The other day I was making root celery bread and my son, Albin, walked into the kitchen. When I told him what I was planning on doing he suggested that I add dried tomatoes, basil and oregano to the dough – “it will taste like Pizza” – he said. Not a bad idea…. And the “bread” actually turned out really great.
So this is what you do – I’ve copied the root celery bread recipe and added the extras, so you have it all in one place.
- 450 g (1 lb) root celery – Peel it and cut it into smaller pieces and boil them for 15 minutes in salted water.
Meanwhile prepare the dry ingredients – and you’ll need a mixer / grinder for this… OR a friendly neighbor that will let you borrow theirs.
In a small bowl
- 200 ml (0.8 cup) flaxseed (also called linseed) mixed / grinded to a fine powder
- And 100 ml (0.4 cup) sunflower seeds, also mixed / grinded to a fine powder.
- Throw in a few pieces of sundried tomatoes when mixing / grinding the above – I think I used 5 pieces but this obviously depends on the sizes….
- Add 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 tbsp paprika powder
- 2 tbsp’s oregano
- 2 tbsp’s basil (I used dried herbs, fresh will probably taste even better!)
Stir with a spoon
Then in a big bowl whisk the following:
- 4 eggs
- 1 tbsp vinegar (I used a dark balsamico)
- 1 tbsp honey
- And 2-3 tbsp’s pure tomato paste
Then turn on your oven to 180 C (350 F) and prepare a form or tray. I used my 20 x 20 cm cake form (with butter and ground flaxseeds), but you could just as well spread the “dough” on a baking sheet on a normal baking tray if you don’t have a good size form. It will not be square sized then and it’ll spread a bit thinner, but it will still work… I tried it when I did zucchini bread!
By now the root celery should be done. Drain the water, add 75 g (0.17 lb) butter to the boiled celery pieces and mash them (using a hand mixer is very convenient). And oh my, taste that – it’s like a better version of mashed potatoes! I regularly make this as a side dish! But today we’re going to use it for baking, so stop eating it!
Now simply add the celery mash and the dry ingredients to the egg mix and whisk (electrical whisk – my every day hero) or stir until all is mixed. Spread in your form or on the baking sheet. I sprinkled some sunflower seeds and flax seeds over it – just to make it look nice.
Bake in the lower part of the oven for about 40 minutes.
Let it cool a bit before you cut into pieces. Now – of course this is not exactly like “normal” bread. It has a rather moist texture inside. What you can do is to cut the bread into 9 squares cut the squares in half – through the middle and “toast” them for a few minutes, in your oven at high heat (you’ll see when they get a bit brown). That way – they get more of a crust, and the texture a bit like sourdough bread inside.
My son packed these as sandwiches for his school lunch – the rest of us grabbing as many as we could as well…
Enjoy!
Liesel (and Albin)