Cretan Bread
This Cretan (or Cretan-style) bread has a soft dough, enriched with olive oil, preserved tomatoes, green olives and cooked onions.
88 K 4.1/5 (24 reviews)
4 hours 30 min.
Easy
24 pieces
12 IngredientsLast modified on: October 24th 2017
For 24 pieces, you will need:
- 1
450 ml green olives - 2
450 ml onion - 3
6 tablespoons olive oil - 4
450 ml feta - 5
450 ml preserved tomatoes - 6
4 litres 680 ml plain white flour (French Type 65) - 7
1950 ml water - 8
75.6 mls fine (or table) salt - 9
45 mls yeast - 10
300 mls leaven (optional) - 11 150 mls olive oil
- 12
3 tablespoons dry oregano
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 450 ml green olives.
Stage 3 - 3 min.
Pour 6 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, 450 ml feta and 450 ml 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: 4 litres 680 ml plain white flour (French Type 65) *, 1950 ml water, 75.6 mls fine (or table) salt, 45 mls yeast and 300 mls 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 150 mls 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 3 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 | 470 RDI=180 % | 2,830 RDI=270 % | 1,670 RDI=250 % | 18,020 RDI=900 % | 75,450 RDI: 900 % |
| Per 100 g | 9 RDI=4 % | 50 RDI=5 % | 30 RDI=5 % | 350 RDI=20 % | 1,460 RDI: 20 % |
| Per piece | 20 RDI=8 % | 120 RDI=10 % | 70 RDI=10 % | 750 RDI=40 % | 3,140 RDI: 40 % |
How much will it cost?
- For 24 pieces : 21.90 €
- 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: Bacon rolls, Classic French white bread, Ali Baba bread, "Psychedelic" sandwich bread, Roscoff loaf, ... See them all 19
Water
Like these other recipes: Couscous, Aperitif rolls, Kouign-amann, Blackcurrant liqueur, Pilau rice, ... See them all 135
Preserved tomatoes
You can get more informations, or check-out other recipes which use it, for example: Pasta with pesto and preserved tomatoes, Canapés of red mullet with poppy seeds, Sushi, Fish terrine with spinach and tomatoes, Pan-fried chicken breast on mozzarella, ... See them all 7
Onion
Like these other recipes: Spicy mustard cauliflower cheese, Beef braised in reduced red wine, Seafood sauerkraut, Pissaladière with puff pastry, Potatoes with prawns, ... See them all 148
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