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1T Yeast
2T Honey
1c Absolutely lukewarm water
2c Spelt Flour
Mix the honey with the absolutely lukewarm water. Dissolve the yeast in the honey water to activate it. Wait until the yeast is bubbling and frothing up (about 20 minutes). Add the flour and whip the sponge with an egg beater, about 100 strokes. Cover and let the dough rise for 40 minutes, or until double in size. Covering is important because it helps the yeast hold its heat and quickens rising time.
Hint: Bread making is yoga: Right-handed folks should use their left hand and left-handed folks their right. The opposite hand balances the left and right hemispheres of the brain.
Caution: Cooked honey is considered sticky and toxic in Ayurveda, clogging the channels. We used honey here assuming it gets digested by the yeast. The safer option is agave syrup.
2. Complete the batter Second Rising (one hour)
1c Ground sesame seed (use a coffee grinder)
2c Spelt flour
2t Salt
2c Additional flour for kneading
Mix in the ground sesame, salt, and flour into the batter. Continue adding flour until the dough begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl. Strengthen the dough by following these important rules: 1) Knead the dough at least 10 minutes or until it is very springy; 2) Never cut or break the dough after step one above; 3) Always fold, knead, or stir in the same direction to lengthen the strands of protein.
To knead the dough: 1) If the dough is sticky, sprinkle the counter surface and dough completely with some additional flour. 2) Then, pull the far side of the dough over the near side, completely covering it plus some. 3) Push both wrists into the dough away from you. 4) Turn the dough by one quarter. Repeat these steps for at least 10 minutes or until very springy.
Clean the bread bowl and oil the surface. Place the dough in the bowl and cover. Let it rise for 40 minutes or until doubled in size.
3) Third Rising (one hour)
Punch the dough down. Cover and let rise another 40 minutes or until doubled in size.
4) Fourth Rising (one and a half hours)
Punch the dough down. Oil the muffin pan. I use muffin pans because the serving size is perfect and there are plenty of crispy edges. Fill the muffin holes half way. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Let rise for 20 minutes or until doubled in size. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes or until golden brown.
How Does This Ayurvedic Recipe Improve Wellness?
CLINICAL AYURVEDIC REVIEW
Bread is about sharing life. Autumn is a time of sharing, as people gather together to warm each other as the days get shorter and cooler. This nuturing bread recipe reminds us to revel in the togetherness of colder weather. Thanksgiving is on its way, and the joy and celebration of the winter holidays are right around the corner. Baking breads grounds us, easing the transition from the burn-out of late summer to the restful nature of the chilly months. If you can accept and embrace the flow of the seasons, there is no reason to fear the illnesses that come from rejecting the needs of our bodies during seasonal change. If you are able to digest grains, grains build ojas, which is the essence of all bodily tissues. Ojas is Ayurveda's word for nourishing. Ojas builds heartiness, which strengthens your resiliency to disease. Ojas gets depleted by the hot rays of the sun, which dry bodily tissues. Rebuilding ojas in the fall is a great way to prepare for winter.
Spelt flour is a special kind of wheat flour with less gluten, so it can be easier to digest than regular wheat. Sesame provides rich ojas-building oils and is warming for colder temperatures of the fall.
All breads are drying and soak up precious digestive juices in the stomach. We recommend hydrating this bread first by dipping it in a sambar soup, or a delicious seasonal soup of your choice. Or, generously slather the bread with ghee.
WHAT IS SESAME BREAD?
I've had a vision of light, fluffy-fresh baked bread for several years, of wholesome goodness without the stickiness of high-gluten wheat flours. After many experiments, I finally spent a morning sunrise re-reading the famous Tassajara Bread Book looking for hidden hints I might have missed. It had been several years since the first time I thumbed through its contemplative reflections on folding hands & kneading dough. This recipe is modeled after Tassajara Bread Recipe #1.
September sesame bread recipe was also built with hints from many cooks from Virginia to New Mexico. For example, Frank Cook taught me to activate the yeast in honey. Two hidden hints from Tassajara were notablewhipping the sponge and strengthening the dough, explained below. Golden brown, breath, bread of lifebaking bread is a quiet act in embodying a spiritual life. Welcome.
Makes 6+ muffins. Takes one hour of work and six hours of waiting, meditating, or sitting on the porch.
AYURVEDA'S GUIDE TO VITALITY & WHOLESOME NOURISHMENT
Your Ayurvedic diet is tailored to your individual body and your specific imbalances.
With an Ayurvedic diet you feel joy and satisfaction because what you are eating truly nourishes and balances you.
Disease results from diets and lifestyles that are incompatible with your nature.
By eating a personalized diet matched to your body, you experience optimal health.
See How it Works.
Is Sesame Bread Good for My Ayurvedic Diet?
Find out by taking this free, easy quiz.
You'll learn your body type, and whether Sesame Bread is a good fit for your body type. Time to complete: approximately 1 minute.
