There is a woman who has come to the Stone Hearth Bakery every feast season for as long as I have operated it — more than twenty years now — and who cannot eat wheat. She cannot eat barley or spelt or rye either, and she cannot eat corn, and for the first several years of our acquaintance she came to the bakery during the feast week not to buy anything but simply to look, because she had grown up in a household where the feast season meant, among other things, that she went without bread entirely for seven days while her family ate the preparations her mother made, and she had internalized this absence as simply the shape of the feast for a person with her particular body.
I do not know exactly when I decided that this was not acceptable. It was not a single moment so much as an accumulating dissatisfaction with the premise, which is that the feast season and its unleavened preparations belong fully to people whose bodies can accommodate grain and only partially or not at all to those whose cannot. This premise has never seemed to me to be supported by the commandment, which does not specify grain as the substance of the unleavened preparation but rather the absence of leaven from whatever is prepared and eaten, and which nowhere suggests that those who cannot eat grain are exempt from the feast’s observances or excluded from its table. The commandment is about the removal of leaven. It is not about the mandatory presence of wheat.
I began working on grain-free preparations in the context of this book’s development and in response to the accumulated evidence of many years of watching people who needed them go without. This chapter is the result. It is addressed to the baker who is preparing the feast table for someone who cannot eat grain, to the person with grain sensitivity who has always assumed the feast season required her to simply go without, and to any baker who is curious about what the Level 3 kitchen can produce when grain flour is removed from the toolkit entirely and the ancient framework of fat, protein, moisture, and heat is applied to different base ingredients.
The results are good. I say this without qualification and with some surprise at my own certainty, because when I began this work I expected to produce preparations that were serviceable but compromised — adequate substitutes rather than genuine preparations in their own right. What I produced instead, through many batches and many adjustments and considerable consultation with the woman who has been coming to my bakery for twenty years, is a set of preparations that are not substitutes for anything. They are what they are, and what they are is genuinely very good.
She buys them every feast season now. She has told me, more than once, in the particular manner of a Bravian who considers a compliment worth giving but not worth embellishing, that they are fine. I consider this high praise and accept it accordingly.
On the Grain-Free Level 3 Framework
Before the recipes begin, I want to establish the framework within which the grain-free preparations in this chapter operate, because it is different enough from the grain-based framework of the previous chapters that the baker who approaches these preparations with the assumptions of grain-based baking will find herself confused by the behavior of the ingredients.
The grain-based Level 3 preparations of Chapters 11 and 12 derive their structure from two primary mechanisms: gluten development, in which the proteins of wheat or other gluten-bearing grains form a network when hydrated and worked; and starch gelatinization, in which the starch granules of the grain absorb water and swell under heat, setting the structure of the baked product. Both of these mechanisms are specific to grain flours that contain gluten-forming proteins and appropriate starches, and neither is available in a preparation that contains no grain.
The grain-free preparations in this chapter achieve their structure through different mechanisms, all of which are available at Level 3 without any mechanical leavening:
Nut and seed protein networks: The proteins in ground nuts and seeds coagulate under heat in a manner analogous to the coagulation of egg proteins, setting the structure of the preparation around the fat and starch content of the nut or seed base. This is the primary structural mechanism of the almond and walnut preparations in this chapter, and it produces a finished product with a dense, slightly chewy texture that is quite different from grain-based preparations but is structurally coherent and satisfying in its own right.
Egg protein coagulation: At Level 3, eggs may be used in the grain-free preparations in the same manner as in the grain-based preparations: added without beating, contributing structural protein, fat from the yolk, and the coagulating network that sets under heat. The egg in these preparations does more of the structural work than it does in grain-based preparations where gluten carries most of the structural load, and its contribution is correspondingly more legible in the finished product.
Fat and moisture management: The fat content of nut and seed bases is inherently high — much higher than grain flour — and this fat plays a structural role in the finished preparation in addition to its flavor contribution. The management of fat in the grain-free preparations is therefore somewhat different from fat management in grain-based preparations: rather than adding fat to a lean base, the baker is managing the fat already present in the base ingredient and supplementing it to achieve specific textural goals.
Heat and time: The same principles of heat management that govern the Level 3 grain-based preparations apply in the grain-free kitchen: intense heat for thin preparations that benefit from rapid surface setting and steam lift, moderate heat for thicker preparations whose interior protein network needs time to coagulate before the surface has fully set.
The combinations of these mechanisms available in the grain-free Level 3 kitchen produce a narrower range of preparations than the grain-based kitchen — there are no grain-free equivalents of the thin, crisp, near-translucent plain matzah of Recipe 15, for example, because the gluten network that makes such extreme thinness possible in a wheat preparation has no equivalent in the nut and seed world — but within the range that is achievable, the preparations are distinctive, genuinely good, and entirely appropriate for the Level 3 feast table.
