This rather imposing loaf is an Ethopian Sabbath bread. It's 100% white whole wheat. It has a wonderful fragrance which comes from fenugreek seeds.

The bread is yeasted and ferments in about 90 minutes.

The proofing takes another 90 minutes. It spreads as much, if not more, than rises.

Yes, we have no bananas. But we do have banana leaves, which entomb the proofed bread.

40 minutes, and 425º later, we have bread.

No a lot of oven spring. I wonder if the foliage effected it.

You may not be able to see them, but the toasted fenugreek seeds are coarsely ground and appear throughout the crumb.

The fenugreek has an almost maple aroma and flavor. Rumor has it they use it to flavor imitation maple syrup. THe crumb is pretty tight.

This is take 2. A little more water, to try and open up the crumb, a lot less banana leaves, to try and help with browning and oven spring.

I was also a little less aggressive when I flattened the dough. This one is taller than the first.

It still spread a bunch, but not as much.

I did get a little better oven spring and a lot more browning.

The crumb opened up some as well.

The flavor combo of the whole white wheat and fenugreek is amazing!