The only other greater pleasure than that is when said bread takes all of 5 minutes to knock together and you still get that satisfied feeling afterwards. That is what this delicious seed loaf is all about. I based this recipe off one I found in a delightful new cookbook called “A Life in Food” by Bea Tollman. I was sent this delightful book by Bea’s people at her hotel group, Red Carnation Hotels. Bea started the hotel group with her husband Stanley and she was always in charge of the food side of their successful establishments. In the book Bea writes that she became intrigued with food at 16 when she travelled to Europe visiting France & Italy. A few years later she married Stanley, a man with a great passion for food, who’s family was deeply involved in the Hospitality industry. She developed menus for their various hotels and most of the 4 & 5 star hotels in their portfolio (all across the world), still serve some of these menu items. This book is filled with lovely old photographs of Bea & Stanley’s days as young hoteliers along with photos of their beautiful hotels and nostalgic recipes with classic flavour combinations. Among my favourites are the recipes for black pepper prawns, chicken liver pate and Bea’s cheesecake. This seed loaf immediately also caught my eye and I knew I had to try it. I used Bea’s recipe as a base to work from but added more seeds (simply because I had them in the kitchen). For the original recipe, get your hands on a copy of this wonderful book which is as much a cookbook as it is a wonderful memoir on a life well lived. The book is available from any of the RCH hotels and all proceeds go to Mrs Tollman’s favourite charities, UK based Starlight Children’s foundation and The Tick Tock Club.
