Russian Blue Sage Bread with Turmeric, Apricots, and Walnuts: The Nature of Celebrations

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With the arrival of late summer comes Lammas, an ancient cross-quarter holiday halfway between the Summer Solstice and the Fall Equinox. For many, it signifies the start of harvest season. Many cultures and religions have specific rituals and celebrations around this day, and there can be pressure amongst both the religious and secular to take part in some kind of celebration. 

In fact, I think with holidays in general there can be an intense pressure to celebrate that very moment, and sometimes we feel guilty if we haven’t planned a special festivity or aren’t feeling like a gathering. The beautiful thing about these celebrations rooted in seasonality is that seasons don’t change in the course of a day. We notice gradual shifts and the feeling of late summer is something you just feel in your bones as it arrives. 

In her book For Small Creatures Such as We, Sasha Sagan describes beautifully the nature of holidays as cultural practices rooted in the wonders of science, an ethos passed down to her from her parents and especially her father, Carl Sagan:

“Beneath the specifics of all our beliefs, sacred texts, origin stories, and dogmas, we humans have been celebrating the same two things since the dawn of time: astronomy and biology. The changing of the seasons, the long summer days, the harvest, the endless winter nights, and the blossoming spring are all by-products of how the Earth orbits the sun. The phases of the moon, which have dictated the timing of rituals since the dawn of civilization, are the result of how the moon orbits us. Birth, puberty, reproduction, and death are the biological processes of being human. Throughout the history of our species, these have been the miracles, for lack of a better word, that have given us meaning. They are the real, tangible events upon which countless celebrations have been built, mirroring one another even among societies who had no contact.”

Even the holidays we celebrate that hold a specific day on our modern calendar year were somehow originally rooted in the cosmos. What does a date mean in the grand view of an annual passage of time? Does the day before Lammas feel drastically different from the day after? Of course not! So why should we put undue pressure on ourselves to celebrate within such a limited timeframe? 

As someone whose health oscillates up and down particularly drastically due to my genetic condition, I feel sometimes that I am a barometer for the human condition. Not every day feels like a celebration day, even for those with more consistent health. We don’t always have the energy to pour into a celebration when the calendar dictates that we should. We all experience ebbs and flows, and life becomes so much easier the less we try (or are forced) to fight them. 

If, for whatever reason, you don’t feel like celebrating today, don’t celebrate. The wonders of harvest season and late summer won’t evaporate immediately. Taking a day of rest or reflection is not “missing out.” (And for many, marking these astrologically symbolic days looks a lot more like a day of reflection than a big party anyways.) If you’re inspired to host a big party or design a special ritual but won’t quite be ready on time, host it late! If you want to celebrate but your schedule is too busy the day of, celebrate early! If you feel like a certain natural marker (like the blooming of goldenrod) is more of an indication of late summer than an astrological date, let the growing patterns of that plant dictate your celebration schedule. Let go of the fear of doing it “wrong,” and embrace the freedom of marking the passage of time in whatever way feels most accessible, accurate, and appropriate to you. 

Russian Blue Sage Bread with Turmeric, Apricots, and Walnuts: 

The word “Lammas” likely comes from “loaf-mas,” a cultural artifact of the tradition of baking a loaf of bread out of the first harvest of grain to bless the harvest season. I’ve adapted this tradition slightly; rather than bake a wheat bread, I make mine gluten-free and flavor it with the bounties of the landscape I love so much. Celebrating both agricultural bounty and foraged bounty feels most appropriate to me. 

Russian Blue Sage is a popular landscaping plant with stunning purple spires that look similar to lavender, and delicate small leaves that look a bit like mugwort. To me, it smells a lot like garden sage, but with less of a minty note and a rich undertone that, weirdly enough, reminds me a bit of lamb. As soon as I nibbled it, I started picturing apricots, walnuts, and turmeric. The sage is fairly bitter, so only a little is used in the bread itself, but the flavor comes through nicely and balances the fruity apricots really well. This artisan bread has a nice chewy crust and a dense but pleasant crumb. It’s fantastic on its own, but also makes a wonderful sandwich bread! 

Ingredients: 

1 c  white rice flour

1 ½ c.  sorghum flour

1 ¼ c. oat flour

1 c tapioca starch 

2 tsp. Turmeric

2 Tbs. granulated yeast

1 Tbs. + 1 tsp. Xantham gum 

2 Tbs. sugar

2 tsp. Sea salt

1 ½ - 2 c. water

2 eggs

½ tsp. Finely chopped russian blue sage

½ tsp. Finely chopped thyme 

1 c. chopped dried apricots

1 c. toasted walnuts, chopped 

Extra white rice flour, for dusting

Extra Russian blue sage

Directions: 

1. Stir together the dry ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add two cups of lukewarm water, and the eggs. Beat well. The dough should be soft and sticky; add another half cup of water if needed. Beat with the dough hook for 5 minutes on high speed. Add the herbs, apricots, and walnuts and mix in evenly

2. Cover the bowl and leave to rise at room temperature for an hour.

3. You can now shape the bread, or keep it in an airtight container in the fridge for a couple of days to develop more depth of flavor. 

4. To shape the bread, gently turn it out onto a piece of parchment paper. Dampen your hands with water and use them to gently shape the loaf- try not to press too much or you’ll knock out those precious air bubbles. 

5. Lightly grease some of the Russian Blue Sage leaves and place them, greased side down, all over the top of the bread. Dust it liberally with white rice flour, then carefully remove the leaves which have acted as stencils. Cut a few slashes in the top to allow the bread to rise evenly as it bakes.

6. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rest at room temperature for an hour (if shaped immediately) or an hour and a half (if formed from refrigerated dough.) 

7. Meanwhile, preheat a baking stone in your oven at 475F for 20-30 minutes. Also place a small pan somewhere that won’t interfere with the bread baking. 

8. Carefully place the loaf, parchment paper and all, onto the baking stone. Add a cup of hot water to the pan, then close the oven door.  Bake for 45-50 minutes, or until the bread is firm and the bottom is hollow-sounding. 

9. Remove the bread from the oven and place on a cooling rack to cool completely before slicing it. Serve with sweet or savory accompaniments, on a nest of sage!

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