Hobbit Alert! Need Lembas Bread ideas
My 15 yo daughter has been very taken with the recent "The Hobbit" movie. She's also always on the run with afterschool activities, always looking for "grab and go" foods while trying to maintain a vegetarian diet. So last night she turns to me and says,
"I know what I need: Lembas Bread. 'One small bite is enough to fill a grown man.'"
So she gives me the backstory--it's a creation of Tolkien's, and he outlines critera for this bread, made by the Elves:
- They contain honey
- they are cream-colored on the inside with a light brown outer crust
- they are thin and regular-shaped (most images show a 2 to 3 in. square scored with an X).
- they are hearty and healthy. One cake is supposedly enough to sustain a man for a full day's march.
- They contain the "fruit of the Mallorn Tree" - a fictional plant from Middle Earth, but the "fruit" is described as a nut with a silver shale.
- they have good keeping qualities, as they are intended to use on journeys. A palatable version of hardtack!
I know my kid is not the only Tolkien geek out there, but nearly all of the recipes out there use white flour...and as all you Artisan Bakers know, if you want a hearty and healthy bread with "stick to the ribs" quality, it should have whole grains.
I'm imagining a cracker-type biscuit--looking like a square water cracker. I'd like to include ground almonds (there's your Mallorn fruit!) and possibly barley flour (barley being a staple in Middle Earth) in addition to white flours. Honey as the sweetener. And the ability to roll-and-cut the dough (some folks bake theirs in a pizzelle maker, which I have...they are just too fragile and will crumble).
So before you go out there and surf the web for me (did that)...I'd really like a hearty cracker recipe with some of the above-mentioned ingredients in it.
Thoughts? Suggestions? And thanks in advance.