If you want to save seeds from your squash to replant next year, you will need to learn how to hand pollinate the flowers.

This includes winter squash:

• Acorn
• Spaghetti
• Butternut
• Delicata
• Hubbard
• Turban
• Kabocha
• Cushaw
• Pumpkins of all kinds
• Any and all kinds of winter squash

It includes summer squash:

• Zucchini
• Yellow crookneck
• Pattypan, also called scallop
• Lebanese
• Small decorative gourds
• Luffa
• Any and all kinds of summer squash

If you have ever had a volunteer squash vine pop up in your garden or compost pile and been mystified as to what it was, cross pollination is to blame. That odd-looking zucchini with stringy flesh might be a cross between a zucchini and a spaghetti squash – its possible!

When you take up seed saving, you will discover that some crops, beans, radishes, and lettuce to name two, are pretty straightforward.

Others require a little bit of know-how. So let’s dive in.

Gather supplies

The supplies are simple:

• A roll of 2-inch wide blue painter’s tape (As an Amazon Associate I earn commissions from qualifying purchases. This does not affect the price you pay. Thank you.)
• Scissors
• Brightly colored yarn: yellow, orange, red, purple, or blue
• Optional: put together a Garden Tool Basket

The night before

• Locate a female flower that is ready to open in the morning. The flower will be tightly closed with a yellow flush.
• Locate 2-5 male flowers of same variety that are ready to open in the morning
• Tape the flowers closed to exclude insects

ID male and female flowers

Male flowers are easy to spot. They consist of a slender, straight stem with a flower bud on top.

Female flowers carry a swelling, a tiny baby fruit (squash) just below the flower.

Tape flowers closed

Use a piece of blue painter’s tape to tape the female flower and corresponding male flowers closed.

In the morning

• Bring your Garden Tool Basket or at least the bright colored yarn, scissors, and tape with you to the garden
• Locate the flowers you taped shut last night
• Pick the male flowers (only) carefully off the plant with several inches of stem.
• Open the tape to watch the male flowers instantly bloom, remove the petals from each
• Remove tape from female flower. Quickly and gently rub the pollen from the male flowers over the stigma inside the female flower.
• Quickly tape the female flower closed.
• Tie a piece of colorful yarn around the stem of the female flower, leaving room for the stem to expand

Another example

Here is another example, with a gourd called Mayo Bule.

Pic 1 ~ Female flower ready to bloom the next day

Pic 2 ~ The female flower has opened and been pollinated

Pic 3 ~ About 4 weeks later, the gourd is developing

Pic 4 ~ Mature gourd in September, nearing harvest

Watch the progression of flower to full-size gourd growing on our garden teepee.

Note: these gourds are rare and unavailable commercially. I bought seeds in about 2005 and have been growing them and saving seeds since.

Resources for seed saving:

Get the book Seed to Seed by Suzanne Ashworth. This beginner-friendly book shares specific info on how to save seeds from all the common (and some uncommon) vegetable crops on a home garden scale.

Intermediate to advanced seed savers may want a copy of The Seed Garden by Shanyn Siegel and Lee Buttala.

Read this post and watch my Grow and Endless Garden video at Chocolate Box Cottage to learn more about planning a garden with seed saving in mind.

Ready to add a seeded bread to your baking repertoire? Polka Dot Bread comes together easily in the Ankarsum mixer and has just the right amount of nuts and seeds to offer crunch, flavor, and interest!

You are going to love this bread!

A tempting mix of seeds and nuts bring wonderful flavor. Using part whole grain flour such as whole wheat along with some white flour improves the nutrition.

I’m sharing a re-creation of a memory of a wonderful bread my German grandparents used to bring us when they came to visit. I always looked forward to dropping a slice of this fluffy bread dotted with seeds in the toaster. 

You will too. Whether you are craving a simple slice of buttered toast or a favorite sandwich, it all tastes better on your homemade Polka Dot Bread. As a bonus, I am also sharing how to make a favorite sandwich: the King of Hearts. You’ll find directions for that at the bottom of the recipe and this post.

The story of Polka Dot Bread

When I was growing up, my German grandparents always brought food when they came to visit my parents’ small farm in Oregon. Grandma would carefully pack home-canned soups and jars of sauerkraut and fermented cucumber and watermelon rind pickles into a box along with German-from-Russia baked goods like kuchen (custard-topped coffeecake) and kechla (fried bread to dip in jam).

There were American-style treats, too: Rice Krispy Treats, Cracker Jack, and chocolate chip cookies. Everything was homemade.

Grandpa and Grandma were farmers that retired from North Dakota to Lodi, California along with a lot of other German farmers, so their town boasted a wonderful combination butcher shop and deli that made traditional German sausages, bread, and pickles. Grandpa and Grandma would stop at the butcher shop on their way out of town and buy sausage and bread to bring us.

The Polka Dot bread was a happy childhood memory for me. It was fluffy and white and dotted with poppy seeds. My siblings and I enjoyed dropping slices of Polka Dot bread in the toaster to eat because toasting made the seeds pop between your teeth.

The mixer: Ankarsrum Assistent Original

This recipe is specifically tailored to the Ankarsrum Assistent mixer. This Swedish super mixer plays the roles of both Beauty and the Beast in the kitchen! The Ankarsrum is powerful, quiet and dependable.

With its 8 liter capacity you can double or triple the batch to make 4 or 6 extra large 9×5-inch (23×13 cm) loaves; keep one on the counter and freeze the rest. Easy directions here: How to Freeze Bread and Rolls.

If you are considering purchasing a heavy duty stand mixer for bread making, check out this post: KitchenAid vs Bosch vs Ankarsrum: Best Mixer for Bread Dough.

Need help learning to use the dial controls on your Ankarsrum Assistent? Watch this quick clip to help you master the controls.

If you have a KitchenAid Artisan series mixer, use: Polka Dot Bread recipe for the KitchenAid mixer.

Steps to making Polka Dot Bread

Step 1 Toast seeds and nuts

Measure the seeds and nuts (holding back the flax) into a baking dish and toast in the oven until fragrant.

