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SUNFLOWER SEEDS

Sunflower seeds are so nutritious, so nutty, so easy to grow right here at home. Why don’t we love them more? I think it is because for years, when you visited any natural foods restaurant, you could count on finding the poor innocent seeds sprinkled in and on everything, often as not having been substituted for more expensive “real” nuts; and there’d always be a few, raw and soggy, in the bottom of the bowl when you finished your salad.

Fortunately, our children are untouched by these experiences, and they are crazy about them. Furthermore, almost anyone enjoys them when their flavor sings along with raisins and buckwheat—natural complements, since the little seeds are favorites in Russia, where kasha originated.

Unlike sesame, sunflower seeds do not have much natural antioxidant and so become rancid quickly once the seed itself is broken. For this reason they are not so practical to grind for butter or meal. Sort through the seeds you buy to remove any that are discolored or moldy or whose shells have stuck to them—these make poor eating and may well be responsible for some of the Enemies of the Seed. Sunseeds are eminently nutritious, full of vitamins and minerals and fine quality protein.

Toasted sunflower seeds are good in or on breads; about ¼ cup is plenty for including in the loaf. They are at their nuttiest when toasted; the flavor of the raw ones is milder, sweeter. Sunflower seeds are good not only with buckwheat but with oatmeal, and with any dried fruit.

CARAWAY, FENNEL & ANISE

Caraway, fennel, and anise, three cousins, are sometimes confused one with another.

Anise is the strongest of the lot, on the sweet side with its licoricey fullness of flavor. Fennel is more herby (it provides the characteristic flavor of pepperoni sausage—or soy-sage—and authentic Italian tomato sauces). With a bright pungent flavor in a lighter mood, fennel brings just the right sweet piquancy to make Lemony-Fennelly Bread extra-special. Caraway is the most familiar of the three, putting in its appearance in rye breads, on bagels, and in some English sweet buns. Most of all though, caraway has come to mean rye—so much so that if you make a whole wheat bread and put caraway in it, several people will assume it is rye; and conversely, very few will recognize rye bread without the seeds.

The three can be exchanged one for the other when someone has a strong antipathy to one, but the results will be a little different. How to say? Fennel is treble, caraway tenor, and anise bass. Or fennel is chartreuse, caraway purple, and anise dark gray in flavor.

CUMIN

Cumin is actually a member in this family too, more exotic perhaps, certainly less familiar in the United States as a seed than as the ground spice that gives character to Mexican foods. The whole seeds look very much like caraway, but cumin is not like anything else. Added to bread, it has a roguish red chili flavor much loved by some. Use with caution—the first time, anyhow.

Deluxe Raisin Bread

1 cup raisins (145 g)

1 ½ cups water (355 ml)

2 teaspoons active dry yeast (¼ oz or 7 g)

½ cup warm water (120 ml)

¼ cup oil (60 ml)

2 tablespoons honey (30 ml)

1 egg, beaten slightly

OR

¼ cup water (60 ml)

5 ¼ cups finely ground whole wheat bread flour (790 g)

2 ½ teaspoons salt (14 g)

¾ cup chopped walnuts, (90 g) (optional)

Deluxe Raisin is one of our earliest recipes, and though others go in and out of vogue, this one has never fallen out of favor at all. It is an utterly dependable, delicious light bread, just sweet enough. It behaves just as you hope it will in the toaster or in the lunchbox.

Rinse the raisins to remove any dirt. Cover them with the 1 ½ cups of water and bring to a boil. Reduce flame and simmer for 5 minutes. Drain, reserving the liquid, and set the raisins aside.

Add cold water to the liquid from the raisins to bring it to 1 ½ cups again. Let it cool to lukewarm.

Dissolve the yeast in ½ cup warm water.

Mix the raisin water with the oil, honey and the egg.

Measure the flour and salt into