Imbolc is a tricky Sabbat for me every year because February, in general, holds a lot of celebrations for my house. Because of this, I try and keep things pretty low key, to not overwhelm myself. Imbolc, also known as Brigid’s Day or Candlemas. Celebrations at Imbolc are performed to welcome back the sun, which is slowly but surely making a comeback. Days are noticeably longer now, and people were anxious for spring to return in full force. Lighting candles and fires are the most common activity for the day. In Wiccan Tradition especially, both the God and Goddess are recognized as young in the spring and symbolize new life and new beginnings. Imbolc is a special holiday, sacred to the Celtic Goddess, Brigid. One common rite of the past is for a young girl dressed as the virgin Goddess to proceed through the village wearing a circle of candles on her head.
I thought this year for Imbolc, I would share my recipe for Vegan 3 Seed Braided Bread. As I said before, this isn’t a vegan blog, but being vegan does affect my craft. So here is a relatively easy, recipe, I hope you enjoy it!
Ingredients:
- 3 cups – Bread Flour (all-purpose in a pinch)
- 2 tbsp – Sesame Seeds
- 1 tbsp – Flax Seeds
- 1 tbsp- Sunflower Seeds
- 1 tbsp – Active Dry Yeast
- 1/4 cup- Almost Boiling Water (I use a kettle)
- 1 cup – Lukewarm Water
- 1/4 cup – Olive oil
- 1 tsp – Salt
- 1/2 tsp – Sugar
- 1 tsp – Dry Parsley leaves
- 1 tsp – Dry ground Sage
- 1 tsp- Dry Thyme
- 1/4 cup- Unsweetened Almond Milk
- 1/4 cup- Golden Agave Syrup
Directions
- Ferment yeast with the near-boiling water with sugar for about 10 minutes. Some recipes call to add the salt here now, but I have found this hinders the fermenting process, may just be my attitude, but regardless, hold that for later.
- Mix together, all-purpose flour, three seeds, dried herbs leaves and salt in a large bowl. Gradually add the foamy yeast with olive oil and remaining water. Mix everything to a soft and stiff dough.
- Grease a bowl and place the dough, covering it in either cling film or a damp kitchen towel. Let it sit for two hours in a warm place, if your house is cold, turn your oven to like 150 F (65 C), and set it to rise on top of the oven, the heat radiating from the oven alone will be enough to raise your dough.
- Preheat the oven to 350 F (175 C) line a baking tray, grease slightly the baking sheet with olive oil, or if you’re like me, use a silicon tray liner.
- Punch the dough down, divide them into 3 portions, roll them well to form smooth balls. Roll each ball as thin ropes.
- Braid the ropes together, press the dough nicely at both ends. In this case, I wove the two ends together making a nice circle of infinite braids.
- Place the braided loaf on a greased baking sheet, or on the silicon baking sheet, as I used.
- Mix together the almond milk and agave syrup. A good trick to blend them is warm up the combination in the microwave for roughly 15-20 seconds, just to blend it together easier.
- Bake for about 15 minutes, with a small oven-safe dish below your tray filled with water (this is to give your bread a crust).
- After this time, pull the loaf out and brush on the almond milk and agave mixture. You *could* do this as soon as you put it in, but I have found this faux egg wash often absorbs into the dough right away. If the dough is allowed to cook some, it doesn’t absorb in so quickly.
- Put back in the oven for about another 15 minutes, pull out when it’s browned and hollow sounding.
- Let cool for few mins before serving!
I would love to know how you found this recipe! Would you like to see more recipes in the future?!