Cretan Bread

For 8 pieces, you will need:

1 150 g green olives
2 150 g onion
3 2 tablespoons olive oil
4 150 g feta
5 150 g Preserved tomatoes
6 1 kg plain white flour (French Type 65)
7 650 ml water
8 18 g fine (or table) salt
9 15 g yeast
10 100 g leaven (optional)
11 50 g olive oil
12 1 tablespoon dry oregano
Total weight: 2,478 grams

Change for:

Measures:

How long does it take?

Time required

Preparation	Resting	Cooking	Start to finish
38 min.	3 hours 20 min.	28 min.	4 hours 26 min.

Keeping:

A few days in a cloth bag. Freezes well.

At what time?

When will I finish if I start the recipe at a certain time?
When should I start for the recipe to be ready at a certain time?

Work this out...

Step by step recipe

Stage 1 - 3 min.

Prepare the filling

Roughly chop 150 g green olives.

Stage 2 - 5 min.

Prepare 150 g onion and slice into thin rings.

Stage 3 - 3 min.

Pour 2 tablespoons olive oil into a saucepan on medium heat. Add the onions, salt and pepper, then mix well.

Cook uncovered without colouring for 2 or 3 minutes.

Stage 4 - 1 min.

Add the onions, 150 g feta and 150 g Preserved tomatoes to the olives...

Stage 5 - 1 min.

...then mix all this together.

Stage 6

In bread-making, the water temperature is always important. It's not a fixed value, but related to 3 other temperatures: 1) the temperature of your flour, 2) the room temperature in your kitchen, and 3) the basic temperature of this recipe, which is 56-60°C.

You can calculate the temperature of the water for this recipe in one click, using this small calculator.

Stage 7 - 5 min.

Put into a food processer bowl: 1 kg plain white flour (French Type 65) *, 650 ml water, 18 g fine (or table) salt, 15 g yeast and 100 g leaven.

*You can use a "strong" bread flour, if this is available.

Stage 8 - 16 min.

Knead on slow speed for 16 minutes.

Note: For the best way to knead, see: A few tips for effective kneading at home.

Stage 9 - 1 min.

Towards the end of kneading, add 50 g olive oil in a thin stream.

Stage 10

Tip: you can use the oil from the preserved (or sun-dried) tomatoes as the olive oil.

Stage 11 - 1 min.

Finish by adding 1 tablespoon dry oregano.

Stage 12 - 1 min.

Add the filling mixture...

Stage 13 - 2 min.

...and knead just enough to mix this in.

Stage 14 - 2 hours

Gather the dough into a ball, transfer to a large, clean bowl and cover with a plastic sheet.

Leave to rest for 2 hours.

Stage 15 - 20 min.

After resting, weigh out the dough into 300 g lumps and shape into balls. Leave these to rest for 30 minutes, covered with a plastic sheet (so that they do not form a crust).

Stage 16 - 1 hour

After this, reshape the balls and put into "bannetons" (baskets).

Leave to rise, covered with plastic as before, for 1 hour.

Stage 17 - 2 min.

Preheat the oven to 480°F (250°C).

Just before putting in the oven, slash the top of the bread.

Stage 18 - 25 min.

Bake for about 25 minutes.

Remarks

If you don't have any oregano, you can use thyme or a mix like "herbes de Provence" instead.

The yeast can be replaced with 300 g of soured dough.

Nutritional information

% are calculated relative to a Recommended Dietary Intake or RDI of 2000 k-calories or 8400 k-joules by day for a woman (change to a man).

How much will it cost?

For 8 pieces : 23.74 €
Per piece : 2.97 €

Note : These prices are only approximate

Change currency:

Post your comment or question

You are welcome, if you wish, to comment on this recipe: why you like it or not, what you have changed, what results it gave, point out a mistake or omission, etc. You can also ask a question. I answer all questions (in a broken English, sorry) unless someone else does it before me.
Please feel free to say what you think, I'm always very interested in your opinion. Your comment will appear on line with the recipe, so please write in standard readable English, not SIM or only in CAPITALS, otherwise your comment may be rejected.

Please look at advice for submitting a comment or image (what you should or should not do). By the way, don't type your e-mail address in the comment, otherwise you might be spammed.

	Plain white flour (French Type 65): You can get more informations, or check-out other recipes which use it, for example: Benoîton, New leavened bread, Bacon rolls, Leavened bread, Olive and pesto bread, ... All
	Water: You can get more informations, or check-out other recipes which use it, for example: Pistachio powder or paste, Creamy risotto with diced vegetables and flax seeds, Eggs meurette, Bacon rolls, Cheese tart, ... All
	Feta: You can get more informations, or check-out other recipes which use it, for example: Mediterranean toast, Lumberjack turnovers, Souda salad, Spinach brik parcels, Feta and spinach brik pie, ... All
	Green olives: You can check-out other recipes which use it, like for example: Loaf for "les filles'", Olive and pesto bread, Two-olive ciabatta, Tomato foccacia, ... All

Cooking-ez.com