is a little bit different than other bulgur wheat I’ve seen on the market.  I got this bulgur wheat from the farmer’s market and it’s been in my freezer waiting to be used.

Ingredients

• 2 1/3 cups whole grain Einkorn flour
• 1 cup bulgur wheat (I used Turkish bulgur)
• 1 cup roasted sunflower seeds
• 1 ½ tbsp. honey
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 2 cups buttermilk (I used almond milk soured with lemon juice)
• 1 tbsp. salt
• Sesame & poppy seeds, for sprinkling (I used black & tan sesame seeds)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Combine the Einkorn flour, bulgur wheat, sunflower seeds, and salt in the Lékué baker.

Mix the milk, baking soda, and honey together and let sit for 1 minute. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, and mix with a wooden spoon or spatula until all of the ingredients are completely moistened.

Sprinkle the top of the batter with lots of seeds.  Close the bread maker and place it in the preheated oven.  Bake for 45 minutes.  After 45 minutes, turn the oven off, but leave the bread in the oven for another 15 minutes.

Take the bread out of the oven, and place it on a wire rack to cool.  The baker was really hot at this point so I let the loaf rest in the baker a minute or so before removing it to the wire rack.

I think the finished cape seed loaf looks like a boat. It’s a dense loaf alright and pretty chewy.  A good bit different than the breads I’m used to, but it has a great flavor.

My favorite way to enjoy this bread is to spread a slice with sunflower seed butter. It really brings out the flavor of the bread and blends well with the seeds.

 

After I made this loaf, I did a search to find out some background on Cape Seed Bread.  I didn’t really find any history, but there are several other versions out there that I might like to try.

I also plan to test this unique baker on some different types of bread.

Happy Baking!

Cathy

 

 

Disclosure: I received a FREE Lékué Bread Maker to test. I enjoyed baking in it and plan to do some more testing. I will probably carry the baker in my baking store. Thank you for your support of this site. It helps me to continue to provide you with quality content.