Step 2 Make the dough

Dissolve the yeast in lukewarm water. Measure liquid ingredients into the bowl fitted with the roller and scraper. Mix on low speed, 1-2 o’clock. Add the whole wheat flour and salt, then gradually add the white flour, seeds, and nuts (including flax). Mix to make a thick, sticky dough.

Step 3 Knead

Knead 6-8 minutes with the roller and scraper. Turn the dough out onto a clean, greased work surface and knead by hand 8-10 times.

Step 4 Let rise

Clean the mixing bowl, generously butter it and place dough smooth side up in the bowl. Or use a smaller bowl if desired. Cover and let rise until doubled, 60-90 minutes.

Step 5 Poke test

Press two fingers gently into the dough and quickly let go. If the indentation remains, your dough is ready to shape.

Step 6 Shape loaves

Divide dough in half, flatten each piece into a rectangle, and fold in thirds like a letter. Flatten again into a rectangle, roll up from a short end, and place loaves seam-side down in prepared pans.

Step 7 Second rise

Cover and let rise until loaves curve nicely over sides of pans.

Step 8 Mist and bake

Use the touch test to determine when loaves are ready to bake. Gently touch the risen loaf with one finger and quickly let go. If a slight indentation remains, your loaves are ready to bake. Mist generously with clean water from a spray bottle and bake until the crusts is well-browned, about 25-30 minutes.

Step 9 Cool

Allow loaves to cool completely on a wire rack before slicing. Now you are set for making the yummiest toast and sandwiches!

Deli-Style Polka Dot Bread with Your Ankarsrum Mixer

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Make a fabulous seedy bread with your Ankarsrum Assistent mixer! Polka Dot Bread makes the BEST toast and sandwiches. It is soft, sliceable, and substantial enough to hold up to your favorite sandwich fillings. Try the King of Heart sandwich at a the end of the recipe. 

• Author: Michele Pryse, FNTP

Ingredients

Units USM

1/4 cup each: poppy seeds, raw sunflower kernels, hulled millet, chopped hazelnuts (or nut of your choice), and flax seeds

2 cups whole wheat flour (or spelt or Kamut khorasan)

4 cups bread (strong white) or all-purpose (plain) flour

2 teaspoons salt

1 tablespoon yeast

1 large egg

1 cup milk

1 cup lukewarm water

1/4 cup olive oil or liquid fat of your choice

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup molasses

Spray bottle of clean water

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

1. Measure poppy seeds, sunflower seeds, millet, and walnuts (not the flax) into a baking dish and toast in a 350 F (175 Celsius) oven until fragrant, about 10-12 minutes; set aside to cool.

2. Meanwhile, dissolve yeast in lukewarm water. Add egg, milk, and dissolved yeast to the 8 liter stainless steel mixer bowl and blend with roller and scraper on low speed, 1-2 o’clock. Measure the olive oil in a quarter cup measuring cup and pour it into the mixer bowl, then measure the honey and molasses in the oiled measuring cup, adding them to the bowl. Add the salt. Mix on low speed until smooth. With the  mixer running, add the first 2 cups of flour (whole wheat) and then gradually add 2 cups of white flour and the cooled seeds + the flax. Continue adding flour until the dough starts to clean the sides of the bowl. It will be thick and sticky.

3.  Turn the mixer on med-low, 3 o’clock, and set a timer for 6-8 minutes to knead. You can gradually add small bits of flour as needed to make a smooth, cohesive dough.

4. Touch the dough after kneading. It should feel like the tacky side of a Post-It Note, but the dough should not stick to your fingers. Turn dough out onto a lightly oiled table, rub olive oil on your palms, and give it a few turns by hand, 8-10. Wash your mixer bowl, butter it well, and place the dough in it smooth side up. (Or use a smaller bowl if you prefer, but remember to butter it well. ) Cover with a lid, plate, or plastic bag and let rise until doubled, about 60-90 minutes. Meanwhile, generously butter two 9×5-inch (23×13 cm) loaf pans or three 8×4-inch (20×10 cm) loaf pans.

5. Use the poke test to determine if your dough has doubled. Press two fingers gently into the dough and quickly let go. If the indentation remains, your dough is ready to shape. If the holes quickly disappear, cover it up and give it 15 minutes, then test again. If the dough feels flabby and weak, it is over-risen. You can still make bread with it, but remember to give it a shorter rise next time you bake.

6. Turn the risen dough out onto a lightly greased table and gently deflate it with your palms. Flatten the dough into a thick disk. Cut dough in half. You can use a scale to make even-sized loaves. Flatten each piece into a rectangle, then fold in thirds like a letter. Flatten again into a 8×12-inch (20×30 cm) rectangle. Roll up from a short end, placing seam on bottom of the loaf. Tuck in the ends and place shaped dough in the prepared pan. Repeat for second piece of dough.

7. Cover loaves with a clean, lint-free dish towel and let rise until loaves curve over the tops of the pans, about 45 minutes. Preheat oven to 375 F (190 C) with a rack in the center of the oven.

8. Use the touch test to check of loaves are ready to bake. Gently touch the risen loaf with one finger and quickly let go. If a slight indentation remains, your loaves are ready to bake. Mist generously with clean water from a spray bottle and bake until the crusts is well-browned, about 25-30 minutes. Tip each loaf out its pan and look at the bottom, it should be nicely browned and sound hollow when thumbed with your thumb. You can check the temperature for doneness by poking a digital food thermometer into the center of the loaf from the bottom. Polka Dot Bread is done when the interior temperature reads 180 F to 190 F (82-88 C).

9. Cool loaves on wire racks until completely cool before slicing.

Notes

• The windowpane test does not work well with Polka Dot bread due to the seeds and nuts.
• To make a King of Hearts sandwich: spread soft cream cheese and Dijon mustard on a slice of bread. Layer on slices of smoked turkey and season with pulverized oregano leaves and freshly cracked black pepper. Add sliced tomato, marinated artichoke hearts, and salad shoots or greens of your choice. Top with a second slice of bread.

I shared a detailed tutorial on making Polka Dot Bread for you over on YouTube!

Shopping guide

Some links are affiliate links and I earn a small commission when you make a qualifying purchase. This does not change your price. Thank you for supporting my business! You may also find supplies at thrift shops for cheap. If not, take a look below.