On Ingredients: A Guide to the Grain-Free Pantry
The grain-free Level 3 baker works from a pantry that is somewhat different from the grain-based pantry, and the ingredients available in that pantry vary by region across Bravia in ways that the baker should understand before choosing which preparations to make.
Almonds are the most versatile and most widely available nut ingredient in the Bravian grain-free pantry, and they are the base ingredient for more of the preparations in this chapter than any other single ingredient. Ground to a fine, even texture — either by mortar and pestle, which produces a somewhat coarser result with more textural character, or by a grist mill equipped with an appropriate grinding surface, which produces a finer and more uniform meal — almonds provide a mild, slightly sweet base that is neutral enough to accept a wide range of flavoring additions without competition and rich enough in fat and protein to produce structurally coherent preparations without additional binders beyond egg. Almonds are cultivated in the southern coastal regions and are available throughout Bravia through trade, though their price increases significantly with distance from the coastal production areas. In the port towns, almonds are an everyday ingredient; in the interior Amphoe communities and the hill country, they are a somewhat more special purchase that may be reserved for specific occasions, of which the feast season is certainly one.
Walnuts are more widely cultivated throughout Bravia than almonds and are therefore available at a lower price and in greater quantity in the interior regions and the hill country, where walnut trees grow readily in the rocky upland terrain. Ground walnuts produce a preparation of more assertive and more complex flavor than almond preparations — earthier, slightly bitter in the skin, with a depth of flavor that is particularly well-suited to savory preparations and to sweet preparations that include spices robust enough to stand alongside the walnut’s own character. Walnuts for grinding should be fresh and without rancidity: as I noted in the nut-and-seed bar recipe of Chapter 7, rancid walnut flavor is impossible to correct once the nuts are incorporated into a preparation, and tasting before grinding is non-negotiable.
Hazelnuts are the hill country nut, grown abundantly in the understory of the deciduous forests that cover the upper elevations of the Western Reaches and gathered in quantity by the hill country communities every autumn. Ground hazelnuts produce a preparation of considerable flavor complexity — sweet and rich from the nut’s high fat content, slightly toasty from the characteristic hazelnut flavor that develops fully only when the nuts are properly roasted before grinding. Hazelnut preparations are the most regionally specific in this chapter: they are a hill country preparation, associated with the particular pantry of those communities, and they carry the character of that pantry directly and without apology.
Sesame seeds provide a different category of grain-free base than the nuts: smaller in particle size, higher in calcium and in certain minerals, and with a flavor that is distinctly more savory and more intense than any of the nut bases. Sesame preparations in the grain-free Level 3 kitchen tend to be thinner and crisper than nut-based preparations, because the very fine particle size of sesame paste allows it to be spread and dried to a degree of thinness not achievable with coarser nut meals. Sesame-based preparations are associated primarily with the Delta settlements and the southern coastal communities where sesame cultivation is established, but sesame paste — ground sesame seeds worked with a small quantity of oil to a smooth, spreadable consistency — travels well and is available in preserved form through trade channels in most Bravian markets.
Sunflower and pumpkin seeds are the practical, economical grain-free base ingredient of the interior Amphoe communities and the frontier settlements, where almonds are expensive and walnuts may not be grown locally in sufficient quantity for baking use. Ground sunflower seed produces a preparation of mild, slightly sweet flavor and a texture that is somewhat more coarse and less cohesive than almond preparations of comparable formula. It requires more binder — more egg, typically — to achieve structural coherence, and the finished preparation is somewhat more crumbly than almond-based equivalents. Pumpkin seed produces a preparation with a more assertive, slightly green and earthy flavor and a higher moisture content in the ground state that affects the preparation’s behavior in baking. Both are valid grain-free base ingredients, and both appear in the recipes below in formulations calibrated to their specific characteristics.
Root vegetable preparations — specifically, preparations based on dried and powdered root vegetables such as parsnip, dried carrot, and certain tubers that are cultivated in the agricultural regions of Bravia — occupy a distinct category in the grain-free kitchen as a carbohydrate source that is neither grain nor nut. I address these briefly at the close of the chapter rather than as primary preparations, because their use as the primary base of an unleavened preparation is less common in the Bravian tradition than nut and seed preparations and because their behavior in baking is somewhat more variable and less predictable than the nut and seed bases whose properties are better documented and more consistently managed.
Vegetable-based wraps using large fresh or lightly cooked leaves — the large outer leaves of cabbage, certain broad-leafed greens that grow throughout the agricultural regions, and in the southern coastal communities the large pliable leaves of certain cultivated plants — are the simplest grain-free alternative to the unleavened wrap and require almost no preparation beyond the selection and, in some cases, light wilting of the leaves. I include guidance for these at the end of the chapter as the most immediately accessible grain-free option for the household that has not prepared in advance and needs a grain-free wrap substitute quickly.
