Cretan Bread


Cretan Bread
This Cretan (or Cretan-style) bread has a soft dough, enriched with olive oil, preserved tomatoes, green olives and cooked onions.
102 K 4.1/5 (24 reviews)
Grade this recipe:
Keywords:
Last modified on: October 24th 2017
For this recipe: Comment Send to a friend Ask me a question Follow Printable Diaporama Video
For 8 pieces, you will need:

Change these quantities to make:
Change measures:
Times for this recipe
Preparation: 40 min.
Resting: 3 hours 20 min.
Cooking: 30 min.
All in all: 4 hours 30 min.
When should you start or finish this recipe?
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.
Cretan Bread : Stage 1

Prepare the filling


Roughly chop 150 g green olives.

Stage 2 - ⌛ 5 min.
Cretan Bread : Stage 2
Prepare 150 g onion and slice into thin rings.

Stage 3 - ⌛ 3 min.
Cretan Bread : Stage 3
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.
Cretan Bread : Stage 4
Add the onions, 150 g feta and 150 g preserved tomatoes to the olives...

Stage 5 - ⌛ 1 min.
Cretan Bread : Stage 5
...then mix all this together.

Stage 6
Cretan Bread : 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.
Cretan Bread : Stage 7
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 - ⌛ 20 min.
Cretan Bread : Stage 8
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.
Cretan Bread : Stage 9
Towards the end of kneading, add 50 g olive oil in a thin stream.

Stage 10
Cretan Bread : Stage 10
Tip: you can use the oil from the preserved (or sun-dried) tomatoes as the olive oil.

Stage 11 - ⌛ 1 min.
Cretan Bread : Stage 11
Finish by adding 1 tablespoon dry oregano.

Stage 12 - ⌛ 1 min.
Cretan Bread : Stage 12
Add the filling mixture...

Stage 13 - ⌛ 2 min.
Cretan Bread : Stage 13
...and knead just enough to mix this in.

Stage 14 - ⌛ 2 hours
Cretan Bread : Stage 14
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.
Cretan Bread : Stage 15
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
Cretan Bread : Stage 16
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.
Cretan Bread : Stage 17
Preheat the oven to 480°F (250°C).

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

Stage 18 - ⌛ 25 min.
Cretan Bread : Stage 18
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.
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 recipe160 RDI=60 %940 RDI=90 %560 RDI=90 %6,010 RDI=300 %25,150 RDI: 300 %
Per 100 g6 RDI=3 %40 RDI=4 %20 RDI=4 %250 RDI=10 %1,060 RDI: 10 %
Per piece20 RDI=8 %120 RDI=10 %70 RDI=10 %750 RDI=40 %3,140 RDI: 40 %
The % figures are calculated in relation to the Recommended Dietary Intake , or RDI of 2,000 k-calories (or 8,400 k-joules) per day for a woman
Possible allergens in this recipe: milk, Gluten
How much will it cost?
  • For 8 pieces : 7.30 €
  • 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)
Other recipes you may also like
Natural leaven
Natural leaven
Leaven is a natural raising agent, a fermented mixture of water, flour and the microscopic yeasts which are present in the air. It's a delicate living substance, sensitive to the external environment. The recipe is around 4000 years old and dates back to the Egypt of the Pharaohs, via a beautiful history...(note: the ancient Egyptians seem not to have had exclusive knowledge of the process: in Germany evidence of cooking a fermented dough has been found from 8000 BC (the Neolithic era). The...
April 3rd 20201.73 M 304.0 7 days 15 min.
Exotic fruit tart
Exotic fruit tart
An exotic fruit tart (bananas, kiwi and pineapple), with crisp pastry and almond cream which are cooked beforehand. It's a rather simple recipe, but the final result will impress your guests.
May 27th 2020336 K5 2 hours 25 min.
Brioche dough
Brioche dough
It's a soft and rich dough, with butter and eggs which give a smooth and incredibly tasty brioche. This is the basic recipe for brioche dough, used for all other brioche-based recipes on the site.
September 16th 2020546 K 44.2 14 hours 30 min.
Couscous
Couscous
In couscous, the meat and vegetable mixture is rather long to cook, but not difficult. And the couscous itself (a kind of coarse semolina) is simple and quick to prepare.
November 16th 2017536 K4.3 2 hours 40 min.
Four quarters (adding fruit)
Four quarters (adding fruit)
To improve a "four quarters" cake.
February 21th 2011188 K4.5 35 min.
News list of cooking-ez.com

Sign up to receive the latest recipes (next batch due to be sent on 2025-11-23)

*Your e-mail Your first name or nickname
I am not a leaving thing
Note: We'll never share your e-mail address with anyone else.
Post a comment or question
Posted by:
I am not a leaving thing

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.
I am not a leaving thing
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.

Back to top of page