Chia bread

My friend Markus from grad school had a birthday party for his two-year-old son Lukas yesterday. It was a potluck brunch at Green Lake playground, so I decided to bake some bread. I made a white sourdough loaf, which always turns out great, and an experimental whole wheat loaf with chia seeds. I've made 100% whole wheat loaves before (not counting the sourdough starter, which was made from white flour), but the chia seeds are totally new.

I thought I would follow the usual seeds and nuts instructions, soaking them before adding them to the dough, not realizing that adding water to chia would result in a gelatinous semi-solid. But I went ahead and incorporated it into the dough anyway, and it turned out really nice. Whole wheat breads often end up drier, but not this time. I expected the white bread to be more popular at brunch, but in fact it was the whole wheat chia that was almost gone when we left. Both breads were a big hit.