Ankarsrum Assistent Original mixer

 Wheat and other grains for grinding into flour

 Grain mill

 Flour sack towels (lint-free) 

 Bread pans

 Oxo silicone spatula set (set of 3)

 Bread knife

  Thermopop 2 thermometer

 Free Kombucha workshop

 Kombucha Mastery course

Related recipes

Unlocking the Secret to the Best Toast and Sandwiches KitchenAid version of Polka Dot Bread

Indoor Salad Garden

Chocolate Box Cottage Diary, Volume 3
Week 21: May 27, 2023

Firewood cutting expedition

It’s that time of year, time to bring in next winter’s firewood. Wood heat is our sole source of heat at Chocolate Box Cottage, adding urgency to the annual task.

Follow along as we bring in a load of firewood from the nearby woods. We are allowed to cut dead standing red fir or pine trees close in designated areas with a wood permit.

Sam sharpens the chain before we leave. Snack and water are packed. We dress for work: old jeans, long sleeves, hats to keep the sun off.

We return to a tree Sam previously felled. Next to it is a tree someone else felled and abandoned – with good reason. The center of the smaller tree is punky, rotten. It won’t burn well. Our tree is a Douglas fir, sometimes called red fir; it is tight-grained for softwood and will burn well.

Usually, I am the roller, but the rounds were too heavy for me to roll. Not only are they large, the tree although dead is full of water, making it dense and heavy, so Sam was stuck with this chore as well.

Sam splits the rounds in half, then goes back and splits each round into stove wood. I throw the pieces up in the back of the truck, then jump up and stack them tight. Sam previously awarded me the title of “journeyman stacker,” and I am very proud of my stacking skills!

Ma and Pa Kettle? No, Michele and Samuel Pryse sitting on the tailgate of the loaded truck, tired and happy. This is a good load of firewood and we worked hard for it.

Thank you for joining our wood gathering expedition! Have you ever cut your own firewood? How do you heat your home?

Family time

We were thankful to have time with our daughter Cameo and her boyfriend Marcus (plus sweet Corgi pup, Peaches) over Memorial Day weekend.

Family breakfasts, days spent on the porch, evenings by the campfire. What a blessing it was to celebrate Cameo and Marcus’ birthdays while they were here with a homemade lemon chiffon cake!

Small treasures

Most of the apple trees at Chocolate Box Cottage are just finishing up blooming – but for a couple of late apple trees. Tiny fruit are beginning to develop on the branches, which are quickly leafing out.

It’s fun to look at the miniature apple nubbins and imagine all of the apple treats ahead. Is this like counting your chickens before they hatch?

Just look at this silly little egg!

Not much larger than a shooter marble, and nearly as round, it looked so silly sitting in the nest box this morning along with all the other “real” eggs!

What is your favorite way to eat spring radishes?

Me, I like them rinsed under a garden hose, sprinkled with salt, and devoured while standing in the radish row!

Grow your own tea

Grow Your Own Tea

The thought might never have occurred to you, but if ornamental camellias grow in your area, you can grow tea camellias (Camellia sinensis), and further, you can prepare your own tea leaves. This includes regions of North America as well as India, the British Isles, and Asia.

You might recognize the name Camellia as a popular foundation shrubs with woody stems and shiny elliptical green leaves. The ornamental varieties bear a showy fuchsia-pink to red flowers that resemble roses with no thorns.

Camellia sinensis is a particular specie with smaller leaves and diminutive white blooms. The green, growing tips of this plant are what are harvested and processed to make tea: black tea, green tea, and lesser known white tea. All from the same plant!

Tea camellia plants can be started from seeds or cuttings from existing plants. If unavailable at a nursery in your area, check the Camellia Forest website.

You will also need the book, Grow Your Own Tea by Christine Parks and Susan M. Walcott, which covers cultivating, harvesting, and preparing tea leaves at home with home kitchen supplies.

If you’re an avid appreciator of tea, you might want to plant a few tea camellias and try your hand and preparing your own tea leaves. Imagine how special that pot of tea will be!

Bookshelf

There will come a day when it will be too hot to cook.

Salads to the rescue!

If you’re tired of the same old, same old when it comes to salads, you’ll enjoy Salad Days. This friendly companion will inspire you to use all kinds of ingredients in your fridge, cupboards, and garden (and a few foraged plants!) to create new salads packed with flavors and textures so good you might find yourself craving salads!

Author Pam Powell, known as the Salad Girl, knows her greens. And all the other ingredients, too. She is the founder and creator of Salad Girl Organic Salad Dressing Company. Each recipe is paired with a tempting and yet simple homemade dressing recipe.

Color photos of each salad inspire my taste buds to action – year round, not just in summer!

Sampling of recipes included in Salad Days:

Farmer’s Market Cobb Salad with Buttermilk Peppercorn Dressing

Memorial Day Quinoa Salad with Ginger Cherry Vinaigrette

Pea Sprout and Strawberry Salad with Strawberry Rhubarb Vinaigrette

Kale, Sausage, and Potato Salad with Bacon Dressing

Peachy Keen Salad with Peach Vinaigrette

Published in 2011, Salad Days is still in print. When I last checked, there were two ridiculously cheap copies available at my favorite online used bookseller.

Blessings to you this week, Michele and Samuel

Chocolate Box Cottage Diary, Volume 3
Week 20: May 20, 2023

It’s like a vacation, but we work hard: it’s homestead project week!

Living on a homestead means a seemingly endless list of projects.

Our home is 100 years old and is situated on what was formerly part of a larger homestead in southern Oregon. At some point in history, the piece we call home was sold by the family. The house was originally a 2-room cabin without electricity, plumbing, or a functioning kitchen. There was an outhouse…somewhere.

Thankfully, it was brought it up to current standards with an indoor bathroom (complete with elevated tank and pull chain flush), running water, and electricity. The house was added on to and a nice kitchen was built with hand-peeled oak ceiling beams to match the older portion of the house, honey oak cabinets, and two skylights to bring in plenty of sunlight and cheer. Our dream wood stove, a beautiful Blaze King in chestnut brown enamel provides cozy warmth and is our sole source of heat.

