The importance of breakfast
First things first – growing up in Bulgaria breakfast was always savoury, having anything sweet for breakfast was always a ‘no and no’. There is perhaps some sense in that from a nutritional point of view that your day doesn’t start with a huge spike of sugar in your blood. Also this being the 80s and early 90s small Bulgarian town cereal or peanut butter was unheard of. Breakfast in Bulgaria was usually bread and butter, with perhaps some white cheese (feta) on the side or a boiled egg. Or if you are out and about a savoury pastry from the multitude of bakeries (my parents still live in the same town of about 8000 people and there are 4 (four!) different places that make and sell morning pastries). The Bulgarian in me is going off piste with this month’s special! Well, only partially.
The Breakfast Sourdough Special follows our usual formula using Walk Mill flour, however it has added date syrup, cranberries, toasted walnuts, pumpkin and sunflower seeds. The date syrup gives it a beautiful chocolatey colour and a very slight hint of sweetness, the cranberries give some unexpected sharpness and the nuts and seeds top it all off with some beautiful sweet nuttiness. My 8 year old self would have never eaten this… My 2.5 and 4.5 year old children however loved it and have given it the thumbs up.
You see, this is kind of a sweet loaf, but not really as I have tried it with some Edinburgh Butter Co butter (back in stock by the way!) for breakfast and it is beautiful! I have also made a cheese sandwich with it and it tasted like a cheese course in a sandwich!
So I am betraying my Bulgarian roots here but only a little bit and for a loaf this good I am sure I will be excused!
What makes it special?
Fibre – this loaf uses the same formula for the dough as our hearty seeded (minus the seeds). What does this mean for you? The wholemeal and stoneground flour mean more fibre which is associated with a lower risk of heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and bowel cancer
Nutrition – walnuts, pumpkin and sunflower seeds add diversity to your diet and gut microbiome which amongst other things is essential for mental health. They are all full of essential fatty acids which support heart health. Date syrup whilst a sugar is just liquified dates which are very high in potassium and magnesium and unlike other natural sweeteners has fibre present as well as has a lower GI.
Love – a lot of love and soul goes into everything we do every day. Our business has had a bit of an unusual trajectory. The market and habits have changed since we first started, we are still here however. We are continuing to look for a new home for Flour & Soul where we would be able to welcome you to pick up your bread, pastries, coffee and all sorts of other delights. That is proving more difficult than we ever thought (let us know if you know a friendly commercial landlord!). So it’s not always easy or straight forward but we continue to be in love with what we do and hope to be able to take it up a notch soon.
How to eat it?
On its own
This one is incredibly tasty just on its own so you can appreciate all the flavors from the nuts seeds and cranberries. May be slather some butter and sprinkle some Maldon salt for even more complexity.
Cheese, cheese, cheese
I had it earlier in the week with a very strong blue stilton. Slightly toasted, no butter, just a bit of onion chutney for some extra sweetness.
I like plants only
Toast your bread and then toast it again. Drizzle some maple syrup (or date syrup, or whatever other sweetener you like), spread some almond butter and top with a banana (or an apple and some cinnamon).