Functional Ayurveda helps you assess imbalances through 20 main biocharacteristics
(gunas).
Aggravating these characteristics weakens your body and causes imbalance.
By knowing which characteristics are habitually imbalanced in your body, you will be able to identify and correct imbalances before you get sick.
Every characteristic has an opposite which balances it (i.e. hot balances cold).
You restore balance by favoring diet and lifestyle choices that increase the opposite characteristic.
In Ayurveda, oily refers to anything moistening. More specifically, oily refers to building substances that increases fat, or are themselves fatty. For example, sugar is Oily.
Taste is used to sense the most basic properties and effects of food.
Each taste has a specific medicinal effect on your body.
Cravings for food with certain tastes indicate your body is craving specific medicinal results from food.
Taste is experienced on the tongue and represents your body's reaction to foods.
Sweet taste causes physical satisfaction and attraction whereas bitter taste causes discomfort and aversion.
Kapha should use less sweet taste while Vata and Pitta would benefit from using more sweet taste.
One of the first signs of illness is that your taste and appetite for food changes.
The six tastes are sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter, and astringent.
Do you crave foods with any of the tastes below?
According to the biocharacteristic theory of medicine,
people tend to get sick, over and over again, due to habitual causes and imbalances that are unique to the person.
Your body type summarizes this tendency, showing you the 'type' of conditions and imbalances that frequently challenge your health & wellness.
Using body type, you can also identify remedies likely to improve your strength and resiliency.
Your body type identifies physical and mental characteristics as well as your personal strengths and weaknesses.
The calculation of your body type is based on your medical history.
The 3 functional body types
(doshas),
are Catabolic (Vata), Metabolic (Pitta), and Anabolic (Kapha).
Catabolic individuals tend to break down body mass into energy. They are easily stimulated, hyperactive, underweight and dry.
Metabolic individuals tend to burn or use energy. They tend to be rosy-cheeked, easily irritated, focused, driven, and easily inflamed.
Anabolic individuals tend to store energy as body mass. If they store too much energy, they could gain weight easily and have congestion. Anabolic people tend to be stable and grounded.
Medicinal Benefits, Uses & Herbal Actions of Sesame Bread
Experiences are Personal
Experiences vary according to the person and constitution. Individual results may vary.
The list of herbal-actions below has not be approved by the FDA and should not be used to treat a medical condition.
An herb that literally calms the heart. These herbs are helpful in the treatment of anxiety, sadness, depression, or other emotional imbalances in the heart. Related to the Chinese Herbal Category 'calms spirit.'
An herb that produces more blood cells in the body, or otherwise improves blood cell quality or hemoglobin content. Helpful for anemia and other types of deficiency.
An herb that promotes fertility. Generally used by women who wish to become pregnant. These herbs may also help with menstrual problems of deficiency, such as amenorrhea (lack of a period).
John Immel, the founder of Joyful Belly, teaches people how to have a
healthy diet and lifestyle with Ayurveda biocharacteristics.
His approach to Ayurveda is clinical, yet exudes an ease which many find enjoyable and insightful.
John also directs Joyful Belly's School of Ayurveda,
offering professional clinical training in Ayurveda for over 15 years.
John's interest in Ayurveda and specialization in digestive tract pathology was inspired by a complex digestive disorder acquired from years of international travel,
as well as public service work in South Asia.
John's commitment to the detailed study of digestive disorders reflects his zeal to get down to the roots of the problem.
His hope and belief in the capacity of each & every client to improve their quality of life is nothing short of a personal passion.
John's creativity in the kitchen and delight in cooking for others comes from his family oriented upbringing.
In addition to his certification in Ayurveda, John holds a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Harvard University.
John enjoys sharing Ayurveda within the context of his Catholic roots,
and finds Ayurveda gives him an opportunity to participate in the healing mission of the Church.
Jesus expressed God's love by feeding and healing the sick.
That kindness is the fundamental ministry of Ayurveda as well.
Outside of work, John enjoys spending time with his wife and 6 kids, and pursuing his love of theology, philosophy, and language.
I want to be gluten free so I will be trying this with a gluten free flour combo made from several different flours: rice, tapioca, quinoa, amaranth. I like the idea of the sesame seeds in the recipe so I will try it.
- Patti Cochran, Walnut creek, CA, 09-24-13 (Reply)
Yeast is ok in Ayurveda. In general, everything has the potential to be medicine in Ayurveda, just as everything has the potential to be poison. We always ask - for whom, when and how much to determine when something is medicine vs poison.
- Kimberly Kubicke, Asbury park, NJ, 08-05-19 (Reply)
Thank you for the recipe. Is yeast OK in Ayurveda? Thank you.
I'd like to make this for my family bit my son has celiacs. Is there a flour combination or brand like measure for measure that I can use to replace the spelt?
* These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration.
The information and products on this website are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any
disease.
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