Name: Cretan Bread
Prep time: 3 h 58 min
Cook time: 28 min
Total time: 4 h 26 min
Yield: 8 pieces
Cuisine: French
Ingredients: 150 g green olives; 150 g onion; 2 tablespoons olive oil; 150 g feta; 150 g preserved tomatoes; 1 kg plain white flour (French Type 65); 650 ml water; 18 g fine (or table) salt; 15 g yeast; 100 g leaven; 50 g olive oil; 1 tablespoon dry oregano

Step by step recipe

Step 1 - ⌛ 3 min.

Prepare the filling

Roughly chop 150 g green olives.

Step 2 - ⌛ 5 min.

Prepare 150 g onion and slice into thin rings.

Step 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.

Step 4 - ⌛ 1 min.

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

Step 5 - ⌛ 1 min.

...then mix all this together.

Step 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.

Step 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.

Step 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.

Step 9 - ⌛ 1 min.

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

Step 10

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

Step 11 - ⌛ 1 min.

Finish by adding 1 tablespoon dry oregano.

Step 12 - ⌛ 1 min.

Add the filling mixture...

Step 13 - ⌛ 2 min.

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

Step 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.

Step 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).

Step 16 - ⌛ 1 hour

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

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

Step 17 - ⌛ 2 min.

Preheat the oven to 480°F (250°C).

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

Step 18 - ⌛ 25 min.

Bake for about 25 minutes.

Nutritional information

	Proteins	Carbohydrates	Fats	Calories	Energy
Per 100 g	6 g RDI=9 %	35 g RDI=13 %	10 g RDI=14 %	252 kcal RDI=13 %	1,055 kJ RDI=13 %
Per piece	18 g RDI=27 %	103 g RDI=39 %	29 g RDI=40 %	745 kcal RDI=37 %	3,118 kJ RDI=37 %
Whole recipe	142 g RDI=218 %	823 g RDI=310 %	234 g RDI=320 %	5,958 kcal RDI=298 %	24,944 kJ RDI=298 %