October 17, 2014 - 3:15am
Greek country bread
In Greece in September we had the most wonderful sourdough country bread from the local bakery (we were on the Pilio peninsula). It had a yellow, open, but soft texture, tasted delicious and seemed to keep fresh for several days (quite some achievement in Greek temperatures).
I tried to find out what flour the bakery used, but either they were being a bit cagey or did not understand my Greek.
I would love to be able to make something like it at home. I have tried making it with semolina, but it doesn't work and am wondering whether they used durum wheat.
Does anyone have any experience of making this type of bread and what type of flour to use to get the same result?
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They used Durum, but probably not entirely durum. If I were you I would mix it with a stronger bread flour at a ratio of durum<wheat. also bear in mind that semolina is a coarse grind of durum and you can totally find it finer..though it can be tricky.
From my understanding the bread you are looking for is probably Horiatiko psomi, or Xoriatiko psomi, or Choriatiko psomi (depending on how you want to spell it). It does have durum in it. As stated above, durum flour is finer than semolina. You might want to ask David (dmsnyder) about it since he has a post on it:
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/15470/greek-bread-improved
Thanks WoodenSpoon and Maverick for your thoughts.
I have found a recipe in Hamelman for Semolina bread so will give it a try.