Psomi - My Big Fat Greek Bread

Lately I have been reading a lot about the latest diet craze - Mediterranean food. I have to tell you, it seems like a no-brainer to me. I love olive oil, and red wine. I eat little meat, and almost no red meat at all. I eat fish a couple times a week. Lots of fresh veggies, and fruit all the time. So when I found this bread, Psomi bread (pronounced 'sew me') from Greece I was thrilled. After looking over the recipe, I realized, it is actually quite similar to the American Anadama bread, but with some important differences. For instance, this bread does not use molasses, and so stays whitish rather than brown. Actually, light brown, like a 'harvest wheat', as Frasier used to say. And it uses toasted sesame seeds instead of the cornmeal found in Anadama. What it is, is delicious, with a soft but chewy crust and a close, tight crumb. It makes great sandwiches, and also, just in case you were curious, the toast is superb.

Here's What You'll Need: (for 2 loaves)
(for the sponge)
1/2 cup warm water
1Tbs instant yeast
1 1/2 cups buttermilk (or sour milk), at room temperature
3 cups whole wheat flour

(for the dough)
4 Tbs honey
2 Tbs butter (or margarine)
2 to 3 cups AP flour
2 tsp salt
1/2 cup toasted sesame seeds

flour for dusting
oil for greasing the bowl

Here's What You'll Need to Do:

1. To make the sponge: Mix the warm water and the yeast to dissolve. Then mix in the buttermilk and the whole wheat flour to form a shaggy dough. Cover and set aside until double in volume (about 45 minutes).

add to the sponge, then mix...

2. Add the honey, salt, butter, sesame seeds and 2 cups of the flour and mix to form a dough that cleans the bowl. Remove the dough to a floured surface and continue kneading until the dough is smooth and elastic (about 10 minutes) adding small amounts of dough as needed.

3. Place the dough in an oiled bowl, turn to coat, then cover to rise until doubled in volume (about 2 hours).

4. Remove the dough, cut in two, and shape either into a boule, or as pan loaves. If using loaf pans, oil them generously. Cover and let rise until doubled.

5. Preheat the oven to 375F (190C). Just before baking. slash the loaves with 3 horizontal slashes. Bake with steam for about 35-40 minutes or until they sound hollow when 'thumped' on the bottom.

6. Cool on a rack.

Nostalgia Time - Rye Rolls

What a week (a month really) it's been. Starting from mid-December right up until last Thursday, my wife and I have been working almost non-stop setting up and making all kinds of last minute arrangements for my daughter's wedding! Now that it's over, I'm sitting here, a few days after, in a state of shock, not really comprehending that it's over and the guests have gone home. That the party's over. That it's time to get back to work. So pardon me, please, if I have not been posting as much as usual. Truth be told, I have also not been baking as much as usual! But, like I said, it's time to buckle down, and get back to work.

Arranging a wedding made me very nostalgic. Of course, I think of my daughter as a little girl. But it also makes me think about my hometown when I was a little boy. A small one industry town in northeastern Canada. Literally in the middle of nowhere and filled with immigrants from all over Europe. Poles, Irish, Ukranians, Jews and, of course, many, many Scots.

Food from northern Europe is simple fare but no matter where you are from, there are certain things in common. For instance: since it is so cold there and winters are long, a lot of foods are based around root vegetables easily stored for the winter. Also, lots of animal fat (chicken, goose, pig). And preserved foods like pickles of all kinds, hard cheeses, and smoked and pickled meats, fish  and cheese. Bread is very heavy and hearty using whole grains and especially the heavy, dark flour from rye.

In keeping with my current nostalgia, I am posting a recipe for rolls, for any time of day, using rye flour. They are the kind of rolls I used to eat as a child, but lighter. The rye flavor is unmistakeable, and the texture, soft and just a little chewy, makes them perfect for anything from a nice sharp cheddar to a good pastrami with mustard. Enjoy them while reminiscing.

Here's What You'll Need:
1 cup warm water
2 1/4 tsp. dry yeast
1 Tbs. vegetable oil
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 Tbs. sugar
1 cup rye flour
about 2 cups AP flour
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 Tbs. caraway seed (optional)

Here's What You'll Need To Do:

1. Add all the ingredients, except the salt, and mix to form a shaggy dough. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes, then sprinkle the salt over and mix it in.

2. Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for about 10 minutes until smooth and just barely sticky.

3. Form into a ball, them place the dough into a lightly oiled bowl, turn to coat, then cover and let it rise until doubled, about 2 hours.

4. Shape the dough into 2 equal boules or about 12 rolls. (I made rolls.) Place the shaped dough on a parchment-lined baking sheet, covered, and let it rest/rise a second time, about 45 minutes.

