Barley bread with sunflower seeds

In my family bread has always been well-appreciated. One of my great-grandfathers was a baker, he made bread to make a living. Nowadays, I my family still remembers the wonderful taste of the bread he prepared. My mother, possibly because she grew up in this environment, prepares bread every day: round or flat, with olives and dried tomatoes or with a variety seeds, with a mix of some of the flours she has in her collection. Today, inspired by the gorgeous yellow of the sunflowers, we prepared barley bread with sunflower seeds.

“No one is greater than bread” („Никой не е по-голям от хляба“) as one Bulgarian saying goes because bread has been an integral part of all traditional meals for centuries. During festivities it becomes sacred and its decoration is an art in itself. Precisely bread and salt are used to offer hospitality, while the sweet bread (with honey) is present in all rituals that symbolise social inclusion: when a child is born, when the bride is welcomed into the house of the groom’s family, when children start school for the first time.

“People see bread as something sacred, bread is never left upside-down on the table, important guests are invited to bread and salt, no one can ever step over bread, and during Christian celebrations, there is always bread and wine.”
quote from the narrative “Bread”, written by Yordan Radichkov

“We prepare two ovens of bread every day, on Saturday three. This never ends, people are always hungry, but that’s what God invented – that humans eat three times a day. Three times, and every time there must be bread on the table.”
quote from the narrative “Bread”, written by Yordan Radichkov

There is something incredibly comforting in the smell of freshly-made bread, in its hard and crunchy crust and its soft and fluffy crumb. I invite you to a slice of barley bread with sunflower seeds, generously coated with a tomato and pepper spread. If you can’t stop by, then get to work and prepare your own loaf!