We have been asked many times to publish a Playa Viva cookbook. Well, we heard you and decided to make this happen and recruited two guests at Playa Viva who are taking on this project. Nathan and Amanda did such a great job with Playa Viva mole recipe that we invited them to take on publish a more complete list of Playa Viva recipes. If you have any favorite dishes from your stay at Playa Viva that are a “must include” in the book, please let us know. Below is one of my favorites, our Playa Viva Trail Mix bread inspired by Sadie Kaufman.

Ingredients:

1 cup of all purpose flour

2 cups of whole wheat flour (these can be switched to be 2 of white and 1 of whole wheat)

¼ teaspoon of organic active dry yeast

½ teaspoon of Sal Viva – or other kosher/sea salt

2 cups of water, use almost all the water until the mix is like moist “play dough.”

Then mix in the “trail mix ingredients”

This is the base mix to which any of the following ingredients can be added

½ cup of dried cranberries

½ cup of walnuts

½ pumpkin seeds

½ cup of sunflower seeds

(or be creative and add your own items including pistachios, almonds, even chocolate chips, etc.).

Mix ingredients into a ball and then set aside in the bowl covered with a cloth in a breeze free area for at least 12 hours.

NOTE: Use either glass or ceramic bowl and wooden spoon; do NOT use metal bowl or spoon.

Pre-heat the oven at 450 degrees. Place the Dutch oven with cover (Le Creuset Cast Iron Cookware is ideal) in the oven to pre-heat as well.

Take your bowl out and place the ball of mix on the counter sprinkled with a little flour. Give the ball two or four more folds.

Once pre-heated, take off the top of the Dutch oven, sprinkle some additional flour on the base of the Dutch oven so the cranberries don’t stick to the bottom and make it difficult to remove the bread once done.

Place the ball in the middle of the Dutch oven, cover and cook for 25 minutes with the top on the dutch oven (this is to retain the moisture in the bread).  Then remove the top and cook for another 30 minutes without the top (this gives the bread a crunchy top). You can play with the times for more or less covered or uncovered to give you more moisture or crispier top on your bread.

Remove from oven and let sit. Remove from Dutch oven once it cools. Slice or tear off a piece and ENJOY!