Recipe 36 — Plain Almond Flatbreads
Level: 1, 2, and 3
A note on this recipe: the plain almond flatbread is the foundational preparation of the grain-free Level 3 chapter, in the same way that Recipe 15 is the foundational preparation of Chapter 11. It is the simplest possible expression of what ground almond combined with egg and heat can produce, and it is the preparation I recommend that every baker who is working with grain-free preparations for the first time make first and make several times before attempting the more complex preparations that follow. Its simplicity is not a limitation but a clarity: it shows you exactly what the almond base does in a baked preparation without the complicating contributions of additional flavoring, secondary ingredients, or complex technique, and what the almond base does, understood clearly, is the foundation of everything else in this chapter.
Makes 8 flatbreads
Ingredients:
- 2 cups finely ground blanched almonds — the fineness of the grind is more important in this preparation than in the almond-flour preparations of Chapter 10, because a coarser grind produces a flatbread with visible nut pieces that prevents the even rolling and the structural coherence this preparation requires; if the ground almond available to you is coarser than fine meal, pass it through the finest sieve available before measuring
- ½ teaspoon fine salt
- 2 eggs — added without beating for Level 3; lightly beaten for Level 1 and Level 2
- 2 tablespoons olive oil or melted butter
- 1 to 2 tablespoons cold water, if needed to bring the dough together — the almond base absorbs liquid differently from flour and the correct hydration must be assessed by feel rather than by a fixed quantity; begin without water and add it only if the mixture does not cohere
Method:
Combine the ground almonds and salt in a mixing bowl and stir. Add the eggs — unbeaten for Level 3, as they will be worked into the almond mixture by hand — and the olive oil or melted butter. Work the mixture together with your hands, pressing and folding rather than kneading in the gluten-development sense, because there is no gluten to develop: what you are doing is distributing the egg protein and the fat through the almond meal evenly, which takes approximately one to two minutes of sustained pressing. The mixture will come together into a mass that is considerably more cohesive than you might expect from a preparation without any flour: the fat and protein of the almonds themselves, combined with the egg, produce a mass that holds together firmly when pressed and does not crumble in the hand.
Assess the cohesion: if the mixture holds its shape when a small piece is pressed firmly between the fingers without crumbling, it requires no additional water. If it crumbles at the edges when pressed, add cold water one teaspoon at a time until cohesion is achieved. Do not add more water than necessary: an over-hydrated almond preparation will spread during baking and lose the defined shape of the rolled flatbread.
Cover the mixture and rest for ten minutes — shorter than the grain-based preparations, because there is no gluten network to relax, but the resting allows the egg proteins to begin their initial interaction with the almond fat and produces a more uniform and more workable mixture than one that is rolled immediately after mixing.
Preheat the oven to moderate — not the high heat of the Level 3 grain-based preparations, because the almond flatbread does not benefit from the same intense initial heat. The almond preparation needs sufficient time in the oven for the egg proteins to coagulate throughout its thickness, and too high a heat sets the surface before the interior has had time to set, producing a flatbread with a brittle shell and an unset, crumbly interior. Moderate heat, applied patiently, produces the correct result.
Divide the mixture into eight equal portions. Working with one portion at a time and keeping the remainder covered, place the portion between two pieces of parchment or between two sheets of clean cloth and roll with a rolling pin to a round of approximately six to seven inches in diameter. The between-parchment rolling technique is essential for almond flatbreads: the mixture will adhere to a bare bench surface and tear when lifted, because it lacks the structural integrity of a gluten-based dough. The parchment provides the release surface necessary for clean rolling and clean transfer.
Roll to a thickness of approximately a quarter of an inch — thicker than the grain-based Level 3 flatbreads, because the almond preparation does not have the structural strength to survive handling at near-translucent thinness and will crack and crumble if rolled too thin. The correct thickness produces a flatbread that is rigid when fully baked but with a slight interior give when pressed in the center.
Transfer the rolled preparation, still on its parchment base, directly to the baking sheet: peel away the top parchment and leave the bottom parchment in place, because the almond flatbread baked directly on a hot stone surface without parchment will adhere and cannot be removed cleanly. This is the most significant practical difference between grain-based and almond-based Level 3 flatbreads in terms of baking surface management, and ignoring it will result in the loss of the preparation.
Bake for twelve to fifteen minutes at moderate heat, until the surface is a pale golden color and the edges are visibly set and slightly darker than the center. The almond flatbread will not develop the characteristic spotty browning of the grain-based preparations: its browning is more even and more gradual, and the visual cues for doneness are different from those the grain-based baker is accustomed to. The correct finish is a uniform pale gold across the surface with slightly deeper coloring at the edges, and a preparation that is completely rigid when a corner is lifted from the parchment. If the preparation is still flexible when lifted, it requires additional baking time regardless of its surface color: flexibility indicates that the egg proteins in the interior have not yet fully set.
