Sometimes living in a strange country, and indeed climate can confront you with a whole new set of problems.
I remember the first time the family went to the Cote d’Azur we were staying in a cabin in a campsite .
Me, in the role of Facitious Pater Familias said to my small children in the morning “We are very far south now and so you must remember to shake your shoes out every morning before you put them on for fear of scorpions”
I suited my actions to my words, shook out my shoe and, to my horror and shock, out fell a scorpion.
The unfortunate creature got hammered to a pulp with the heel of the same shoe.

Todays close encounter of the Mediterranean kind was a little less scarey.

I set out to make my seedy bread only to discover that my seeds, pumpkin, sunflower etc were infested with little drab brown moths and small maggot like caterpillers.
They also had managed to invade some of the flours and totally colonise some muesli.
A lot of stuff had to be thrown in the bin.
The internet informed me that I had been invaded by:

Mediterranean Flour Moths (Ephestia kuehniella or Anagasta
kuehniella),
And I just had to fling all the invaders out, along with their colonies.
(And keep my grains and flour in totally sealed containers in the future.)

All well and good but what the hell was I going to put into my seedy bread ?

I had some Poppy seeds which I was conserving for Bibliocooks Lemon and Poppyseed Loaf and some dried figs with which I was going to make Figues Au Whiskey, that Waterford /Provencal creation mentioned a few blogs back.

Needs must when the devil drives.

I present to you

Figgy Bread.

for 2 x 1kg Loaves

500g Strong White Flour
500g Strong Wholewheat Flour
2 x 7g. packets of Dried Yeast
1 Teaspoon Salt
.70 litres Warm Water
8/10 Dried Figs
2 Tablespoons Poppy Seeds
6 Tablespoons Olive Oil

First take a couple of tablespoons of the measured white flour and put this with the figs into a food processor and whizz until they are chopped small (or do this by hand)
Put the flour,yeast,figs and poppy seeds and salt in a large bowl.
Add in the olive oil.
Add the warm water to the bowl and blend all the ingredients together.
Knead the mixture in the bowl until the bowl comes fairly clean from the sides then put it out on a lightly floured counter.
Now you want to knead it for at least 5mts.
Oil your tins well and, if they are not well seasoned (or Non-stick) it is a good idea to line the bottom with some buttered tinfoil or greaseproof paper.
Divide the dough between the two tins
Put these in a warm place for at least an hour (if not warm enough they can take a lot longer,I sometimes light the oven to its lowest and put them in the grill space over the oven) They should rise well over the tops of the tins .
Pre Heat the oven to Gas 7, 220C, 425F.
Cook the loaves at this temperature for 30 mts.
Shake them out of their tins and put them back for another 10mts to crisp the base and sides. Let them cool before eating or freezing.

And the consensus ?

Well I was very taken, nice interesting sweetness from the figs, good little crunch from the poppy seeds and from the fig seeds.
I ate some with some Blue Cheese, and then some more with a little Goat and then had to sit on my hands for a while (for fear I would scoff the whole lot).

I’ll make it again, even without Ephestia Kuehniella attacks.