Greek Bread - Improved
A couple weeks ago, I made Greek bread (Horiatiko Psomi) for the first time (See: Greek Bread - I finally make it with my Greek daughter-in-law [1]). I based it on this recipe [2], which my Greek daughter-in-law said seemed closest to the bread she had had in Greece. It was good, but I felt it could be improved. I had intended to make the bread with some durum flour, but forgot to use it. Although everyone enjoyed the bread, I felt the crumb suffered from slight under-development of the gluten. Everything I'd heard or read said this was supposed to be a dense bread, but I felt it would be better, even if less authentic, with a more aerated crumb.
Today, I made another batch. I remembered to use some durum flour this time. I used a combination of mechanical mixing and stretch and fold to develop the gluten. I had planned on making it as a sourdough, but, because of time constraints, I did spike it with some instant yeast. I think it turned out well.
Horiatiko Psomi (pronounced hoh-ree-AH-tee-koh psoh-MEE)
Liquid levain |
|
Ingredients |
Amounts |
Mature sourdough starter |
28 gms (2 T) |
Bread flour |
85 gms |
Water |
113 gms |
Final Dough |
|
Ingredients |
Amounts |
Durum flour |
200 gms |
Bread flour |
775 gms |
Water |
600 gms |
Milk |
2 T |
Olive oil |
2 T |
Honey |
2 T |
Salt |
1 T |
Levain |
All of above |
Instant yeast (optional) |
½ tsp |
Sesame seeds |
About 1 T |
Method
-
To make the liquid levain, in a medium bowl, dissolve the mature starter in the water. Add the flour and mix thoroughly. Cover the bowl tightly and ferment at room temperature for 8-12 hours.
-
To make the final dough, mix the water, instant yeast (if used), milk, oil, honey and levain in the bowl of a stand mixer.
-
Mix the salt with the flour and add 2/3 of it to the liquids. Mix until smooth. Add the rest of the flour and mix to a shaggy mass. Cover and allow to rest for 20-60 minutes.
-
Mix at 2nd speed until you have an early window pane. (About 4-6 minutes in a Bosch Universal Plus mixer.)
-
Transfer the dough to a lightly floured board and do one stretch and fold. Form the dough into a ball and transfer to a large, lightly oiled bowl. Roll the dough in the oil. Cover the bowl.
-
Ferment the dough until doubled in bulk with one stretch and fold after an hour. (About 2-2 ½ hours)
-
Divide the dough into two equal pieces and pre-shape as balls.
-
Cover the pieces and let them rest to relax the gluten for 10-15 minutes.
-
Shape the pieces into boules and place them in floured bannetons.
-
Proof the boules until they have expanded to 1.5-1.75 times their original size.
-
45-60 minutes before baking, pre-heat the oven to 500ºF with a baking stone and your steaming method of choice in place.
-
Pre-steam the oven.
-
Transfer the loaves to a peel or to parchment paper on a cookie sheet. Brush the loaves with water and sprinkle them with sesame seeds. Score the loaves with 3 parallel cuts about ½ inch deep.
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Transfer the loaves to the baking stone. Immediately steam the oven. Close the oven door, and turn the temperature down to 450ºF.
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After 12 minutes, remove the steam source. Continue baking for another 20-25 minutes. Check the loaves every so often, and, if they appear to be darkening too fast, turn the over down to 430-440ºF. (Note: I did not turn the oven down from 450ºF, and the loaves turned out a bit darker than I wanted.)
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The loaves are done when the bottom sounds hollow when thumped and their internal temperature is 205ºF.
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When the loaves are done, turn off the oven but leave the loaves on the stone with the oven door ajar for 10 minutes to dry the crust.
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Transfer the loaves to a cooling rack.
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Cool thoroughly before slicing and serving.
As noted above, the breads turned out a bit darker than I had wished. Next time, I'll bake at a lower temperature or turn the oven down a bit half way through the bake.
The crust was thin and chewy with a nice flavor from the sesame seeds. The crumb was quite open, considering the low hydration. It was very pleasantly chewy but did not have a dense mouth feel. The flavor was marvelous! It had a mildly sweet flavor from the honey and nuttiness from the durum flour.
I'm not sure I'd change anything, other than baking at a lower temperature and having my daughter-in-law here to tell me how far I'd strayed from Greek authenticity.
David
Submitted to YeastSpotting [3].