Allow to cool completely on the parchment before handling. The fully cooled almond flatbread is considerably more fragile than any of the grain-based preparations and must be handled with care: lift from the parchment using a broad, thin spatula rather than by hand, and support the full surface area of the flatbread during transfer to the serving cloth or the storage basket.
The flavor of the plain almond flatbread is clean and mild: the gentle sweetness and nuttiness of the almond are present without being assertive, the egg contributes a background richness that rounds the flavor, and the salt provides the definition that keeps the preparation from being simply bland. It is a quiet preparation, honest in its flavor as the Level 3 standard demands, and it is genuinely good with the festival table accompaniments described in Part Five: particularly with soft fresh cheese, with honey, and with the bitter herb preparations that are traditional at the Passover table.
Regional variations:
The plain almond flatbread accepts regional flavoring additions as naturally as any of the herb-seasoned grain flatbreads in Chapter 5, and I offer the following regional combinations as starting points for the baker who wants to vary the preparation across the seven days of the feast.
Western coastal: Add the finely grated zest of half an orange and a pinch of ground cardamom to the almond mixture before working together. The citrus-almond combination requires no further explanation — it is simply one of the great natural flavor pairings — and the cardamom provides a warmth that makes the preparation appropriate for both the savory and sweet festival table contexts.
Hill country: Add a teaspoon of finely crumbled dried thyme and a tablespoon of very finely minced dried apricot to the almond mixture. The dried apricot must be minced to a near-paste as in other preparations in this book where whole fruit pieces would create textural inconsistencies in a thin preparation. The thyme-almond combination in a baked flatbread is unexpectedly harmonious: the herb’s slight bitterness moderates the almond’s sweetness, and the two flavors produce a result that is more interesting than either alone.
Interior Amphoe: Add a teaspoon of ground cinnamon and a quarter teaspoon of ground allspice to the almond mixture. The warm spices are the interior communities’ characteristic contribution to any sweet-adjacent preparation and produce an almond flatbread of considerable fragrance and warmth that is particularly appealing during the cooler spring evenings of the feast week in the inland communities.
Delta settlement: Add a tablespoon of sesame seeds, toasted until golden and cooled, to the almond mixture. Press additional sesame seeds into the surface of the rolled preparation before baking. The sesame-almond combination is the Delta region’s contribution to the grain-free repertoire and reflects the same sesame abundance in that region’s pantry that produces the sesame-crusted crackers of Chapter 12 in the grain-based preparations.
Recipe 37 — Walnut Flatbreads with Savory Herbs
Level: 1, 2, and 3
A note on this recipe: the walnut flatbread is the savory preparation of this chapter in the same way that the almond flatbread is its sweet-leaning one, and the distinction reflects the inherent characters of the two nut bases: almonds mild and slightly sweet, walnuts assertive and complex and particularly well-suited to robust savory flavoring. This is not to say that the walnut flatbread cannot appear in sweet contexts — it can, and a walnut flatbread with a drizzle of honey and a scatter of coarse salt is a preparation of real distinction — but its primary role at the Level 3 grain-free festival table is as a savory accompaniment to the meat preparations and bitter herbs of the Passover table and the subsequent days’ festival meals.
Makes 8 flatbreads
Ingredients:
- 2 cups finely ground walnuts — the walnuts should be ground from fresh, unrancid nuts with their skins intact for the most characterful preparation, or blanched to remove the skins for a milder and somewhat less bitter result. I use the skin-on preparation in my own kitchen, because the slight bitterness of the walnut skin is part of the flavor character I am seeking, but I note the blanched option for the baker whose household preferences lean toward a milder result.
- ½ teaspoon fine salt
- 1 teaspoon dried rosemary, crumbled to as fine a texture as possible — the rosemary should be crumbled rather than powdered; it should be present as identifiable but small fragments that distribute through the preparation rather than as a coarse garnish that creates uneven texture
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- ¼ teaspoon coarse black pepper, freshly ground
- 2 eggs, added without beating for Level 3
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 to 2 tablespoons cold water if needed
Method:
Combine the ground walnuts, salt, rosemary, thyme, and pepper in a mixing bowl and stir to distribute the seasoning evenly through the nut meal. Add the eggs and olive oil and work together by hand as in Recipe 36, pressing and folding until the mixture is cohesive and uniform. The walnut mixture will come together somewhat less readily than the almond mixture because walnuts contain somewhat less fat and somewhat more moisture than almonds, and the mixture may require one to two teaspoons of cold water to achieve the correct cohesion even before the water specification applies. Add cold water carefully to the point of cohesion and no further.
Cover and rest for ten minutes. Roll between parchment as in Recipe 36 to approximately a quarter of an inch thickness. Transfer on parchment to the baking sheet.
