Passport & Plate - Dakos
Greece | Friday, February 27, 2015 | 1 photos
Ingredients
For the Dough
Some lukewarm water
1 tbsp. sugar
1 tbsp. active dry yeast
1/4 cup olive oil
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup barley flour
1 tsp. salt
3 cups lukewarm water
Sprinkles of flour
Sprinkles of olive oil
For the Dressing (for 4 pieces)
Olive oil ,
1 large and ripe tomato,
Crumbled feta (or any other type of salty, soft, white cheese),
Dried Oregano
How to prepare this recipe1. Mix the yeast with some sugar and sprinkles of lukewarm water in a bowl and allow for the yeast to activate for a few minutes.
2. In another bowl, add all three types of flour and salt, mixing well.
3. When the yeast mixture is ready, add the olive oil. Then, make a hole in the middle of the flour mixture and slowly pour in 3 cups of lukewarm water, with the yeast mixture, into it.
4. Knead the mixture for about 5 minutes on a surface that has been sprinkled with flour. The dough should be moist but not stick to the surface (add more flour if needed).
5. Form the dough into a ball, then cover with a plastic wrap and a towel, and allow the dough to rest for 20-30 minutes (at room temperature).
6. Divide the dough into rectangular pieces, each the size of a loaf; use a spatula to gently slice each piece vertically into smaller rectangular pieces, 2 cm wide.
7. Place each loaf section onto an oiled baking tray and cover. Allow the dough to rise for another hour or so in a warm place (820-860F/280-300C).
8. Place the tray in a pre-heated oven (4000F or 2000C) for 15 minutes and bake in batches for 40 minutes each.
9. When the bread is still warm but safe to handle, separate each piece from the loaf and place back on the baking tray. Continue baking for about 1 hour at 2000F (1000C).
10. Turn the oven off, but keep the tray with its bread inside the oven for an additional 1 hour or so in order to dry up in its residual heat.
Serving suggestion: when the bread has returned to room temperature, you can eat it plain … or apply a dressing. Lavishly drizzle olive oil onto each piece and allow it to soak for a few minutes. Grate a tomato, discarding the skin and adding the puree over the bread. Sprinkle oregano on top. Adding olives, capers, and samphire (crithmum maritimum) is optional. Can be served with yoghurt and honey, or with lemon, dill and salmon. Or else, break into smaller pieces and add them into a salad: preferably, a Greek salad.
The story behind this recipeDakos the rusk break is my name. Born and raised in the ancient times on the island of Crete, today all over the world my miraculous dietary secret I deliver. Initially considered as a staple food, I have managed to enter gourmet cuisines all over the world. Despite all this traveling, however, I am still an islander at heart: harsh, tough, independent, a true Zorba!
I taste wonderfully on my own, but I also enjoy marrying with others. When wedded, especially with a non-Greek, I am usually referred to as “Greek pizza,” “Greek bruschetta” or “Greek salad sandwich.” For sure, when single, I can last forever in “good shape.”
I was the result of need, particularly of mountain shepherds who had to preserve bread to last them long. Their natural product, cheese, has become my natural mate. Often eaten with feta cheese, Cretans will also consume me with any local cheese, including the soft, sweet-smelling myzithra or anthotyro(s) (a ricotta type), xinomyzithra (tangy salted white cheese), the homemade intense flavoured tyrozouli (hard goat cheese), and the island’s best export, graviera (a full-fat gruyère type of cheese made from sheep’s milk). The combination of crunchy, creamy, and juicy is guaranteed to arouse your palate and never fails to please.
Even though traditionally a farmer’s lunch, I am now an indispensable dish at restaurants all over of the world. In a taverna or a kafenio (local coffee place), I accompany as boukies (bites) the tsikoudia or raki (the Cretan version of grappa) or the wine with the several local mezedes (tapas). As time passed, I have been diluted and have become more popular in a softer version (with more non-whole grains ingredients and yeast). But, it is in my islander’s nature to continuously adapt to changing circumstances while still maintaining that core of my Cretan identity: tough but wholesome and definitely… nostimos (tasty), evoking to all who savour me a Ulyssean nostalgia, or what Homer called “the journey home.”