5. Just before baking, slash the rolls/boules with a sharp serrated knife or a razor blade.

6. About 20 minutes before baking time, preheat the oven to 400F (200C). Bake with steam (a small metal tray filled with boiling water on the bottom of the oven does the trick), for about 17-20 minutes (for rolls) or about 30-35 minutes (for loaves), until the crust is fairly hard and the bottoms are well browned. Cool on a rack.

Enjoy!

Artisan Bread (in only 48 hours!) - Sun-Dried Tomato Boule*

My kids sometimes tease me and say that actually I'm Amish. I'm not, but they sometimes think I am because I have this tendency to try and make everything by myself, from scratch. I have made homemade peanut butter which was great and really not so difficult. I'm just not sure it's worth the effort when you can get good peanut butter without the preservatives, emulsifiers and all the rest for only slightly more than it costs me to make, and without the fuss. I have made jams, and jellies and, yes, even some soft cheeses. My latest foray into that department was paneer, the soft, white Indian cheese that goes so great with curried spinach, and, of course, chapattis.

This bread is no different. It starts with a poolish of flour, water and only a small pinch of yeast. After 48 hours at room temperature, when it is good and strong, you build the rest. The 'Amish' part in this bread comes from the homemade sun-dried tomatoes, made actually in the oven and stored in olive oil. The result is an artisan loaf, with a thick chewy crust and a close, dense crumb. The flavor has a definite tanginess that comes from the poolish and from the tomatoes. What can I say. Last night I made a salami sandwich with sharp Dijon mustard that couldn't be beat. No sogginess, no falling apart. Just great flavor and texture from beginning to end. Definitely a keeper.

Here's What You'll Need:
(the the poolish)

100g (3 1/2oz) AP flour
100ml warm water
a pinch of instant yeast

For the bread:
the poolish
350g (about 12oz) bread flour
100g (3 1/2oz) whole wheat flour
50g (1 1/2oz) rye flour
7g (1/2Tbs) instant yeast
225-250ml (7 1/2-8oz) warm water
12g (1/2Tbs) salt
50g (1 1/2oz) sun-dried tomatoes, well drained
50g (1 1/2oz) green or black olives coarsley chopped (optional)

Here's What You'll Need to Do:

1. Mix together the flour, water and yeast for the poolish in a large bowl until you get a very loose slurry. Like thick cake batter. Cover with plastic, and let it ferment at room temperature overnight or even, if you're busy, for 2 days.

2. Mix all the remaining ingredients into the poolish, except the tomatoes and olives, and knead to form a smooth, only slightly sticky dough. Let the dough rise in a covered, lightly-oiled bowl until doubled in volume, about 2 hours.

3. Remove the dough from the bowl, and deflate. Add in the tomatoes and olives (if using) then knead until evenly distributed. Form into a tight boule, and place on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Cover and let rise until doubled, about an hour.

4. In the meantime, place a baking stone in the oven and preheat to 220C (425F).

5. Just before baking, slash the loaf, then place a pan of boiling water under the stone, and spray the loaf well.

6. Bake with the paper, right on the stone for about 35-40 minutes or until it sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom. Cook on a rack completely before slicing.

* This is a variation of a recipe in an Israeli cookbook that features recipes from the outdoor farmer's market in Jerusalem. The artisan bakery there, Teller's Bakery, specializes in artisan loaves.

Yum!!

Closer to Home - Greek Olive Bread

The latest diet craze - the Mediterranean diet - strikes me as very strange. Not the diet itself, but rather the whole idea of a 'diet' based on the most popular components of the foods eaten in this area. The reason it is strange to me, of course, is because this is the kind of food I eat all the time. Let's think about it for a minute. What is this 'diet'? Well, it all starts with what Rachel Ray calls, EVOO, in other words Extra Virgin Olive Oil. From there, it really depends on where you are in the Mediterranean Basin. For instance, think of Italian food, and you think of tomato sauce and pasta. Think of French food from Provence, then you must include, sharp cheeses, red wine and lots of herbs. Actually, when you think of it, Italian food, Spanish food and all North African food, also includes herbs, olive oil and spices (often very spicy!). Lately I've been baking all kinds of dishes (quiches, pies and breads) from this area. This is all in preparation for some workshops I will be teaching this summer on Crete, the largest of the Greek Islands.

This bread is fairly typical of breads from the entire region. It includes olive oil, and even feta cheese, in some versions. It takes a long time to rise in the winter but in the summer will rise quickly. Unlike many breads from the Eastern Mediterranean, it has yeast to help it rise. Many breads from this area are flatbreads, like the famous pita bread found all over the Mediterranean and Middle East in one form or another. This recipe makes one fairly large loaf and keeps really well for several days. The addition of olives and feta give it a distinctly Middle eastern flavor. Needless to say, it makes great sandwiches especially with a sharp cheese, or with some kind of smoked meat. And mustard, good strong dijon mustard.

