Seed

Steel-cut oats (also called Irish or Scottish oats) take longer to cook than rolled oats but are creamier and chewier.

You can store the banana bread, wrapped well in plastic wrap, at room temperature up to 4 days.

To store, wrap the loaf tightly in plastic; refrigerate for up to 1 week, or freeze for up to 2 months.

The crackle can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 1 month.

Store the granola in an airtight container at room temperature up to 1 week.

White pepper is used because of its color, but black pepper will also work.

I love anything with sunflower seeds, and this bread is loaded with them. The seeds are nutritious, taste good, and are “loyal” (that is, they leave a long, nutty finish that fills the mouth so that you enjoy the bread long after you eat it). This is a variation of a formula developed by Craig Ponsford and the Coupe du Monde team in 1995. This new version utilizes a firm wild-yeast starter instead of pâte fermentée. The dough requires the starter, commercial yeast, and a soaker, so it entails a commitment, but the results are so memorable that it is well worth the effort.

There are many ways to make rye bread, but very few versions contain 100 percent rye flour. Rye has so little of its unique type of gluten (6 to 8 percent) that it is hard to develop the structure and lift necessary for a decent crumb without the addition of a fair amount of high-gluten wheat flour. However, there are many people who love dense rye bread, and there are others who eat it because they can tolerate the gluten of this bread but not the gluten in wheat breads. A lot of drama goes on inside a sourdough rye bread. Rye flour is high in natural sugars and dextrins and contains pentosan, a gum protein that causes the dough to become gummy if it is mixed as long as wheat breads. Also, the wild-yeast starter creates an acidic environment that slows down the enzymatic release of sugar during the mixing cycle, but at the same time allows for the sugars to emerge from the grain during the fermentation cycle as the enzyme activity kicks in. If properly mixed and fermented, the result is a sweet, creamy, yet chewy texture quite unlike that of any other bread.

Beautiful in color, this soup is creamy without using dairy products. The crunchy pumpkin seeds provide a nice texture contrast. Serve the soup hot in the winter and chilled in the summer.

Tim Decker and his wife, Crystal, are the owners of Bennett valley Bakery in Sonoma County. A former apprentice of Peter Reinhart’s, Tim makes artisan breads with a beautifully browned crust by baking them in a wood-fired oven at unusually high temperatures. You can also make this bread successfully in a conventional oven, with the heat as high as it will go.

This is easily one of my favorite fall salads. The creaminess of avocado and sour cream is amazing with the spiced zing of the carrots and the toasted, nutty seeds.

Here’s my favorite way to dress up frozen corn kernels. Not surprising, it’s even better with fresh corn, as described in the variation. Serve this as a side dish to Southwestern-style specialties and bean dishes.

One of the most fun things about traveling is finding food inspiration and ideas. I’m most drawn to simple preparations with creative twists. In Israel, I loved the myriad varieties of salads, which are served morning, noon, and night. I could spend a month in Israel just studying the salads. On a recent trip, my family’s last lunch before heading to the airport was at a lovely little café in the suburbs of Tel Aviv. One of the dishes we enjoyed was a mixture of sweet and white potatoes on a bed of greens. Nothing fancy, but it looked great and tasted even better. Once home, I made my copycat version of the salad, with two additions: a diced avocado mixed into the greens, and a topping of pumpkin seeds. It may look fancy, but it’s very easy to make. The pleasing presentation makes it a good salad to impress company, as well as to bring to potlucks.