Bake at moderate heat for thirteen to sixteen minutes — slightly longer than the almond preparation because the walnut base’s higher moisture content requires somewhat more baking time to fully set the egg protein network throughout the preparation’s thickness. Use the same visual and tactile doneness tests as Recipe 36: uniform pale golden coloring across the surface, with slightly deeper coloring at the edges, and complete rigidity when a corner is lifted.
The flavor of the walnut-herb flatbread is considerably more assertive than the plain almond flatbread: the earthy depth of the walnut, the aromatic intensity of the rosemary, and the warmth of the pepper combine to produce a preparation that announces itself clearly at the festival table and that pairs best with robust accompaniments. I serve this preparation alongside the lamb stew preparations of Chapter 15, where the walnut’s savoriness and the lamb’s richness are in direct and harmonious conversation, and alongside hard aged cheese, which provides the salt and the sharper flavor that makes the complexity of the walnut preparation legible in the clearest possible way.
On the saltiness balance: Ground walnuts carry a natural bitterness that requires more assertive salting than ground almonds to produce a well-balanced preparation. The half-teaspoon of fine salt in the formula above is calibrated to this requirement, and the baker who is accustomed to the smaller salt quantities appropriate for almond preparations should not reduce it. Taste the ground walnut mixture before adding eggs and fat and assess the salt level: it should taste seasoned and slightly forward in salt at the raw stage, because baking will moderate the apparent saltiness and a preparation that tastes correctly salted raw will taste undersalted when baked.
Recipe 38 — Hazelnut Festival Rounds
Level: 1, 2, and 3
A note on this recipe: the hazelnut round is the most distinctly regional of the grain-free preparations in this chapter, associated as I noted above with the hill country communities of the Western Reaches where hazelnuts are gathered in autumn and stored for winter and festival-season use. It differs from the almond and walnut flatbreads in one important preparatory step: the hazelnuts must be roasted before grinding, because raw hazelnuts lack the depth of flavor that the roasted nut achieves, and the difference between a hazelnut preparation made from raw nuts and one made from properly roasted nuts is the difference between a preparation that is mildly nutty and one that is deeply, richly, unmistakably hazelnut in character.
The roasting must be done before the feast season begins, because the roasting of hazelnuts — heating them in a dry pan or a moderate oven until the skins crack and the nut beneath is golden and fragrant — is a preparation that involves heat and attention and is best completed unhurriedly rather than in the context of the festival kitchen where many other preparations are competing for the baker’s time. Roasted and ground hazelnuts can be stored in a tightly covered container in a cool, dark place for up to two weeks, so preparing them before the feast begins is entirely practical.
Makes 8 rounds
Ingredients:
- 2 cups finely ground roasted hazelnuts — roast whole hazelnuts in a dry pan over medium heat or in a moderate oven for eight to twelve minutes, stirring frequently, until the skins crack and the nuts are deep golden. Rub the hot nuts in a clean cloth to remove as much of the cracked skin as will come away easily — not every bit of skin needs to be removed, and the attempt to remove every trace of skin by rubbing is counterproductive and damages the nuts; remove approximately half to two-thirds of the skin and accept the rest as a contribution to flavor complexity rather than a flaw to be corrected. Cool completely before grinding.
- ½ teaspoon fine salt
- 2 tablespoons honey, warmed until very runny — the honey-hazelnut combination is one of the oldest and most natural flavor pairings in the hill country kitchen, and its presence in the grain-free round gives this preparation a character simultaneously sweet and savory that is appropriate for the festival table in multiple contexts
- 2 eggs, added without beating for Level 3
- 1 tablespoon rendered lamb fat or melted butter — the additional fat beyond what the hazelnuts themselves contain is smaller in proportion than in the almond and walnut preparations because hazelnut is an inherently fatter nut, and the smaller addition prevents the preparation from being excessively rich while still contributing the fat’s structural and flavoring roles
Method:
Combine the ground roasted hazelnuts and salt in a mixing bowl. Combine the honey and the rendered fat or melted butter and stir together until the honey is distributed through the fat. Add the honey-fat mixture and the eggs to the ground hazelnut and work together by hand until cohesive, adding cold water only if necessary for cohesion. The roasted hazelnut mixture will typically cohere with no added water, because the fat released during roasting makes the ground nut somewhat more plastic and self-binding than the raw nut preparations.
Cover and rest for ten minutes. Roll between parchment to a round of approximately six to seven inches in diameter — slightly smaller than the almond and walnut preparations, because the hazelnut round is intentionally thicker and more substantial, reflecting its role as a festival table preparation rather than a flatbread accompaniment. The correct thickness is approximately three-eighths of an inch.
Bake at moderate heat for fifteen to eighteen minutes — the thicker profile and the honey content both contribute to a longer required baking time than the thinner almond and walnut preparations. The honey’s natural sugars caramelize against the surface of the preparation during baking and produce the most pronounced surface browning of any grain-free preparation in this chapter: the hazelnut round will emerge from the oven a deep, rich, golden brown, considerably darker in color than either the almond or walnut preparations, and this color is correct and desirable rather than a sign of overbaking. The surface should look deeply golden and slightly glossy from the caramelized honey, and the preparation should be completely rigid when a corner is lifted from the parchment.
