Home » Blogs » dolfs's blog
Submitted by dolfs on September 30, 2008 - 1:27am

Eliopsomo - Greek Olive Bread


A party with neighbors brought some new inspiration to bake something different. From the book "Savory Baking from the Mediterranean" (Anissa Helou) I picked the recipe for Eliopsomo, or Greek olive bread. The book does not specify baker's percentages or weights, but I used my Dough Calculator to compute those. The conversion for spinach, herbs and olives are guesses and probably not exactly what the author intended. Nevertheless, I doubled the recipe and made two loaves.


Eliopsomo - Savory Breads from the Mediterranean 

It worked out reasonably OK. I did not like the amount of filling. It appeared too much and the moisture content was too high. If I were to bake this again, I'd squeeze, or somehow dry out, the spinach, and also drain the olives much better/longer than I did. I would also reduce the overall amount of filling to about 60% of the recipe. It is, of course, always possible that I just misinterpreted the instructions and simply made too much, but I doubt it. I also believe that a better technique than described in the book would be in order for final shaping, causing the filling to be more distributed (like a cinnamon roll perhaps).

Filling was so wet, stuff leaked out during proofing in my couche (and ruined it). 


Eliopsomo - Inside 

 The taste was definitely OK, but not wow.

 


user icon
Submitted by Mini Oven on September 30, 2008 - 4:36am.

well that's showing your guts!

:) Mini O

user icon
Submitted by rubato456 on October 3, 2008 - 6:02pm.

when i use spinach

in a recipe i steam or saute it and then put in several layers of paper toweling and squeeze as much as possible.  (be careful not to burn yourself this can be HOT).  this  helps alot w/ not having an overly wet spinach filling. i've not done a spinach bread like this though). i've done a greek pizza using phyllo dough and spinach feta cheese which works....but i do take care to make sure the filling is extra dry.

 

Thanks for posting the pictures! 

deborah

user icon
Submitted by dolfs on October 3, 2008 - 7:29pm.

This was raw spinach

This recipe called for raw, shredded spinach, rubbed with salt. I think in this case it was a combination of the moisture drawn out of the spinach because of the salt, the moisture from the olives, and just simply a little too much filling for the method of folding the dough over.
--dolf

user icon
Submitted by rubato456 on October 3, 2008 - 9:13pm.

raw spinach

 would have lots more moisture than cooked spinach..... i would think it better to cook the spinach (in a minimum of liquid) and make as dry as possible w/ paper towels.......

deborah

user icon
Submitted by dolfs on October 3, 2008 - 10:57pm.

A matter of principle

As a matter of principle I want to make a recipe as written, in particular the first time, and especially when it concerns something that I am otherwise unfamiliar with. This is assuming there is nothing immediately and obviously wrong with the recipe. You can lookup my threads about errors in Daniel Leader's book to see how I handle that.
It is only through this approach that one can, on the one hand, preserve the original intent, and on the other, discover patterns. For example I now have made two recipes from this book (as written) and consistently, the dough came out too dry. Since I was consistent, I now know that the author, who only specifies volume measurements, scoops lighter cups than standard (since I used a standard conversion and it got too dry). Because I now know that, I can adjust all the recipes in the book and be sure that the result will be as intended.
I have made quite a bit of bread with spinach in it, look up my spinach cheese boule for example, so I am not a neophyte with that. This use of raw spinach was different and, unless the author was making things up, somewhere in Greece results in good bread. I'd rather figure out how to get closer to the original than starting to cook the spinach and make something different. So, next time I do this, I will salt the spinach earlier, and let the whole filling mixture drain for 30 minutes in a colander, or I may even throw it in a salad spinner. I will also fold the dough differently to create more layers of dough between the filling. Will report back when it happens.
--dolf

Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.