Cattail Bread
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cups cattail flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1 cup boiling water
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 package active yeast
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1/4 cup lukewarm water
- 2 cups all purpose flour
Scrape and clean several cattail roots. Place them on a cookie sheet and put in the oven under low heat. Let stand overnight to dry. Skin the roots and remove the fibers. Using a blender, pulverize the roots until fine. Let stand for a day in a dry place, such as a cold oven.
In a large mixing bowl sprinkle the yeast and sugar over the lukewarm water. Let stand for 5 minutes, then stir to dissolve yeast completely. Place the bowl in an oven until the yeast has doubled its volume.
Mix the yeast into the dough, stirring constantly, and add the rest of the cattail flour and 1 cup of all purpose flour. Make a ball of the dough, place in a bowl, cover with a towel, and put back in the oven until it doubles its volume again.
Grease the bottom and sides of a 9-inch pie plate with the remaining butter. Turning the dough out on a lightly floured surface and punch down. Knead the dough for about 5 minutes, adding one cup of flour to make it stiff. Shape into a round flat cake and place it in the greased pan. Cover with a towel and set aside in a warm place for about 30 minutes until it has doubled its volume once more.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. bake the bread in the middle of the oven for 45 minutes or until the top is golden. Transfer to a rack to cool.
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