lunes, 20 de diciembre de 2010

eliopsomi


















As I said in one of the comments to a Lidia's post, this week I felt to make some bread inspired in that beautiful and interesting part of the world, eastern mediterranean sea. I love this part of the world and especially the food, but also the beautiful landscapes, the history and the people. For that I need some mediterranean ingredients but as well some middle east ones. First ones, garlic, olive oil and olives, and for thesecond, mint.


I have lived and travelled many times to Greece. I can say it is one of my favorites places to go on holidays and to live, and I don't refuse the idea of living again there. This recipe has some of the basic ingredient of the greek cuisine, and it could be a greek bread, but this time I was inspired in another country: Cyprus.

I spent one month in Cyprus working there and it was a very good experience. Food is similar to greece but there is more influences of the middle east. the combination is superb.

This bread is called eliopsomi (lit. olives bread). There is a version called eliopita (lit. olives pita). But I wanted to make a load of bread, so I mixed a few recipes I had and add the basic ingredients for making a eliopsomi. And this was the result:

525 g super strong white flour
300 g water
1 tbs quick dry yeast
10 g salt
40 g olive oil
140 g black olives
1 tbs fresh mince garlic
4 g fresh chopped mint

I found last week in a delicatessen shop in belfast called Arcadia this super strong flour from Hovis. I never used a very strong flour (this one has 12.8 g of protein) and I want to know how much affect the result. By the way, in this shop sells sourdough baguettes, I tried one and I have to say I liked it. I meant to put more olives but I couldn't resist the temptation and ate a few of them.

10 minutes at 240 degrees with a tray with water, after that I took out the tray and the steam (and of course the kitchen fire alarm went on) and another 30 minutes at 200 degrees.

I have to say that this is probably one of the best breads I made or at least the one I liked more.
Very nice crust, very soft inside, olives, garlic and mint gave to the bread a nice aroma and flavor. I can't wait till the morning to put loads of things on top of it.

And yes, I used the oven as well to roast some chestnuts, i love them so i couldn't help putting them with the bread.
It might be a good idea to use a few left to make a bread with chestnuts. Any suggestions?

2 comentarios:

  1. I'm about to put the dough of this bread into the oven. I used fresh thyme from the orchard instead of fresh mint and didn't put so many olives, seemed there was not place enough! Also used 25 gr of rye flour. I'll share this bread with some friends tonight at Christmas Eve dinner. Of course, will tell them whose idea was it. Looking forward to try it.
    Thanks, Juan.

    ResponderEliminar
  2. the modifications sound lovely, i'd like to try it to as I know it will great, i like the idea of adding some rye flour, it will give the bread a rustic touch, perfect for the olives and garlic. let me know how it was

    ResponderEliminar