Baking Lughnasadh Bread

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Each year on Lughnasadh, an ancient Gaelic harvest festival, I bake a loaf of multigrain bread with my children to celebrate all the things being harvested in our garden, in the farmers fields, and that we have cultivated in our lives. I usually like to do something with oats and seeds added to it, and we often end up forming it into a lovely spiral shape.

Last year, we made this gluten-free loaf for my son with some friends shaped like a sunflower in this heavy mold they had. It was one of the tastiest gluten-free breads I had ever eaten, and there was no recipe used. It magically came together with a handful of this, and a handful of that (and the baking experience my friend brought to the endeavor).

Early this morning, I got out my favorite bread book, Uprisings: The Whole Grain Bakers' Book, from The Cooperative Whole Grain Education Association, and while I drank my coffee,  I started some sunflower oat bread.

There are few things in this world I have found more satisfying than kneading dough. A friend of mine used to always say, "Knead it like you want it!" when we would bake bread together. I always remember that phrase and go for the dough with gusto.

I got my spiral loaf shaped, risen and it is currently baking in the oven and making the house smell wonderful. It's been a while since I've done much baking, and I had forgotten how productive it feels to get a loaf of bread made first thing in the morning. As I put my first round of fingerling potatoes in the cedar storage bin by the oven, and start bringing in the onions whose tops have fallen over, I am enjoying the waning of the Summer as we head towards Fall.

Enjoy the reaping of what ye have sown!