Baking bread with dock seeds

I am always looking for ways to save money or to visit the supermarket less.  During the pandemic I ran out of wholemeal bread flour and so I foraged some dock seeds and used that to replace some of the flour.  This is a good tip to know if flour supplies are reduced, as keeps being predicted.  Dock grows every where and is a free resource.

This is the time of year to be collecting the seeds when they are dry on the stems.  I just run my hand up them and drop them straight into a bag when I am collecting them.  They come off really easily.  I then grind them with a food processor or a coffee grinder.  You could grind them with a pestle and mortar if you do not have the gadgets.   They taste better if you toast the seeds in a dry pan or on a baking tray in the oven, but you do not  have to.  Just keep moving the seeds so that they do not burn. This time I only swopped a 10th of the flour when I baked, but I have added more in the past when I ground it finer, probably about a 6th of the weight of wheat flour.  I forgot to run it through the sieve to get the bigger seeds out.  It gives the bread a nutty flavour and works well. Mr S was reticent about trying it the first time I used it in case it was poisonous, but he is still alive today a couple of years later, had no adverse effects, and now gives it the thumbs up.

This flour is heavier than store bought  flour which is why I tend to not use it as the only flour in bread.  It wouldn’t work with cakes, but I have made flat breads, crackers, using just this flower, and have used it half and half in dumplings. I am putting a link here to the easy bread recipe that I use. It needs only one prove.