Here's What You'll Need:

1 onion thinly sliced
1Tbs. olive oil
1 cup pitted and chopped green or black olives
400g (3 cups) bread flour
3/4tsp salt
about 150g (5oz) drained and crumbled feta cheese
2tsp instant yeast
1Tbs chopped oregano, coriander, parsley and/or mint
1 cup hot (45C/120F) water

Here's What You'll Need to Do:

1. Fry the onion in the olive oil until lightly browned. Roughly chop the olives.

2. Put the flour, salt, yeast and herbs in a large bowl with the olives and fried onions and feta cheese, and pour in 1 cup hot water (not boiling - about 45C or 120F).

3. Mix the dough until it comes together. Then place on a lightly-floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes, until smooth and just barely sticky. Add flour or water as necessary to get the correct feel.

4. Put in a lightly-oiled bowl and cover. Leave it to rise until doubled, about 2 hours (the onions and olive will weigh it down).

5. Preheat the oven to 220C (425F). Lightly grease a baking sheet, then shape the dough into a tight boule. Leave it lightly covered to rise again until doubled.

6. Just before baking, slash the bread with a sharp knife, about 1/2 in (3mm) deep.

7. Bake for about 35-40 minutes until it is a deep rich brown. Serve with unsalted butter, or as part of a meze table. That's the small salads and dips that you find everywhere in this area. In Spain called tapas, in Greece, meze.

 

 

Boule - My own recipe for Accidental Sourdough

We have all had this experience, I'm sure. The happy circumstance where you do something, not intentionally, and despite all the indications of failure... it actually works out. So here's what happened. But first a little background to fill you in. I read a lot of cookbooks as you might imagine. All kinds but especially baking books. No biggie there. And, everything I read seems to have the same message and that is... if you want to be a real bread baker, you've got to make/bake sourdough. I'm not sure I buy this argument, but it's out there for sure. What everyone calls artisan/sourdough bread today is what my grandparents called 'bread'. It was all sourdough made with a poolish starter (very wet, often 100% hydration) or a biga (basically dough allowed to ferment before you knead it in with the rest of the dough). And, yes, you can be a purist and only use wild yeast which happens to be floating in your kitchen, or give it a boost with a minute amount of commercial yeast. All in order to get the distinctive sour taste and chewy crust of sourdough bread.

So this bread is a little of both born by accident. Here's what happened. I started a poolish (1 cup AP flour + 1 cup water + a pinch of commercial yeast, and left it covered, at room temperature for 8 hours. The problem is I forgot about it and went to bed and left it overnight. Then I got really busy and left it another day. By the time I got to it, it was 48 hours later!! it was bubbling away very, but very vigorously. I almost threw it out. But am I glad I didn't. The bread I made is so good, with the chewy crust and tight but soft crumb, I will surely make it again. This one is a keeper. Accidental sourdough.

Here's What You'll Need: (for the starter)
1 cup AP flour
1 cup warm water
a pinch of yeast

Mix to make a very wet slurry, like a thick cake batter, then cover with plastic wrap, and let stand at room temperature, for 48 hours!

Add:
1 cup AP flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup rye flour
1 1/4 cup warm water
1-2 Tbs. sugar
1/2 tsp. instant yeast
11/2 tsp. salt

Mix it all together, along with the starter to make a ragged dough. Finally add the salt and knead for about 10 minutes (6 minutes in a mixer) until smooth and only slightly sticky. Place in a lightly greased bowl, turn to coat, then cover to rise until doubled in volume. This will take quite a while since there is only a little yeast, maybe 3 hours.

Finally shape the dough into a boule, being careful not to deflate the dough, and place on a baking sheet covered with baking paper (or a baker's peel), cover and let is rise until doubled again.

About 30 minutes before baking time preheat the oven, with a baking stone, to 450F (220C). Just before placing the dough in the oven, slash it with a sharp, serated knife, and spray the loaf and the oven with water.

Bake for 30-35 minutes until it is a very dark brown and sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom.

Cool on a rack.

Honey Hoagie Rolls with a Twist - Perfect for Thanksgiving

Hoagie rolls for Thanksgiving? So, here's the deal. I was looking for some kind of bread for the holiday that would be great for soaking up the sauces and gravies of a big, festive meal, like Thanksgiving. Something that could double for snack time while watching a big game on TV. Here, in Israel we don't really celebrate Thanksgiving, but there are lots of games on TV. Only its usually soccer or basketball. Still, snack food is a must. And these sandwiches, an adaptation of a few recipes I have used for years fits the bill perfectly. They are soft and strong. Soak up whatever, and hold the fillings! Oh, in case you haven't noticed my 'healthy' trend lately, they are super healthy. I mean, bran and toasted wheat germ for goodness sake! This bread can be shaped as small rolls for a dinner, or larger for a hoagie-type roll, or even a loaf. I have made the hoagie roll. You can probably get about a dozen rolls, or maybe 4 hoagies. Or a loaf. Any way you look at it, though, it's just delicious!

