Friday

Psomi Spitiko ~ Easy Homemade Greek Bread


Easy Homemade Greek Bread ~ Psomi Sitiko
In Greek: ψωμί σπιτικό, pronounced psoh-MEE spee-tee-KOH

This is the bread that I made the other day in my post about
Greek-Style ribs  (and here.)  I've made it a total of four times in the past
few weeks ~ it's the kind of bread usually found at the Greek
Festivals I have attended.  It's a very good plain bread (not sweet)
and the texture is agreeably soft, good plain at room temperature,
it's delicious warmed or toasted too.


For breakfast or a snack with tea a little jam or honey is delightful

I like the recipe because it makes 2 smallish loaves, 
each weighing about a pound, and the dough doesn't require two risings
so you can have delicious fresh bread in a little over an hour.
Because of the unique method of making this bread 
using an electric bread maker would be problematic.
But it is really easy to make ~
you can do the entire recipe by hand, or use a stand mixer.

  


The technique is a little different than most traditional
bread recipes in that you mix about one-half the total amount
of flour with warm water, yeast, olive oil and salt in
a bowl, then cover the bowl tightly with
plastic film and allow to rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Then mix in the remaining flour (I use the dough hook) on
the stand mixer, then just knead in a bit more flour so the
dough is not overly sticky, dividing the dough into two pieces and
form each into any shape you like. 

After making it a couple of times I found that I prefer the
dough a bit stickier than most bread doughs for the best texture
(you'll need to flour your hands and work surface well.)

Place on parchment lined baking sheet  -- at this point you may
slash top of dough for a little higher rise, or brush with water
and sprinkle or apply sesame seeds with your fingertips.



And the most unique aspect of the recipe is that the shaped 
dough is immediately placed into a cold oven. 
The oven is turned on to 425º(F) / 220º(C), 
the dough actually makes it's second rise IN the oven, as it is 
heating up.  Bake time is about 30 minutes. 
My ovens run a little hot so I begin checking at 20 minutes.

If you give this one a try, I hope you like it as much as we do.

Recipe and instructions can be found here.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

xo ~mari




11 comments:

  1. This looks delicious. I am always looking for a new bread recipe.

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  2. I love your cute jars of jam and I am intrigued by the second rise in the oven!

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  3. Love the second rise in the oven :)
    And your collection of small Bonne Mamans are too cute..I have a wee honey one..Never opened..too cute..!
    I love bread.There..I said it.
    I do.

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  4. Hi Madonna, I think you will like this one!

    Thank you Pam. Baking starting with a cold oven is a new one for me too ~ although there is a good pound cake recipe that uses that same method, surprisingly it works!

    Bonjour Monique, the short-cut second rise really does shorten the time from bowl to table. :D Oh, I've never seen Bonne Maman with honey! (You and I think alike, I think I've had those for a couple of years ~ just for "prop" purposes... too cute to open, but I did open just one.

    Have a lovely day ladies ~ we're doing the happy dance, it is raining and we are hopeful it will drown the remains of the forest fires--FINALLY. xo

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  5. Mari, that sounds a bit dangerous to me to be able to have wonderful bread like this in less than an hour. Not so dangerous that I wouldn't try it though. :)

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  6. Hi Chris, oh hear you. Lately I've been sticking one of these little loaves in the freezer for "next week" so we don't inhale the things too quickly! If you try this recipe I hope you like it.

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  7. gorgeous bread...bread making is soul soothing and loved those jam filled jars :-)

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  8. Picture perfect loaves! And a recipe that sounds easier to make than pronounce! I could get in world's of trouble with this recipe :)

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  9. Hello kumars kitchen, i agree with you! Bread making does sooth the soul ~ it's so enjoyable knowing you've made something good with your own hands.

    Mary, It really is easy. I am no linguist so I just call it easy Greek bread. :-)

    Thank you for your comments!

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  10. This looks like amazing and easy bread! Thanks for sharing!

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  11. This looks like amazing and easy bread! Thanks for sharing!

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Thank you for your comments, friends ~ they make my day!

A Sampling of my food . . .

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