The fully cooled hazelnut festival round has a depth of flavor that I find among the most impressive in this chapter: the roasted hazelnut character, the honey sweetness, the lamb fat’s gentle savoriness, and the salt combine to produce something that is complex without being complicated, rich without being excessive, and genuinely distinctive in a way that earns its place at the festival table on its own terms rather than as a substitute for anything else. My hill country students have consistently described it as tasting like home, which I take to be the highest possible compliment a regional preparation can receive.
Recipe 39 — Sesame-Based Thin Preparations
Level: 1, 2, and 3
A note on this recipe: the sesame-based preparation is the most technically distinctive of the grain-free preparations in this chapter, because sesame paste — the ground sesame base from which these preparations are made — behaves quite differently from ground nuts in the mixing, rolling, and baking stages, and the baker who approaches it with the same technique used for the nut preparations will find the results inconsistent. The specific handling requirements of sesame paste are worth understanding before beginning, and I address them in some detail below before the recipe itself.
Sesame paste, made from sesame seeds ground with a small quantity of sesame oil to a smooth, pourable consistency, is an ingredient that has been used in the cooking traditions of the southern coastal and Delta communities for as long as sesame has been cultivated in those regions. In the grain-free Level 3 context, it serves as both the base ingredient and the primary fat source, which means the preparation requires no additional fat beyond what the sesame paste itself contains — a practical simplification relative to the nut preparations that require separately added fat.
The handling challenge of sesame paste is its tendency to separate: the oil in the paste rises to the surface during storage, and the paste at the bottom of the container becomes progressively stiffer while the surface oil accumulates above it. A separated sesame paste incorporated into a preparation without thorough recombination will produce uneven fat distribution and an erratic baked result. Before measuring the sesame paste for this preparation, stir it thoroughly from the bottom of the container until the oil and the ground sesame are uniformly recombined into a smooth, pourable consistency.
Makes approximately 20 thin preparations
Ingredients:
- 1 cup well-stirred sesame paste — at room temperature, not cold, because cold sesame paste is considerably stiffer than room-temperature paste and does not spread and roll as needed for thin preparations
- ½ teaspoon fine salt
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin — the traditional spicing for savory sesame preparations in the Delta settlement context; omit for a plain preparation and substitute ground cinnamon and a teaspoon of honey for a sweet version
- 1 egg, added without beating for Level 3
- 2 to 3 tablespoons cold water — the sesame paste base requires more added water than the nut preparations to achieve a spreadable consistency
Method:
Combine the sesame paste, salt, and cumin in a mixing bowl and stir until the spice is uniformly distributed through the paste. Add the egg and work it in by hand until the mixture is cohesive and smooth: unlike the nut preparations, the sesame preparation will not form a dough-like mass but will remain in a thick paste consistency throughout the preparation and baking process. This is correct and should not be corrected by adding more of any ingredient to make it stiffer.
Add cold water one tablespoon at a time, stirring well after each addition, until the mixture reaches the consistency of very thick porridge: spreadable with the back of a spoon but not pourable, holding its shape when a spoonful is dropped back into the bowl but settling gradually rather than holding a rigid peak.
Preheat the oven to moderate, with a parchment-lined baking sheet inside. Parchment is essential for these preparations and cannot be substituted: sesame paste bakes into one of the most adhesive surfaces produced by any preparation in this book, and the attempt to bake sesame preparations on any surface other than parchment will result in the loss of the preparation to the baking surface with a reliability that I can guarantee from personal experience.
Drop the paste by tablespoonfuls onto the parchment-lined baking sheet, spacing the mounds approximately three inches apart. Using the back of a spoon or a small offset spatula dipped in cold water, spread each mound into a thin, even round of approximately three to four inches in diameter. The spreading motion should be circular and smooth, working from the center of the mound outward, and the wet spatula prevents the paste from adhering to the spreading tool. The correct thickness for the sesame preparation is thinner than the nut preparations — approximately an eighth of an inch — because the paste’s high fat and moisture content means a thicker preparation will not dry to complete rigidity during a reasonable baking time, and an insufficiently dried sesame preparation is unpleasantly soft and sticky rather than crisply finished.
Bake for sixteen to twenty minutes at moderate heat until the preparations are deeply golden — darker than the almond preparations and somewhat darker than the walnut preparations, because the sesame sugars caramelize readily — and are completely dry when pressed gently in the center with a fingertip. The completely baked sesame preparation should release cleanly from the parchment when gently lifted at one edge with a thin spatula: if it sticks, it requires additional baking time, and the baker should not attempt to force it from the parchment before it is ready, as it will tear.
