Bread - Ezekiel Raisin with Sunflower Seeds
From All-Creatures.org Vegan - Vegetarian Recipe Book: How Mary and Frank and Friends Eat

"We are dedicated to cruelty-free living through a vegetarian - vegan lifestyle. Let no animal suffer or die that we may live!"

Ezekiel 4:9 "Take wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet and spelt; put them in a storage jar and use them to make bread for yourself. You are to eat it during the 390 days you lie on your side. (NIV)
Note: Biblical scholars are not sure which bean was used, perhaps it was carob (St. John's bread), which we have included, and whether it may have contained cumin.

Ingredients

2 cups Whole Wheat Bread Flour
1 cup Spelt Flour
1/4 cup Millet Flour
1/4 cup Barley Flour
1/4 cup Lentil Flour
1/4 cup Carob powder
1 tbsp. Cinnamon
4 tsp. Dry Yeast
4 tsp. Soya Lecithin, liquid*
1/4 tsp. Ginger, ground*
1/4 tsp. Vitamin C, crystals*
1/4 cup Molasses (unsulphured)
1 cups Water, warmed to 52°C. (125° F.)
1 cup Apple Juice, warmed to 52°C. (125° F.)
1-2 cups Raisins
1 cup Sunflower Seeds, whole, shelled, raw
* Optional Dough Enhancer (not included in Biblical recipe)

(To enlarge the photo of the Ezekiel raisin bread with sunflower seeds, click on the photo or link)

Preparation

This Ezekiel raisin bread is a healthful, whole grain recipe. Use the Ezekiel raisin bread for sandwiches or just to eat with a salad or meal. Ezekiel raisin bread slices are also great toasted for breakfast.

Add the ingredients, with the exception of the raisins and sunflower seeds and 1/2 the water, to a mixing bowl or to the bread maker container. Once the flour has been added, hollow out the center of the flour slightly and place the other ingredients in the depression. (NOTE: If you fresh grind the grain, and the flour is warm, do not preheat the apple juice or water.) Mix and kneed the mixture adding water as necessary.  The total kneading time should be approximately 20 minutes. Add the raisins slowly in the last 5 minutes of the kneading process, making sure that they are evenly mixed into the dough.

Place a thin layer of Sunflower Seeds on a bread board or clean counter top.  Place the dough on the Sunflower Seeds and form into a cylinder about 1/3 m. (12") long.  Cut in two pieces and reform into a loaf making sure that the entire surface, including the ends are coated with the Sunflower Seeds.  Final length should be slightly less than the length of the baking pan.  Place in two 12 cm. X 24 cm. (4-1/2" X 9") bread pans.

Baking:

Set the warming drawer of your oven to low, or the oven to warm setting ±45°C (120°F).  Be careful that the oven does not overheat.  Place the Ezekiel raisin bread pans in the warming drawer or oven to raise to dough.   When the dough is slightly over double the size, turn the oven heat up to 175-180°C (350-360°F). 

Bake for approximately 35 minutes.  When the crust is firm, but not crispy, the Ezekiel raisin bread is done.  Remove the baking pans from the oven.  The seeds should keep the bread from sticking to the pans, though the loaves may need a little help from a flat table  knife or spatula.  Let cool on a wire rack. 

Enjoy!

Ingredients Information

Apple Juice

Barley

Carob Powder

Cinnamon, ground

Ginger, ground

Lecithin, Soya

Lentils

Millet, Yellow

Molasses, Unsulphured

Spelt

Sunflower Seeds

Wheat, Hard White

Vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid)

Yeast

Utensils and Equipment Information

Knives

Measuring Cups, Dry

Measuring Cup, Liquid

Measuring Spoons

Mixer

Vita-Mix

The above recipe is in keeping with God's creation intent (Genesis 1:29-31): 'Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground-- everything that has the breath of life in it-- I give every green plant for food." And it was so. God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.' (NIV) Let no animal suffer or die that we may live!