This loaf recipe is akin to one of my favorite drinks, a black and tan, which, with the use of sesame seeds, black sesame seeds, and poppyseed, isn’t a stretch. We could even say, black, tan, and grey all over; the black sesame seeds caused the loaf to take on a grey hue, at first, after adding the seed soaker to the dough.

We loved this loaf, especially since Nick and I are head-over-heels for sesame. We’ll forever be trying to recreate the most tender and exquisite sesame baguette we had in Paris last summer; fresh from the bakery early one morning, and still warm, it was sheer heaven.

Baking these loaves was also another example of: sometimes, everything that can go wrong, will. It’s good to have flops once in a while, and that’s ok. Imperfect bread builds character.

In my excitement to get the bread in the oven, I forgot two key things: one, to slash my loaves, and, two, to oil my loaf pan. Not slashing the bread isn’t the end of the world — it will simply rupture naturally at points, which doesn’t create a uniform look to the bread design. What I should have done was just let them go on baking and use it as a ‘note-to-self’ for the next batch, but I insisted that they must be slashed (!) being the stubborn person that I am. When we lifted the dutch oven off of the hearth loaf to slash it, the dough oozed a bit so we couldn’t get the lid back on properly. See that smashed bit at the edge of the loaf now? Yep, that’s the work of this lady.

Pancake hearth loaf; improper slashing

As for the loaf we baked in the loaf pan, man alive, it took days to soak and get that thing clean. Oiling your loaf pan = necessary. Other regrettable baking tales welcomed in the comments!