Allow to cool on the parchment until completely room temperature before lifting or stacking. The fully cooled sesame preparation is brittle and crisp, with a deep, intensely nutty sesame flavor and a slight savory warmth from the cumin. It is particularly good alongside the soft dairy preparations of Chapter 16 and alongside roasted vegetable preparations of the kind described in Chapter 15.
The sweet variation: Omit the cumin. Add one teaspoon of honey and half a teaspoon of ground cinnamon to the paste along with the egg. The sweet sesame preparation has a warm, sweet character that pairs very well with the honey cake of Recipe 11 and with fresh soft cheese on the sweet festival table, and it is the version I most commonly offer to guests who have not previously encountered a grain-free sesame preparation, because the honey-sesame combination is more immediately approachable than the savory cumin version for palates unfamiliar with this style of preparation.
Recipe 40 — Sunflower and Pumpkin Seed Flatbreads
Level: 1, 2, and 3
A note on this recipe: the seed flatbread is the grain-free preparation most accessible to the household in any region of Bravia regardless of proximity to nut-producing agricultural areas, because sunflower and pumpkin seeds are cultivated in the kitchen gardens and small holdings attached to virtually every Amphoe grange community throughout the nation. It is the most democratic of the grain-free preparations and the one I would recommend first to a baker who has not worked with grain-free preparations before and who wants to begin with ingredients that are reliably available and familiar rather than with the specialty nut ingredients that the previous recipes require.
The seed flatbread is less delicate in flavor and somewhat more substantial in texture than the almond or hazelnut preparations, reflecting the characteristics of its base ingredients: sunflower and pumpkin seeds are earthier, more savory, and slightly more moisture-rich than the nut bases, and the preparation reflects these qualities directly.
Makes 10 flatbreads
Ingredients:
- 1 cup finely ground sunflower seeds — dry-roasted before grinding to develop their flavor; raw sunflower seeds ground without roasting produce a preparation with a faint green bitterness that is not desirable; toast in a dry pan over medium heat until just golden, cool completely, then grind
- 1 cup finely ground pumpkin seeds — also dry-roasted before grinding, which reduces the natural moisture content of the pumpkin seed and concentrates its flavor; the green color of the pumpkin seed will be visible in the ground meal and will produce a preparation of distinctly greenish-grey color that is unusual in appearance but normal and correct for this preparation
- ¾ teaspoon fine salt
- ½ teaspoon dried dill seed, crumbled — the interior Amphoe seasoning for seed flatbreads; substitute caraway for the hill country version or coriander for the Delta version
- 2 eggs, added without beating for Level 3
- 3 tablespoons olive oil or rendered fat
- 2 to 3 tablespoons cold water, as needed
Method:
Combine the ground sunflower seeds, ground pumpkin seeds, salt, and dill seed in a mixing bowl and stir to distribute. The mixed seed meal will be somewhat more coarse and more variable in texture than the almond or walnut meals if the grinding has been done by mortar rather than by mill, and this coarseness is acceptable in this preparation where some textural variation is part of the preparation’s honest character.
Add the eggs and olive oil or rendered fat and work together by hand until the mixture coheres. Seed flatbread mixture typically requires more added water than almond preparations to achieve cohesion — begin with two tablespoons of cold water and add more if needed. The correct consistency is a mass that holds together when pressed but does not feel sticky or overly moist.
Cover and rest for fifteen minutes — slightly longer than the nut preparations, because the higher moisture content of the pumpkin seed requires time to distribute through the mixture and stabilize before rolling.
Roll between parchment to a round of approximately six to seven inches at approximately a quarter of an inch thickness. The seed flatbread mixture is more fragile during rolling than the nut preparations: the coarser particle size and lower fat content of the seed base mean that the mixture holds together under direct pressure but may crack at the edges if the rolling pin is applied too firmly at the extreme edges of the preparation. Work with moderate, even pressure across the full surface of the preparation rather than pressing firmly at the center and less at the edges.
Bake at moderate heat for fifteen to eighteen minutes until the surface is golden-brown and the preparation is completely rigid when lifted. The pumpkin seed’s natural color produces a preparation that is somewhat darker than the almond preparations even when correctly baked, and the baker should use the tactile rigidity test rather than color alone as the primary doneness indicator for this preparation.
The flavor of the seed flatbread is more robustly savory than the nut preparations: the toasted sunflower and pumpkin seeds produce an earthy, slightly smoky depth of flavor that is very good alongside the lamb and root vegetable preparations of Chapter 15 and alongside the hard aged cheese preparations of Chapter 16. It is an honest, substantial preparation — not elegant in the way of the hazelnut festival round or the almond flatbread — but good in the direct, uncomplicated way of a preparation that knows exactly what it is and has no ambition to be anything else.
