pan de horiadaki

Last night we returned from two weeks on vacation to an empty refrigerator and no bread whatsoever.   While traveling, I did not rush around looking at bakeries, sampling the fine local breads, searching for flour, or any other such thing.   The only homage to bread I inflicted on my family was a wee bit of shopping for baskets.   First I bought a basket which I had a vague notion I would proof bread in.   Yet as soon as I made my purchase, I realized that I would never, never pollute it with flour and wet dough and suchlike:

Which meant that I needed another basket for proofing.  This eventually manifested as:

which when purchased I immediately started to question.   Yet basket and no bread means:

and

and finally a bit of bread to eat:

The bread was loosely based on Pan de Horiadaki, but I wasn't much in the mood for following directions after a long trip home.  So let's call it Pan Tipo de Horiadaki or Sorta Horiadaki.  Anyhow, it was nice to have bread in the house again.  And the basket isn't too messed up.

And incidentally - in neither of the two stores where I bought the baskets did the sales people know what they were - i.e., who made them, where they came from, etc.   In the second store they said their Indian crafts vendor showed up in the middle of the night and placed his merchandise in the store and only barked at them if they asked him any questions.   So, does anyone out there have any idea what type of baskets these are?   First bought in Estes Park, CO, second in Boulder. 

I'll close with a little Rocky Mountain splendor:

I baked  this bread, using david's formula found here http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/23828/sourdough-pan-de-horiadaki-quota-blessing-breadquot

I made the bread with some mistakes on the way: first, the dough was very wet (maybe I should have add 1T of flour??), I think I developed the gluten too much when I mixed it, I degased it more than I should have when I shaped it, the pan was too big for the given amount of dough ( I was certain that my pan is 8 inch, but in fact is 9 inch), I try to shape it really tight, and the skin fissured. I put the pan in the fridge, imediately after shaping, left it there for 12 hours, then 2 hours at room's temperature in the morning. I baked it with steam for 20 min, then without steam for 30-35 min. The crust darkened very fast, while the bottom remained kind of soft.

I halved the recipe, and I used 100g WW flour, 200g bread flour and the rest AP flour.

After all these, the result:

The crumb is soft and moist, but not very opened, the shape is asimetrical, as the dough didn't touch the pan all around. I also think the dough was not fully proofed when I baked it.

But the flavour is very very nice. The crust especially has a oily nutty aroma, and a smell that I adore. I will definitely make this again. I think I can do better than this. (I shaped a lot of boules lately, with great results... why I failed this time...I don't know, but it's annoying)

You can see in the picture below the dough after 12 hours+2 hours of proofing, and the fissured skin (the skin was fisured right from the beggining, when I shaped it, but the fissure became more evident after proofing time).

codruta

Pan de Horiadaki

Maggie Glezer describes this Greek Country Bread as the “daily bread” of the Jewish community of Thessaloniki, almost all of whom were deported to Auschwitz by the Nazis during WW II. Glezer got the recipe from Riva Shabetai, who was a Holocaust survivor. Thessaloniki is currently the second largest city in Greece. It was settled by Jews expelled from Spain in 1492 and thrived for almost 500 years. Its culture had many Spanish influences in language, cuisine and customs.

The dough is 67% hydration and is enriched with sugar and olive oil. It is formed into boules, then, after bulk fermentation, it is proofed and baked in oiled cake pans, a technique I have not seen used except with Greek breads. Glezer provides both a yeasted and a sourdough version of Pan de Horiadaki. I made the sourdough version. The method is remarkable in that the bulk fermentation is short relative to the proofing time.

1. Disperse the starter in the water, then add the flour and mix until fully incorporated.

2. Ferment at room temperature for 8-12 hours 

Method

1. The night before baking, mix and ferment the levain.

2. Mix the flour and water and autolyse for 20-60 minutes.

3. Add the starter in pieces and mix at Speed 2 until the dough is smooth for 10-15 minutes. The dough should clear most of the sides of the bowl after about 5 minutes. If needed, at 1-2 T of flour.

4. Add the salt, sugar and oil and continue mixing until fully incorporated. The dough should be sticky but smooth and should yield a nice window pane.

5. Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl and ferment, covered, for 2 hours. (I did a stretch and fold in the bowl after 1 hour.)

6. Oil two 8-inch cake pans generously with olive oil. (I did not have two 8 inch pans, so I used 9 inch pans. As a result, I'm sure my loaves were flatter than if proofed in the smaller pans.)

7. Divide the dough into two equal pieces and form each into a tight boule.

8. Roll each boule in the oiled pans and leave them, seam side down, in the pans.

9. Cover the pans with plasti-crap or place in food safe plastic bags.

10. Proof for 5 hours or until tripled in volume and risen above the pan sides. Glezer says to proof until the dough stays indented when poked with a finger. This was at 3 hours for me.

11. An hour before baking, pre-heat the oven to 500ºF.

12. Bake at 400ºF for 50-55 minutes until deeply browned. Rotate the pans, if needed for even browning, after 35 minutes.

13. Remove the loaves to a cooling rack, and cool completely before slicing.

Pan de Horiadaki crumb

Note the dull (not shiny) crust. This is from baking without steam, as Glezer specifies. I personally prefer a somewhat shinier crust, so I may bake this bread with steam next time.

The crust is relatively thick from the long bake and very crunchy. The crumb is chewy. The flavor is exceptional, enhanced I'm sure by the sugar and olive oil. There is no detectible sourdough tang, just a sweet, wheaty flavor. I expect this bread to make outstanding toast and sandwiches, but it is delicious just as is.

Note to brother Glenn: If you liked the other Greek bread I made, you will love this one. I don't suppose it would be a crime to coat it with sesame seeds either, but the flavor is so nice as it is, it would be almost a shame to mask it with other strong flavors.

David

Submitted to YeastSpotting