With an older home, even an updated in the 1980’s home, you can imagine the maintenance required. We set aside a week in the spring and another in late summer to tackle a few of the many projects that don’t fit into evenings and weekends. Sort of a hand hewn vacation.

Chances are they have been floating along on the to-do list. We know good and well we will never get it all done, so we pick one or two major(ish) projects plus a couple of minor projects to focus on.

We pad the week with plenty of rewards…

• Morning coffee and tea on the front porch
• Simple, nourishing food
• Evenings free for relaxing with a book, a movie, creative handiwork, or going for a walk
• One full day out of the week just for fun activities like fishing, a picnic, target practice, going out to dinner

But before we even start, we set aside a day to prepare.

We like clean floors, sparkling windows, and fresh sheets and we make them so. We like to keep meals simple, because we are tired after a hard day’s work on the homestead, so I make sure we have plenty of fresh veggies and fruit, along with meat for quick and easy stir fries or grilling on hand. I often bake a loaf (or two) of sourdough bread for toast and sandwiches. I also pick up a few treats: ice cream bars, chips, fruity carbonated water.

This year’s Spring Project Week boasted an especially long list of projects. After an endless winter, we felt behind. Snow kept delaying our firewood cutting trips, and we were mid-steam in converting the garden to Back to Eden style garden but the snow also delayed our ability to add the necessary mulch materials and lay out our planting areas.

Baby detour!

But before we could begin, our daughter Miriam gave birth to our first grandbaby, a little boy named Atlas on May 13. He has blue eyes, the most darling swirl of red hair, and is absolutely wonderful.

Naturally, our project week took a different direction!

Aunt Cameo, pictured above, was in town and with her sister during the birth. Mama and baby are healthy and we were all tired and happy.

So we gave ourselves a few days to rest and soak in the miracle of a new baby before plunging into our list. It was time well spent.

Garden planting

Seed-sown peppers were planted carefully by digging through the thick mulch and watering in well.

Heirloom tomato seedlings were similarly planted, then covered with mug jug caps to protect from sun scald the first few days.

Sam adds soil to a block for sunflowers. Miriam brings Atlas to the garden for the first time at three days old.

Mayo Bule gourds, moonflowers, Candy Pink morning glories, and Jyunpaku Okinawan Pure White bitter melon were planted around the perimeter of the garden teepee to climb.

Sam scraped out the henhouse and rabbit cages for fertilizer.

All cleaned up! We made headway on the garden; there is still a lot of planting left to do. We didn’t get a single load of firewood this week, either. The to-do list remains long but that’s okay. While some wouldn’t call this a vacation, in the end we were home with people we love and a new grandbaby to sweeten our lives.

Thank you for reading!
Blessings, Michele and Samuel

Endless productivity is every gardener’s dream; saving seeds will help you turn your garden into perfect circle, from seed to plant to harvest to more seeds to plant next year.

Have you ever wondered what people did before seed packets?

We take for granted that we can visit the seed racks at nurseries and big box stores and/or scan seed catalogs, both paper and virtual. It’s so easy to fill up a shopping basket with seed packets! Guess what? Saving seeds is not only NOT hard at all – it’s fun!

Let’s start with a spring garden walk-thru, from a seed saving and food preserving perspective. Come on, let’s go!

The garden has been planted for a mere 3 weeks, a perfect time to take a peek. The plants are small in size, but BIG in potential.

In the video I talk about the what and why of seed saving in my homestead garden – in hopes that you will adopt some of these principles and practices.

{ But mostly I hope you fall in love with the romance of seed saving. }

Grandma’s seeds

When I was a young teen, my Norwegian grandma gave me some seeds from her garden: lettuce, hollyhocks, and money plant. She had been growing these seeds since she and Grandpa farmed in North Dakota.

{ I didn’t know anything about saving seeds, so I didn’t do a good job stewarding them. }

But it got me curious and I made it my business to learn.

The Seed Saver’s Exchange

At age 16 I discovered the Seed Saver’s Exchange. It was just a small mention in a Sunset magazine at a doctor’s office and I was immediately excited!

{ I’ve been saving seeds ever since. }

Techniques to learn

• Distancing crops for pure seed – most plants need space between them and others of their kind to prevent cross-pollination
• Doable vs ideal or perfect – don’t worry if you can’t provide ideal conditions for perfectly pure seeds; save seeds anyway
• Growing varieties with preserving in mind – fermenting, canning, dehydrating, storing, and specific recipes
• Hand pollination of certain crops – special techniques needed to keep some crops pure, such as squash, melons, and cucumbers
• Growing open pollinated varieties – these will produce offspring like themselves in your next garden
• Playing with hybrids – hybrids are crosses, you never know what you will get when you save seeds, but with patience you can stabilize a hybrid and turn it into an open pollinated variety
• Saving seeds from the produce aisle – try saving seeds from grocery store peppers and melons you especially enjoy
• Storing and organizing your seeds – keep them cool, dry, and dark

Seed saving is a skill worth learning. It anchors your family food supply. Over time, seeds to adapt to your gardening conditions. This equates to stronger plants, better resistance to pests and disease, and bigger harvests.

Saving seeds from your own garden is also fun and intensely satisfying.

Noah’s ark

Be a plant rescuer: save heirloom vegetable, fruit, nut, berry, herb, and grain varieties for future generations of gardeners.

Thank you for joining me on this walk-thru our homestead garden as I explained what we grow, how we use and preserve it, and our reasons for saving our own seeds instead of buying packets of “new and improved” varieties every year.

Preserving

Be sure to choose veggies your family likes to eat! Plan how you will preserve them and how you will cook with them fresh. Gather recipes and preserving tools ahead of harvest time.

For example, you could can your bean harvest or turn them into Dilly Beans.

Tomatoes lend themselves to many recipes: sauces, crush pack with herbs, and more!

See more a gallery of pictures in Full Circle Tomatoes.

