Sesame Semolina Bread and Chickpea Soup

Yesterday a friend invited me to her place to taste a couple of bread recipes she was baking. I was especially looking forward to this because not only do I love fresh bread (who doesn't), but my oven is broken, and I've been baking deprived for a while. She made an excellent three seed bread, but the very best one, in my opinion, was her sesame semolina bread. She sent me home with a loaf. My daughter, Andrea, and I ate a good part of it that afternoon and when Andrea went home she took the rest. I'm sure it was gone before she went to bed. The recipe uses three different types of flour, one of which, the durum, had to be mail ordered from King Arthur Flour in Vermont. I didn't get the recipe, but decided that as soon as I get a new oven I will. If any of you want the recipe, I'll get it sooner and post it. The three types of flour are shown below.


It seem unfair to have a food post without a recipe so I'll also post the soup recipe that I made yesterday for a different friend who came by for lunch.
It's a chick pea carrot soup with tahini in it. It's a thick hearty soup and is rather easy to make. It's one of those soups that just doesn't look good in pictures though. I also just realized that the tahini in this recipe and the sesame seeds actually give this post a sesame theme. Funny how that happens. My friend is a vegetarian, so I substituted vegetable stock for the chicken stock and it still came out just as good. I usually make my own chicken stock, but when I don't, I use Imagine Organic Free Range Chicken Broth or their Vegetable Broth. Next to homemade, it's my favorite stock.
Chickpea Soup with Carrots and Tahini
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 lb. carrots, chopped
1 onion chopped fine
3 cloves garlic, chopped very fine or put through a press
1/2 cup tahini (this is sesame seed puree)
2 tablespoons lemon juice
3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
1/2 teaspoon tumeric
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
salt (only if needed)
4 cups chicken stock

In a pan large enough to hold everything, add the oil and saute the onions, carrots and garlic until the onions are golden and the carrots have softened.

Put the chickpeas, tahini, lemon, juice and a cup or so of the broth in a blender and pulse it on and off a few times. You want to grind up the chickpeas, but not too smoothly. Add what's in the blender and all of the remaining ingredients to the pan. Cook for a few more minutes until the carrots are cooked through. Like some soups, this one seems better the next day.