Celebrate the abundant Sabbat of Lammas with this delicious recipe for handmade herbal bread to share or offer. 

In a waning summer light, golden waves wash over the wheat fields.

As the harvest season rolls in with this turn of the Wheel of the Year, bake the last weeks of the season into a fresh, sun-warmed loaf! 

(Please note:  This post contains affiliate links.  You’re welcome to read all about this practice on Moody Moon’s disclosure page. Spoiler alert:  It’s pretty boring.)

How to include herbal bread in Lammas.

Lammas distinguishes itself on the Wheel of the Year as a grain harvest holiday.

The inclusion of hand-baked, from scratch herbal bread makes a lovely addition to your Lammas solitary ritual or circle.

There are lots of ways to use this bread in your Lammas ritual.

You may leave them out as an offering for abundance in the fall.

You may also serve them as part of your “cakes and ale” ritual.

I love picking out herbs for the Lammas bread.  Almost any common garden herb will add something special to this bread, so pick something to suit your purpose (sage for wisdom, basil for love, ect).

You can even make the creative process of kneading the bread a ritual in and of itself.  For more on how to do this, check out Baking the Lammas Bread.

Tips

If you’re going to decorate the tops of the loaves with herbs like I did, timing is key.  You want to bake them until just before they finish before “laminating” the herbs on top.

Of all the herbs I tried, sage was the easiest to work with.  Cilantro was the hardest.  The stiffer the leaf, the easier it is to maintain its shape when you transfer it to the bread.

Get the best quality olive oil you can find.  It makes a huge difference.

Look for it in a dark, glass bottle, like this one.

Oh, and save some for dipping!  This bread is amazing with simple side olive oil to dunk it in.

Ingredients

1 cup warm water

1 packet active dry yeast

2.5 – 3 cups all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons high quality olive oil

2 teaspoons sugar

1/2 tablespoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

Assorted dry, ground herbs (I used oregano, basil and rosemary.  You can also sub Italian Seasoning).

Optional:

fresh herbs to decorate

1 tablespoon egg whites

Step 1

Mix warm water with yeast and sugar.  Stir thoroughly.  Allow the yeast to “activate” by leaving it to bubble, about 10 minutes.

Step 2

In a separate bowl, combine flour, salt, dry herbs, black pepper, and garlic powder.

Step 3

Add olive oil to wet ingredients.  Slowly add dry ingredients to wet until mixture is no longer sticky.  Knead the dough until it stretches.

Step 4

Cover the bread with a clean towel.  Leave it in a sunny window and allow it to rise until it doubles in size (about 1 hour).

Step 5

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.  Form dough into 5 separate balls about 4″ in diameter.

Step 6

Bake 10-15 minutes.

Step 7

While bread is baking, bring a small pot of water to boil.  Fill another bowl with ice water.  Dip fresh herbs in boiling water for 5-10 seconds.  Then dip them in ice water.  Lay them flat on paper towels and put more paper towels on top.  Press with a heavy skillet.

Step 8

About 3 minutes before the bread is fully cooked (just beginning to brown, but still looks raw) pull them out of the oven.  Brush the tops with egg whites.  Working carefully, arrange blanched herbs on top of the egg whites on the bread, then brush more egg whites on top to “seal” them in.

Step 9

Pop the bread back in and let them finish browning.

You’re done!  Yay!  They look amazing!

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