Resources

Seed Saver’s Exchange

Seed to Seed, Seed Saving and Growing Techniques for Vegetable Gardeners by Suzanne Ashworth

The Seed Garden, The Art and Practice of Seed Saving, edited by Lee Buttala and Shanyn Siegel

Metal tin or plastic container to store seeds

Photo box card file for seed records

Make a Garden Tool Basket

Potted Lemon Grove, Grow Meyer Lemon Trees from Seeds

Start a cardfile

Gather these supplies:

• 4×6-inch (10×15 cm) photo box or index card file
• Alphabetical tabs
• Pack of 4×6-inch (10×15 cm) index cards

Use one card per type of seeds you save. Record the name of the variety, the scientific name, where and when you obtained seeds, and any other info you deem useful. File cards by vegetable type behind (or in front of) the corresponding tab in your cardfile.

Being able to refer to this info the next season is a gift you give your future self.

Happy gardening,
Michele

The secret is in the bread!

For the BEST toast and sandwiches, you need the BEST bread – and I’ve got the recipe for you!

I’m sharing a re-creation of a memory of a wonderful bread my German grandparents used to bring us when they came to visit. I always looked forward to dropping a slice of this fluffy bread dotted with seeds in the toaster.

You will too. Whether you are craving a simple slice of buttered toast or a favorite sandwich, it all tastes better on your homemade Polka Dot Bread. As a bonus, I am also sharing how to make the BEST veggie sandwich you’ve ever had!

Today I want to share a bread recipe with you that has a story. When I was growing up, my German grandparents John and Emma, always brought food when they came to visit my parents’ small farm in Oregon: home-canned tomatoes, fermented cucumber and watermelon pickles, gallon jars brimming with homemade Cracker Jack, aluminum foil-wrapped boxes of fudge, chocolate chip cookies, and Rice Krispy Treats.

They also brought cured summer sausages wrapped in crisp, white butcher paper and a loaf or two of Polka Dot Bread from their local German butcher shop. It was actually called Crunch Bread due to a generous amount of poppy seeds in the dough, but we kids called it Polka Dot Bread and the recipe I am sharing is a re-creation of that memory. 

About the bread: Crunch Bread was a fluffy white bread with lots of crunchy little poppyseeds. I always looked forward to dropping a slice of this fluffy bread dotted with seeds in the toaster.

It also made amazing sandwiches – and I am not a sandwich person!

I wanted a more nutritious version, so I developed the recipe using one-third whole wheat to two-thirds bread flour using my older Hobart-built 4.5-quart KitchenAid mixer.

It is still light and fluffy with 1/3 to ½ whole grain flour. I’ve added more nuts and seeds to give it even more nutty, toasty flavor and texture. You can use half or more whole grain flour if you like. Spelt and Kamut Khorasan work well. I have not tried einkorn, so if you do, let me know! 

Print the recipe and add it to your bread recipe binder. Remember, you can adapt it to what you have on hand. If you are missing one of the seeds called for, don’t worry about it. Just use extra of one of the others and it will be fine.

Steps to Making Deli-Style Polka Dot Bread

Step 1 Toast seeds and nuts

Measure the seeds and nuts (holding back the flax) into a baking dish and toast in the oven until fragrant.

Step 2 Make the dough

Dissolve the yeast in lukewarm water. Measure liquid ingredients into the bowl and mix on low speed. Add the whole wheat flour and salt, then gradually add the white flour, seeds, and nuts (including flax). Mix to make a thick, sticky dough.

Step 3 Knead

Switch to the dough hook and knead 6-8 minutes.

Step 4 Let rise

Clean the mixing bowl, generously butter it and place dough smooth side up in the bowl. Cover and let rise until doubled, 60-90 minutes

Step 5 Poke test

Press two fingers gently into the dough and quickly let go. If the indentation remains, your dough is ready to shape.

Step 6 Shape loaves

Divide dough in half, flatten each piece into a rectangle, and fold in thirds like a letter. Flatten again into a rectangle, roll up from a short end, and place loaves seam-side down in prepared pans.

Step 7 Second rise

Cover and let rise until loaves curve nicely over sides of pans.

Step 8 Mist and bake

Use the touch test to determine when loaves are ready to bake. Gently touch the risen loaf with one finger and quickly let go. If a slight indentation remains, your loaves are ready to bake. Mist generously with clean water from a spray bottle and bake until the crusts is well-browned, about 25-30 minutes.

Step 9 Cool

Allow loaves to cool completely on a wire rack before slicing. Now you are set for making the yummiest toast and sandwiches!

Unlocking the Secret to the BEST Toast and Sandwiches | Polka Dot Bread

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The BEST toast and sandwiches are made with Polka Dot Bread! A variety of seeds and nuts in a fluffy slice of bread pairs perfectly with butter, jam, or your favorite sandwich fixings. Enjoy!

• Author: Michele Pryse, FNTP
• Prep Time: 20
• Hands-Off Time: 135 min
• Cook Time: 25
• Total Time: 3 hours
• Yield: 2 loaves, 17 slices each
• Category: bread
• Method: mixer
• Cuisine: American

Ingredients

Units USM

4 tablespoons each: poppy seeds, raw sunflower kernels, hulled millet, chopped walnuts, flax seeds

2 cups whole wheat flour (or spelt or Kamut khorasan)

4 cups bread (strong white) or all-purpose (plain) flour

2 teaspoons salt

1 tablespoon yeast

1 large egg

1 cup milk

1 cup lukewarm water

1/4 cup olive oil or liquid fat of your choice

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup molasses

Spray bottle of clean water

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

1. Measure poppy seeds, sunflower seeds, millet, and walnuts (not the flax) into a baking dish and toast in a 350 F (175 Celsius) oven until fragrant, about 10-12 minutes; set aside to cool.

2. Meanwhile, dissolve yeast in lukewarm water. Add egg, milk, and dissolved yeast to the mixer bowl and blend with flat paddle beater. Measure the olive oil in a quarter cup measuring cup and pour it into the mixer bowl, then measure the honey and molasses in the oiled measuring cup, adding them to the bowl. Add the salt. Mix on low speed until smooth. With the  mixer running, add the first 2 cups of flour (whole wheat) and then gradually add 2 cups of white flour and the cooled seeds + the flax. Continue adding flour until the dough starts to clean the sides of the bowl. It will be thick and sticky.

3. Switch to the dough hook, taking a moment to grease the collar of the hook (top and bottom) with soft butter to keep the dough from climbing. Turn the mixer on low and set a timer for 6-8 minutes to knead. You can gradually add small bits of flour as needed to make a smooth, cohesive dough.