Here's What You'll Need:
2 1/4 tsp instant yeast (dissolved in 1/4 cup warm water)
1/4 cup wheat germ
1/4 cup wheat bran (optional)
2 1/2 cups AP flour (or 2 cups AP flour + 1/2 cup whole wheat flour)
2 Tbs. honey (or dark brown sugar)
1 tsp. salt
3 Tbs. softened butter
3/4 cup warm water

Here's What You'll Need to Do:

1. Dissolve the yeast in the 1/4 cup warm water and place aside for about 10 minutes until nice and bubbly.

In the meantime...
2. Place the wheat germ in a dry frying pan and warm while tossing lightly in the pan. After a minute or two you will smell the toasty smell of the wheat germ. Remove from the heat and put aside.

3. In a large bowl, place the flour(s), bran (if using), toasted wheat germ, and salt and stir to combine. Then, add the yeast mixture, along with the softened butter, honey (or sugar), and the warm water.

4. Mix to form a shaggy dough, then knead vigorously to make a soft but very smooth dough. This will take 10 minutes by hand or around 5 minutes in a stand mixer.

5. Place in an oiled bowl to rise, covered, until doubled in volume, about 1 1/2 hours.

6. Being careful not to deflate too much, shape the dough into a loaf. If you are making rolls, then divide the dough into the number of pieces required, then roll them into shape. The rolls will deflate more that the loaf, don't worry.

7. Cover the rolls (or loaf) to rise a second time, this time about 45 minutes.

8. Bake at 350 F (180 C) for: 17 minutes (rolls) or 25-30 minutes (loaf). Brush with melted butter, if desired while still hot, then cool on a rack.

 Bon Appetit!

Bread of a Snacky Kind - Crispy, but Soft Pretzels

  

 

I have been considering this for a long time and only just now got up the courage. I know that sounds a little dramatic, and, truthfully, maybe I'm overdoing it a little. Still, here goes. Normally I post a recipe and some small reminiscence of a childhood memory associated with the recipe. Like, the famous Bernie's Bakery in Sydney, NS. This time it's different. I think I have mentioned that I like to snack. In fact, it's a bit of an embarrasment that with all my healthy baking that sometimes I just crave a salty snack. So... how to combine the two? Well, here is my first attempt at pretzels, baked with whole wheat and, of course, lots of kosher salt. Honestly? I will have to make them again, and again. My one comment, aside from the fact that they were delicious, is that you should remember to store them in a paper bag. Otherwise, and this happened to me, they become soft like a roll, instead of staying crispy like a good pretzel.

This recipe uses whole wheat and AP flour in combination to allow for gluten development. Also, and this is what separates a good pretzel from a so-so pretzel, they are boiled in water with baking soda added. Well worth the effort, believe me. Try these and you will never eat store-bought pretzels again.

Here's What You'll Need: (for 8 pretzels)
200g (about 1 3/4 cups) whole wheat flour
230ml (8 ounces) warm water
1 Tbs. butter, softened
180g (about 1 1/2 cups) AP flour
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. instant yeast
1 tsp. barley malt (or demerara sugar)

Water Bath
2 L (8 cups) water in which is dissolved 2 Tbs. baking soda

Glaze
1 egg beaten with some water
kosher salt and seeds for topping

Here's What You'll Need To Do:

1. Whole wheat flour needs extra time to absorb the liquid (and it also absorbs more liquid) than AP flour. So, mix the whole wheat flour with the water, then cover it and let it stand for about 20 minutes.

2. Then mix in all the remaining ingredients, and knead vigorously for about 10 minutes. The dough will be smooth and just barely sticky. Place it in a bowl, covered, and let it rest and rise until doubled. This will take at least an hour. Maybe longer. Remember, bread is patience. If you hurry it, you get bad bread.

3. Preheat the oven to 220C (450F), and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

4. Pour the water in a largish pot, and bring to a boil. Add in the baking soda.

5. Divide the dough into 8 equal-sized pieces, then roll out into 'snakes'. Fold the dough into a pretzel form by twisting and folding it over on itself. Then place the pretzel on a tray to rest for about 10 minutes.

6. Finally, gently place each pretzel in the post of boiling water (not a violent boil, but bubbling). Boil the pretzels for about 2-3 minutes, flipping them over halfway through the process. They will swell up appreciably in the water. Then place the boiled pretzels (with a slotted spoon) back on the baking paper.

7. When you have finished with all the pretzels, brush with the egg wash, then sprinkle with kosher salt, and/or seeds if you prefer.

8. Bake for about 12 to 15 minutes, or until they are a deep brown and quite crispy.

Cool on a rack, but they are also delicious served while still warm. Store in a paper bag!!
Enjoy.