my footprints...

Photos: Passport & Plate - Dakos

the_wondering_cretan — Fri, 27 Feb 2015 14:29:00 GMT

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 recipe
1. 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 recipe
Dakos 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.”

Ponsonby's cafes

the_wondering_cretan — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 09:05:00 GMT

Travelers come to New Zealand for nature, in search for that amazing landscape of the Lord of the Rings. For me, New Zealand was a discovery of cafes, of a cafe culture unique to this land. I spent a great deal of time in cafes when I travel, because it's a great place to observe people safely. What they drink and how they drink it, they way the interact with the waitress, it tells me much about their culture.

So, here I am in Auckland on Ponsonby road, a long tretch of a road full of cafes and restaurants, the stronghold of Auckland's gay zone. What i love about this road is its elevation, it stands on top of a hill, one of the many in Auckland, and overlooks the sea and the down town area. It's like you are above all, as if you are connecting directly to the sky, a step closer to the sky. There is always light in this road, even on the most grey days.

Because it's a long road it has several distinct pockets of cafes that have their distict character, attracting diferrent clientele and at different times of the day.

At the one end is the Three Lamps Area, the cosier part of the road, with small cafes and other shops with a neighbourhood feeling to it. People tend to know each other here. If you go to Atlas cafe for example early in the morning you will see all the regulars ordering their breakfast, at times not even having to say what they want, their eating habbits known already. After a few visits, my name was noted down and all subsequent orders were put down under my name! That's what I call service! It's a tiny cafe, run mostly by women and young female students who seem to be part of the scene. Their coffee and teas are great and the food superb. They do gluten free toast too which is fantastic for me. I read my paper there in the morning. That's a the beauty of New Zealand cafes, free papers to accompany your morning coffee.

A bit furter up in the same area is another cafe, Cezzane's, an institution by itself, scruffy and with the walls painted with some scenes from the great 18th Italian painters adding a real character to it. It's open when all other cafes are closed on holidays and later hours and the food comes in quantity, although not always sure about the quality. The tea comes in bags and the coffee is not always great but i guess people come here because of it's character, location, history, and non fussy look, and also for convenience.

My other favourite cafe is well further down the road, the One 2 One cafe. I like it because it reminds me something of the Parisian cafes. It catches the afternoon sun, so you can sit outside after a day's work and enjoy the end of the day life of this part of the town. The food is not all that great, the teas are good and the coffee comes in bowls which remind me France. The cafe has a nice back yard which seems to attract parents with young kids. It's location, the style and character more than the food and the coffee gets me here.

You can continue on a long journey through cafes here. I often spend my Saturday morning doing a cafe (not pub) crawling, breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, slowing moving from one to another, whilst reading my papers, observing people, listening to my inner silence whilst surrounded my outer noise.

Yes, if a visitor to Auckland, spend a day here. You can learn a lot about urban kiwis by just looking at them in cafes. You will notice for instance that Kiwis are early birds, all cafes are super busy in the mornings, even during the weekend. By early afternoon most cafes are deserted, they are mostly family people and they love spending most of their free time in nature, in their baches outside Auckland. So, if you want to catch them in action, go early!

Gallery: Evangelia's photos

the_wondering_cretan — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 08:47:00 GMT