4. Touch the dough after kneading. It should feel like the tacky side of a Post-It Note, but the dough should not stick to your fingers. Turn dough out onto a lightly oiled table, rub olive oil on your palms, and give it a few turns by hand, 6-10. Wash your mixer bowl, butter it well, and place the dough in it smooth side up. Cover with a lid, plate, or plastic bag and let rise until doubled, about 60-90 minutes. Meanwhile, generously butter two 9×5-inch (23×13 cm) loaf pans or three 8×4-inch (20×10 cm) loaf pans.

5. Use the poke test to determine if your dough has doubled. Press two fingers gently into the dough and quickly let go. If the indentation remains, your dough is ready to shape. If the holes quickly disappear, cover it up and give it 15 minutes, then test again. If the dough feels flabby and weak, it is over-risen. You can still make bread with it, but remember to give it a shorter rise next time you bake.

6. Turn the risen dough out onto a lightly greased table and gently deflate it with your palms. Flatten the dough into a thick disk. Cut dough in half. You can use a scale to make even-sized loaves. Flatten each piece into a rectangle, then fold in thirds like a letter. Flatten again into a 8×12-inch (20×30 cm) rectangle. Roll up from a short end, placing seam on bottom of the loaf. Tuck in the ends and place shaped dough in the prepared pan. Repeat for second piece of dough.

7. Cover loaves with a clean, lint-free dish towel and let rise until loaves curve over the tops of the pans, about 45 minutes. Preheat oven to 375 F (190 C) with a rack in the center of the oven.

8. Use the touch test to check of loaves are ready to bake. Gently touch the risen loaf with one finger and quickly let go. If a slight indentation remains, your loaves are ready to bake. Mist generously with clean water from a spray bottle and bake until the crusts is well-browned, about 25-30 minutes. Tip each loaf out its pan and look at the bottom, it should be nicely browned and sound hollow when thumbed with your thumb. You can check the temperature for doneness by poking a digital food thermometer into the center of the loaf from the bottom. Polka Dot Bread is done when the interior temperature reads 180 F to 190 F (82-88 C).

9. Cool loaves on wire racks until completely cool before slicing.

 

Notes

• The windowpane test does not work well with Polka Dot bread due to the seeds and nuts.
• To make a veggie sandwich: spread mayo on a slice of bread. Layer on sliced radishes, tomato, lentil sprouts, salad shoots or greens of your choice. Add some Golden Sauerkraut and Italian salad dressing for flavor. Season with black pepper. Add a few slices of your favorite cheese and top with a large chard leaf or a second slice of bread.

Shopping guide

Some links are affiliate links and I earn a small commission when you make a qualifying purchase. This does not change your price. Thank you for supporting my business! You may also find supplies at thrift shops for cheap! If not, take a look below.

Looking for a vintage Hobart KitchenAid like mine? Check local yard sales, thrift stores, Craigslist, Buy Nothing groups, and eBay.

Extra 4.5 quart Kitchenaid mixing bowl

Wheat and other grains for grinding into flour

Grain mill

Flour sack towels (lint-free)

Bread pans

Oxo silicone spatula set (set of 3)

Bread knife

Thermopop 2 thermometer

Free Kombucha workshop

Kombucha Mastery course

Related recipes

Golden Sauerkraut

Homemade Mayo with Mary of Mary’s Nest

Indoor Salad Garden

Chocolate Box Cottage Diary, Volume 3
Week 19: May 13, 2023

Have you ever thought to turn a thunderstorm into a reason for a party?

Baking with rye flour

The adventure continues…

I have been most pleasantly surprised to find that rye flour, freshly ground in my grain mill, stands in admirably for all-purpose flour in so many recipes.

I am still tinkering with proportions of flour to milk in my Dutch Baby oven pancake, but the Belgian waffles and Lemon Chiffon cake are wonderful with straight across swaps. The color is more earthy, but the flavor is mild and delicious in every recipe I’ve tried! And homemade cake is always welcome at a birthday party.

Dandelions and morels

I never outgrew my childish appreciation for dandelions. Seeing them bloom always makes me smile.

How about these pink dandelions? They’re so pretty and fun! You can buy a packet of pink dandelion seeds at Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company.

It’s also morel season. If you had the good fortune of finding some, you might want to weigh them. It’s fun (and shocking!) to see how much they are worth. (Photo credit Megan Burkhart at Market of Choice)

Hard working hutch

In a day when many people are selling off hutches for cheap, I am using mine on a daily basis. The hutch is so much more than a place to store china, it is a functional piece of furniture, serving as a fermentation station, seed processing station, and indoor salad garden.

After greens germinate inside the bottom cabinet, they are moved to a small side table to green up.

Top view of colorful salad greens!

Sauerkraut fermenting within easy reach so lids be “burped” as needed to release carbon dioxide.

Meyer lemon care

If you have ever battled scale insects and lost, you will be happy to know about Organic All-Purpose Disinfectant and Ant Spray.

I battled a scale infestation on one of my Meyer lemon trees last autumn. Unfortunately, it was quite widespread before I noticed that the tree was suffering. Fortunately, I have a fix for it!

Let me share with you my Organic All-Purpose Disinfectant Spray. With proper care it doubles as insect spray.

To treat a potted citrus tree, first position the tree in the shade away from other plants. Make spray as directed in the link above. Spray the tree evenly, paying attention to areas where scale insects are present. Wait a few hours, rinse with clear water from a hose. Wait 7 days and repeat treatment. By then you should see the brown flake-like insects falling off of the limbs and leaves.

If you notice persistent scale insects, you want to prune away the worst branches, then wipe any remaining scale insects off with a cotton pad soaked in rubbing alcohol or witch hazel. Be careful to wash your hands after handling scale insects to avoid spreading them to other plants.

A gift of herbs

A sweet friend gifted me a generous gift card to Strictly Medicinal Seed Company. These little herb babies are special: Goldenseal, Orris root iris, pitcher sage, rehmannia, astragalus, and passionflower.

Jenna’s birthday

My friend Jenna celebrated her birthday this week by inviting her mom and a few friends to come together for tea under her apple tree.

