Step 1

Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F)

Step 2

Drain buckwheat and rinse thoroughly

Step 3

Add all ingredients except the sunflower and pumpkin seeds to a food processor and blend until smooth. If you don't have a good quality food processor I highly recommend getting one. I use a Magimix, which has been working perfectly for 5 years (full disclosure, I don't get any money from this blog, but I do get comissions from the above Magimix link).

Step 4

Stir through sunflower seeds

Step 5

Grease a medium sized loaf tin and pour in the buckwheat batter. Smooth with the back of a spoon and press pepitas into the dough (if using)

Step 6

Bake for 1 hour until just brown on top then remove from the oven, take the bread out of the tin, and return to the oven directly on the rack for another 30 min (this will allow the bread to develop a deliciously crunchy crust). The bread is done when it is golden and sounds hollow when tapped

Step 7

Place bread on a cooling rack and allow to cool completely before slicing (difficult but important as this prevents the loaf from sinking). Enjoy fresh or toasted for up to 5 days. Store any slices you will not eat in this time in the freezer as they will go stale quickly with no preservatives. Enjoy your foolproof crusty bread!