deconstruction: hummus bread

I was chatting last week with Patrick Ryan in twitter as he wanted to bake a bread and I suggested using chickpea flour. I really like using it and it's not the first time I bake something with chickpea flour (pan a l'ancienne or these Bollos de azafran lidia baked). Texture and flavour are unique.

But I wanted to twist this bread and thinking what to do came up hummus, where the main ingredient is chickpeas. So why dont use the ingredients of hummus and bake a bread? voila, and this is how this bread was made. There are a few different versions of hummus but most of them have chickpeas, olive oil, lemon, garlic and salt. I used a few more as I like hummus with tahini, so that's my recipe (be aware that still my baking equipment is in Belfast, so weight is not very accurate):

- 300g strong white flour
- 125g chickpea flout
- 100g spelt flour
- 2tbs dried yeast
- 10g salt
- 250ml water
- 40g olive oil
- 50g tahini
- 1tbs paprika
- 50g chickpeas ()
- 2 garlic cloves
- 2 tbs lemon juice
- pepper

Of course I was afraid that this experiment wouldn't work for several reasons: the dough was too heavy (chickpea flour, chickpeas and tahini), the combination of flavours after baking wouldn't go well etc. When I was kneading it was quite difficult to work with the dough but I kneaded for 15 minutes and put it to prove for 1hour and a half. The dough responded and raise quite well so I kneaded for a few seconds and put it back to prove for another 1 hour and a half, but this time it wasn't that good. Anyway, oven at 230 °C for 15 minutes and another 30 minutes at 190 °C.

hummus bread

The result, very unusual flavour, you can feel all the ingredients, maybe a touch bitter and too much tahini so net time I will put less. Similar in consistency to a soda bread. But overall an interested experiment.

hummus bread

PAN CON TOMATE FRESCO Y AJO

Pues me dejó tan contenta el eliopsomi del otro día, que he utilizado la misma receta como base para hacer este pan con tomate.
Ingredientes, los mismos, pero el aliño simplemente a base de tomate fresco (escurrido y cortado en pequeños daditos) y un diente de ajo finamente picado.
Una masa muy pegajosa, algo rebelde... pero con la que finalmente me he podido hacer y que no ha resultado mal.

Pan de aceitunas y hierbas

Nuestro último pan es una creación a cuatro manos basada en dos recetas diferentes, o sea, un pan muy completo con el que nos hemos divertido mucho en una de estas ocasiones especiales en las que podemos coincidir algunas de las personas que hacemos este blog conjuntamente. Atendiendo a los ingredientes que teníamos a mano y al espíritu mediterráneo con el que compensamos las tendencias anglosajonas que nos llegan desde Dublín, hemos preparado un pan de aceitunas y hierbas locales. 

Nuestra idea inicial era preparar un eliopsomi (pan chipriota que nos enseñó a hacer un su día, Juan Carlos), pero en una versión con masa madre y utilizando el hermoso romero que tenemos aquí en el huerto. Para la adaptación de la levadura comercial a la masa madre, hemos utilizado una receta de pan con tomillo, sacada del libro de Dan Lepard. A dicha receta le hemos cambiado el tomillo por romero y le hemos añadido aceitunas negras, ajo, aceite de oliva y menta. Hubo que ajustar la cantidad de masa madre de la receta, para compensar ese poquito de levadura fresca que indicaba el maestro Dan en la suya.

El resultado... suave, aromático, sustancioso .... ¡Estamos supercontentas! Estábamos pensando en filmar un vídeo promocional, pero lo vamos a posponer.

En fin, ahí van los ingredientes que hemos utilizado:

• 450 g de harina de trigo.
• 193 g de agua.
• 210 g de masa madre.
• 32 g de aceite de oliva de cultivo propio.
• 9 g de sal.
• 100 de olivas negras.
• Una ramita de romero y unas hojas de menta, del jardín.
• 2 dientes de ajo finamente picados.

Datos de interés:

• El primer reposo fue de 3 horas.
• El segundo reposo fue de 5 horas.
• Horno a 240 grados durante 20 minutos con bandeja de agua, más otros 35 minutos a 190 grados y con la bandeja retirada.

νόστιμο ψωμί !

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?