Cretan Bread
This Cretan (or Cretan-style) bread has a soft dough, enriched with olive oil, preserved tomatoes, green olives and cooked onions.
98 K 4.1/5 (24 reviews)
4 hours 30 min.
Easy
16 pieces
12 IngredientsLast modified on: October 24th 2017
For 16 pieces, you will need:
- 1
300 g green olives - 2
300 g onion - 3
4 tablespoons olive oil - 4
300 g feta - 5
300 g preserved tomatoes - 6
2 kgs plain white flour (French Type 65) - 7
1 kg 300 g water - 8
36 g fine (or table) salt - 9
30 g yeast - 10
200 g leaven (optional) - 11 100 g olive oil
- 12
2 tablespoons dry oregano - Total weight: 4,760 grams
Change measures:
Times for this recipe
Preparation: 40 min.
Resting: 3 hours 20 min.
Cooking: 30 min.
All in all: 4 hours 30 min.
If you start now, at , you will finish around : ?.Change start time
To finish around 7pm, you'll need to have started before: .Change end time
Step by step recipe
Stage 1 - 3 min.
Prepare the filling
Roughly chop 300 g green olives.
Stage 3 - 3 min.
Pour 4 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.
Cook uncovered without colouring for 2 or 3 minutes.
Stage 4 - 1 min.
Add the onions, 300 g feta and 300 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.
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: 2 kgs plain white flour (French Type 65) *, 1 kg 300 g water, 36 g fine (or table) salt, 30 g yeast and 200 g leaven.
*You can use a "strong" bread flour, if this is available.
*You can use a "strong" bread flour, if this is available.
Stage 8 - 20 min.
Knead on slow speed for 16 minutes.
Note: For the best way to knead, see: A few tips for effective kneading at home.
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 100 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 2 tablespoons 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.
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.
Leave to rise, covered with plastic as before, for 1 hour.
Stage 17 - 2 min.
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.
The yeast can be replaced with 300 g of soured dough.
Keeping: A few days in a cloth bag. Freezes well.
Source: Home made but dedicated to Arnaud the french-cretan guy.
Nutritional information
| Proteins (gr) | Carbohydrates (gr) | Fats (gr) | Energy value (in k-calories) | Energy value (in k-joules) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whole recipe | 320 RDI=120 % | 1,890 RDI=180 % | 1,120 RDI=170 % | 12,010 RDI=600 % | 50,300 RDI: 600 % |
| Per 100 g | 6 RDI=3 % | 40 RDI=4 % | 20 RDI=4 % | 250 RDI=10 % | 1,060 RDI: 10 % |
| Per piece | 20 RDI=8 % | 120 RDI=10 % | 70 RDI=10 % | 750 RDI=40 % | 3,140 RDI: 40 % |
How much will it cost?
- For 16 pieces : 14.60 €
- Per piece : 0.95 €
Change currency: 
Note: Be careful, these prices are only an estimate, you can consult the table of prices by ingredients used for this estimate.
This recipe uses (among others)
Plain white flour (French Type 65)
Like these other recipes: New leavened bread, Poitevin twist, Pizza dough, Mustard baps, "Psychedelic" sandwich bread, ... See them all 19
Water
Like these other recipes: Pumpkin (or potimarron) soup, Lemon and lime custard tart, Sushi, Langoustine gratin, Turnip and Jerusalem artichoke soup, ... See them all 136
Preserved tomatoes
You can get more informations, or check-out other recipes which use it, for example: Sushi, Cauliflower tabbouleh, Tomato foccacia, Fish terrine with spinach and tomatoes, Canapés of red mullet with poppy seeds, ... See them all 8
Onion
Like these other recipes: Comtoise stuffed tomatoes, Mornay onion tart, Mussels with arroz negro, Express sauerkraut, Late Winter Soup with Fresh Spinach, ... See them all 147
Other recipes you may also like
Crispy potato galette with leeks
For this recipe, we make a "galette" of fried potatoes, then add layer of steamed leeks and melt cheese over the top. The galette is folded over, rather like an omelette, before being cut into portions. May 5th 201664 K4.1 40 min.
Almond cream
Light and delicious, it is used in a lot of desserts like tarts, cakes and pies (epiphany galette). August 31th 2025474 K 25 20 min.
French croissants
In this famous and highly technical recipe from a piece of yeast-based flaky dough we are going to cut and shape ("roll") croissants. June 26th 2019641 K 24.4 2 hours 35 min.
How to heat milk without it catching on the bottom of the pan
Very often when you heat milk in a saucepan, it forms at the bottom of the pan (especially if the milk boiled) a sticky and brown bottom of milk that burned and attached. To avoid this here is a very simple and very effective tip. February 21th 2011263 K 24.2 1 min.
New tiramisu
This new version of tiramisu is easier, and in my opinion much better. You will certainly appreciate, like me, the light creamy taste, this time presented in brandy goblets. January 19th 2015407 K3.3 55 min.
News list of cooking-ez.com
Sign up to receive the latest recipes (next batch due to be sent on 2025-09-21)
Note: We'll never share your e-mail address with anyone else.
Post a comment or question
Follow this recipe
If you are interested in this recipe, you can "follow" it, by entering your email address here. You will then receive a notification immediately each time the recipe is modified or a new comment is added. Please note that you will need to confirm this following.
Note: We'll never share your e-mail address with anyone else.
Alternatively: you can subscribe to the mailing list of cooling-ez.com , you will receive a e-mail for each new recipe published on the site.