The tree is as tall or taller than her house and the petals were softy falling on us as we drank tea, enjoyed not one but two desserts, and played a beginner game of Catan. Jenna fortunately, is an experienced Catan-player and helped us all play our turns. Meanwhile, half a dozen babies and small children played happily in the yard.

Bookshelf

Vintage book Review: Betty Crocker’s Kitchen Gardens by Mary Mason Campbell, illustrations by Tasha Tudor

New and experienced gardeners are bound to appreciate Betty Crocker’s Kitchen Gardens. The book opens with chapters on basic garden skills including compost, tools, and seed sowing and moves into the simplest of garden plants: culinary herbs. You will learn the best ways to cook with a baker’s dozen and preserve their lovely flavors!

A nice, plump chapter on vegetables will fill you in on all the important details about planting, harvesting, and using favorite veggies.

My favorite chapter is the garden plan chapter. Decide between a container garden, salad garden, merry-go-round garden, a diminutive formal herb garden, and several other detailed garden plans.

A smattering of charming vintage recipes for herb vinegars, sugars, and teas rounds out the book. Tasha Tudor’s charming illustrations are not to be missed! Some in black and white, others in color; all are sure to bring a smile to rest on your lips.

Published in 1971 and 1979, Betty Crocker’s Kitchen Gardens is a keeper. Look for your copy at your local used bookstore, on Etsy or Ebay, or use my link to my favorite online used bookseller.

(If you make a qualifying purchase we can both earn points towards free books! )

Chocolate Box Cottage Diary, Vol 3
Week 18: May 6, 2023

It’s been a while, but Samuel and I did a homestead walkabout this weekend. What is a homestead walkabout, you say? It’s simply walking around our place with open eyes and a notebook. It’s very informal. We look for what’s blooming, appreciate what we have, and try not to be critical. A homestead walkabout helps us see what’s happening at our place on at least a monthly basis.

You can reap the benefits of monthly walkabouts at your place, too. Note what is in bloom, what needs fixing, and what you can do to make your place more…whatever you want it to be, whether that is attracting more butterflies, providing more fresh produce, or more relaxing by creating a sitting space outdoors.

Our place is a little more than 3 acres, so we divided it into zones: lawn areas, pasture and orchard, gardens, hen yard / marsh / ponds area, and driveway and woodshed.

Lawn areas

We noticed dozens of strawberry plants popped up in the lawn. This is a resource we could choose to take advantage of by transplanting them to another area that doesn’t get mowed or we can leave them be.

Pasture and orchard

The pasture is sloped and contains a wide mixture of plants from timothy grass (Phleum pratense) to clover to herbs like Great mullein, mayweed (aka stinking chamomile), chickweed, and nuisance plants like wild blackberry vines, and poison oak. We actually did not find any poison oak, so either the sheep ate it all down or it is very (thankfully) sparse.

The Gravenstein apple is one of 10 apple trees in the pasture and orchard area and there are 4 more along the driveway, bringing the apple tree total to 14! This is 2 more than we thought. Our two favorites are the Gravenstein and a pale yellow that may be a Yellow Transparent. These two are biennial bearing, meaning they bear apples every other year and opposite of each other at that. We have always liked it that way. Oddly, last year’s hard May freeze upset the cycle and now both are in bloom this year, which means next year neither will bear fruit.

Sam stumbled over a metal stake in a low spot in the orchard. It was obscured by Himalayan blackberry vines until he burned them this weekend. He will try to determine if the stake is a marker and if not, remove it for safety.

Gardens

Hen yard / marsh / ponds

Last fall Sam cut brush, mostly blackberry vines, cattails, and willows in a successful effort to evict a pair of bears that were camping in the hen yard. This weekend he burned the heaped up brush and we talked about revisions to the hen yard fencing.

Bubble Tea

Sunny days make me think of bubble tea, a throwback to when our girls were in high school. I cooked small tapioca pearls in water and brewed a pint of Enchanted Forest Chai and refrigerated both. Later I combined the two and added milk plus a touch of brown sugar for a super fun refreshment.

Convenience without the can

Home-cooked beans are so much better!

I soaked 2 pounds black beans, 2 pounds pintos, and 1 1/2 pounds navy beans overnight in salted water. The next day I drained and rinsed them, and cooked them until tender with seasonings.

Part of the seasoned pinto beans were turned into bean dip with my trusty old Vitamix and divided into half pint jars to freeze. (Pureed or mashed beans cannot safely be canned at home.) The remaining pintos, along with black beans and navy beans, were divided into freezer Ziploc bags in amounts that match our favorite recipes.

Bean packets are frozen flat on cookie sheets. Once solid, they are “filed” in a plastic shoebox and returned to the freezer where they are easy to locate. Flat packets of beans are a wonderful kitchen convenience! To thaw place packet on the kitchen counter for about an hour or in a bowl of warm water for 15 minutes, until the beans break apart. Then heat them in a saucepan.

Precooked beans are perfect for Sweet Potato Nachos, chili, Confetti Bowl, or as a side dish.

Restarting kombucha

I am a fair weather kombucha drinker – meaning my kombucha crock sits neglected in the corner next to the Tea Station from about November to April or May.

Now that sunny weather has returned, it’s time to brew kombucha. I pulled the fabric cap off to inspect the SCOBY. It looked surprisingly healthy, so I cleaned the crock out, brewed a fresh batch of sweet tea, and added it to the crock with a cup of liquid from the previous batch and the SCOBY. The house is still cool and kombucha likes it warm, so I checked the temp with my favorite thermometer and added a heating pad to make it cozy.

I am anticipating all kinds of fruity and herby fizzy drinks! Tell me, do you brew kombucha? I know it’s not everyone’s “cup of tea,” but I love it.

Thank you for visiting Chocolate Box Cottage!
Love,
Michele and Samuel

Note: This post contains links to products and vendors I use and appreciate for their quality and usefulness. Some are affiliate, some are not. I may earn a commission from qualifying purchases when you use the links I provide; this does not change your price. Thank you!

Chocolate Box Cottage Diary, Volume 3
Week 17: April 29, 2023

A sunny Saturday was perfect for spring cleaning the vintage A-frame greenhouse at Chocolate Box Cottage. I swiped down a winter’s worth of spiderwebs and breathed in the scent of lemon blossoms. Learn to grow Meyer Lemon trees from seeds!