Vegetable-Based Wraps: A Practical Guide
As I noted in the introductory section of this chapter, large fresh leaves used as wraps represent the simplest grain-free alternative to the unleavened wrap preparations of Chapter 6, requiring no preparation beyond the selection and, in some cases, light treatment of the leaves. I address them here not as recipes in the full sense but as practical guidance for the household that needs a grain-free wrap option quickly.
Cabbage leaves are the most widely available and most structurally reliable of the vegetable wrap options. The large outer leaves of a fresh head of cabbage, separated carefully to keep them intact, can be used raw as wraps for cool or room-temperature preparations, or briefly wilted in hot water for thirty to sixty seconds to make them more pliable for warm or cooked fillings. A wilted cabbage leaf is a surprisingly capable wrap: it folds without tearing, holds a generous filling without losing its structural integrity, and has a mild, slightly sweet flavor that pairs well with the lamb, poultry, and vegetable preparations appropriate for the festival table.
Broad-leafed greens such as large beet greens, chard leaves with their stems removed, and the outer leaves of large-headed lettuces can all be used in the same manner as cabbage leaves. They are more delicate than cabbage and should be wilted more briefly — fifteen to twenty seconds in hot water — and filled with drier preparations than cabbage leaves can accommodate, because their thinner leaf surface does not support the weight of a very moist filling without tearing.
Romaine lettuce leaves, used without wilting, provide a crisp, cup-like vessel for preparations that are better served in a container than wrapped: a large romaine leaf cupped in the hand and filled with a spoonful of lamb preparation or soft cheese and herb mixture is a perfectly serviceable grain-free preparation that is made in seconds and requires no baking or heat management of any kind.
Root Vegetable and Alternative Base Preparations: A Note
I want to briefly address the use of dried root vegetable preparations as grain-free baking bases, which I described in the chapter introduction as a category that exists in the Bravian tradition but is less common and less well-documented than the nut and seed preparations.
Dried and finely powdered parsnip, dried carrot, and certain tubers can be used as partial or primary bases in grain-free Level 3 preparations, combined with egg as a binder, and the results are preparations of interesting and pleasant character. The primary challenge of root vegetable preparations is their high natural sugar content, which causes them to brown very rapidly under oven heat and requires significantly lower temperatures and more careful monitoring than the nut and seed preparations. The secondary challenge is their high moisture content even in the dried state, which requires precise calibration of the liquid addition and more conservative spreading to prevent preparations that spread excessively before the egg protein sets around them.
I have made root vegetable preparations in my own kitchen and found them good, but I have not developed them to the degree of specification and reliability that I hold as the standard for recipes included in this book, and I do not include them as full recipes here for that reason. The baker who wishes to explore root vegetable grain-free preparations is encouraged to do so using the principles established in this chapter: moderate heat, parchment, egg as the primary binder, patient observation of the doneness indicators, and a willingness to adjust the preparation across several batches before expecting a consistent result. It is genuinely interesting territory, and the Bravian kitchen is always, in the end, improved by the baker who ventures into it with curiosity and without excessive attachment to the outcome of any single batch.
The Grain-Free Kitchen in the Wider Context of the Feast
I want to close this chapter, and with it Part Four of this book, by returning to the woman who comes to my bakery every feast season.
Her name is Hedwig, and she has, since I began producing the preparations in this chapter, become one of my more informed and more opinionated customers in the specific area of grain-free Level 3 baking. She has opinions about the grinding of almonds — finer than I typically produce in the bakery’s production batches, which she has communicated to me on several occasions with the particular directness that characterizes the Bravian critique when it is offered by someone who considers you capable of improvement. She has opinions about the roasting of hazelnuts, specifically that they benefit from a slightly longer roasting time than I use, which produces a deeper color and a more assertive flavor. She has opinions about sesame paste and its storage and the importance of the recombination step that I have included in Recipe 39 specifically because of what she told me when she watched me prepare it once and observed that my paste was inadequately stirred.
She has, in other words, become something of an authority on the subject, which is what happens when a person pays close attention to something for decades and is given, at last, adequate material to pay attention to.
Last feast season she brought me a preparation she had made herself from the almond recipe, with the orange zest and cardamom variation, and it was excellent — better than my bakery’s production version in the specific quality of the almond meal, which she had ground herself with considerably more patience and a finer result than my production grinding achieves. I told her so, in the unelaborated manner in which Bravians acknowledge a thing they mean without wanting to make too much of it, and she accepted this with equivalent brevity and went home.
She belongs at the feast table. She always did. Every person who keeps the feast belongs at the feast table, and the baker who understands her craft fully enough to ensure that all of them can be there — whoever they are, whatever their bodies can accommodate, across all three levels and all grain categories and all regional traditions — is doing the work the feast season calls for, which is not only the baking of good bread but the setting of a table where everyone has a place.
That is what this book has been trying to do, from the foreword to this final chapter of Part Four. I hope it has done so.
Part Five: Complementary Foods and the Unleavened Table begins on the following page.