The geraniums needed to be groomed. I plucked all the yellowed leaves from the porch pots and hanging baskets. I have several scented geraniums in rose and citrus flavors and I have to say they are heavenly! If you can find one at a nursery or take a cutting from a friend’s plant, do. They’re wonderful.

I made sure all the plants were watered and refilled my watering cans, snacked on the last Clementine orange fresh from the tree, reordered my garden supplies on the shelves, and swept the floor. I am looking forward to moving the potted plants outdoors soon.

Once all was in order, I stepped back and a lovely feeling of satisfaction washed over me. Hundreds of small seedlings are popping up in trays on an improvised table! Morning glories, sweet peas, herbs, flowers, peppers, melons, cucumbers, summer and winter squash. Meanwhile, the tomato and tomatillo seedlings have already been up-potted to 4-inch pots.

Later the same week…

VINTAGE GREENHOUSE ~ Up and Growing Edition!

At last it is warm enough to leave the door open on the greenhouse during the day. Seeds are popping left and right and there are some surprises! Follow along in the photos as I count tiny green joys.

And if you’re curious about the buckets of murky water sitting in front of the greenhouse, they are there because our irrigation is turned off this week for maintenance and animals and plants are both hand-watered all week. Read about our vintage greenhouse repairs.

Of the dozen or so varieties of tomatoes we grow, a mere few are still available commercially through seed companies. Many of them are vintage varieties, heirlooms we have been growing for 10-20+ years, saving seeds each year for replanting the next. Read Full Circle Tomatoes and Finally Tomatoes to learn more.

Moonflowers unfurl their first seedling leaves, reminding me of the moths and butterflies who will frequent them when their flowers open at night. Read Suppers in the Garden teepee to see both Moonflowers and exceedingly rare Mayo Bule gourds cover our teepee.

A variety of medicinal herbs and cottage flowers will bring beauty and healing to our homestead.

Better-than-expected germination of 2 pepper varieties makes me smile! Blushing Beauty is an All America Selections (AAS) winner from 2000. It was a F1 hybrid created by crossing two peppers and saving first generation seed. Blushing Beauty produces gorgeous ivory bells that ripen through shades of pink on the way to red and is edible (and delicious) at every stage, though it is sweetest in the pink to red stages. Through years of careful selection and seed saving, I have developed an open pollinated variety.

Aloha Sunrise has a story too! Last summer I found spectacularly striped red/orange bell peppers in the produce section of my Fred Meyer (Kroger) store. Tiny stickers with the word “Aloha” gave me the idea for the name. I bought several peppers and saved the seeds (they were sweet and tasty!) This year I planted seeds saved from those peppers last year. It will likely take years of selection similar to what Blushing Beauty did before I have a stable variety that produces uniform and true-to-type fruit, but I will enjoy the journey.

While it feels like spring is way behind, in truth it is right on time.

New video

A second video on growing an indoor salad garden, by popular request!

In Part 2 of Indoor Salad Garden, I introduce 6 new colorful greens to add more flavor, texture and color to your salad bowl. Even if you don’t have a garden space, you can grow a wide variety of lush, edible greens in your own Indoor Salad Garden. You DON’T need so invest in special shelves, trays, racks, fertilizer, or lighting. You can use simple, everyday items you probably already have around the house to grow a never-ending supply of greens. Read the post and get the printable Supply List and 7-Step Guide.

Bookshelf

Knead Peace, edited by Andrew Green

Let me start by acknowledging the obvious. The war in Ukraine is being used like a political football. People in the US and probably other places are weary of hearing about it.

Please don’t let deter you from buying, enjoying, and baking with this book!

You will notice is is “edited” rather than authored by Andrew Green. Green was inspired by the resilient, determined spirit of Anna Makievska and The Bake House in Kyiv, who have continued to bake and give bread throughout the war.

Makievska spent 3 years and 1.5 million USD building the bakery of her dreams, which opened in October 2021 in the Podil district of Kyiv. Four months later Kyiv was a war zone. She had to pack up the mixers, bowls, and bannetons (bread proofing baskets) and move back to the basement of the old bakery.

It is hard to find ingredients and at times it is unsafe for the bakers to come to work. Distributing the bread is a logistical quagmire.

Green contacted some of the most esteemed bakers and bakeries around the world and asked them to contribute recipes; recipes that work in home kitchens. The collaboration resulted in a one-of-a-kind collection of recipes – many made with whole grain flour!

I just received my pre-ordered copy of Knead Peace. Recipes that immediately caught my eye include:

• 100% Rye Sourdough
• Lazy Wholemeal Loaf
• Townmill Tin Loaf
• Olive Oil Buns
• Cardamom Buns
• Currant Teacakes
• Coffee, Cardamom, and Walnut Cake
• Anzac Biscuits
• Wholewheat Rhubarb Galette

As I have mentioned before, my Great Grandparents emigrated from Bessarabia to the US. If not for that, my family would be there in that war-torn region. So as I bake my Grandma’s recipes as well as recipes from Knead Peace, I will think of and pray for the people in Ukraine as well as Russia who are experiencing such devastation, not by their choice.

Homesteader’s uniform

Just for fun…

I am modeling my “classic homesteader ensemble” for you!

A skirt that moves with me, a pretty top just because, and an apron (one of many) with pockets to hold treasures like seeds, pretty rocks, and chocolate chips! On my feet are Muck boots, none too clean, but equal to the mud and other “terrain” I encounter in my day. LOL!

My makeup, applied early in the morning, has long since worn off but the most important thing I am wearing is a…smile! I am wearing a smile because I have joy in my heart.

I am thankful for my husband who brought home a load of firewood this morning, for my good health (no migraines in 2 months and fibromyalgia pain/brain fog are less pronounced), for my wonderfully imperfect family, for the hope of heaven through Jesus, and last but not least – no snow!

Wishing you a wonderful day, dear friend. And if it isn’t a wonderful day (because not all of them are) I wish you comfort from our Heavenly Father.

Love, Michele

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. 1 Corinthians 1:3,4