Bread Baking Babes Are A Village

                                             

Today is Bread Baking Babes day! Each month a different Babe chooses a bread for us all to bake and we post on the 16th. We encourage each other and try things for each other...like neighbors in a village. I've been a Babe for many years now and I still get a thrill when I bake the chosen bread. This month I'm Kitchen of the Month and I chose a fairly simple, but delicious Greek Village Bread - Horiatiko Psomi - which is enriched with milk and butter and is baked in a pot. The top is given an egg glaze after rising, then sprinkled with sesame seeds. They add a nice touch of flavor and texture to this bread. The semolina flour gives it some flavor. It's a somewhat rich bread,  not the simple Greek bread which has only flour, salt, yeast and olive oil.

Lucy Parissi is the recipe developer, food  photographer and author behind Supergolden Bakes. Supergoldenbakes.com has this recipe on their website. 

I have had this bread still warm with some butter, toasted, and as the bread for a ham sandwich. My favorite was the toast, but it was great bread the other ways, too.

 I love breads that can be baked in a Dutch oven...or on a baking stone and covered with a stainless steel bowl or something similar. You usually get a great crust and nice, moist loaf since the moisture is contained in the Dutch oven.

This is a fairly fine grained bread and mine was nicely moist, too. The bottom crust was sturdy and the top crust fairly thin and tender. You can slice it fairly thin if you like. Good gluten development, too. I did retard it overnight, which is almost always a good idea if you have time and refrigerator space.

Please be sure to visit the other Bread Baking Babes to see their take on this lovely bread round. I know that some have used their sourdough starter and it's likely that specialty flours like spelt have been used as well. Thanks Elizabeth of blog from OUR Kitchen for the beautiful Badge.

I encourage you to be a Bread Baking Buddy! Just bake the bread, using the recipe below, take a photo, and email the photo and a brief description of your bake to me by March 29th. I'll email you a Buddy Badge and include you in the round-up. Use 'plachman at sonic dot net' for the email address. Look at that photo below...of course you want to have some for yourself!

Normally I would include a story of how I found this recipe or why I chose it, but this week has been super busy...much more than usual...so I gave you a description of the bread instead.

Happy Bread Baking Babes March baking!

Horiatiko Psomi

Ingredients

4 1/3 cups (520 g) strong bread flour, plus extra for dusting

1/2 cup fine semolina 

1 tablespoon sugar

2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons (1 packet) rapid rise yeast

1 1/2 cups (360 ml) tepid water

1/4 cup (60 ml) milk

1/4 cup (60 ml) butter, melted and cooled

1 tablespoon olive oil, for the bowl

Topping:

1 egg white, beaten with 2 teaspoons water

3 tablespoons sesame seeds

 

Instructions

Place the flour, semolina, sugar, salt and yeast in a large mixing bowl. Stir together to combine.

Add the water, milk, and melted, cooled butter. Mix together on low speed using the dough hook attachment until the dough is elastic, smooth to the touch and forms a ball around the hook.

Alternately, to do it by hand, place the flour, semolina, sugar and salt and yeast in a large mixing bowl. Stir together to combine. 

Add the water, milk and melted, cooled butter.

Mix together using a dough whisk or a wooden spoon. You will have a shaggy dough.

Leave the dough to rest for 15 minutes then use your hands or the dough whisk to stretch and fold the dough

Flip the dough over and let it rest, loosely covered, for five minutes. Repeat the stretch and fold three more times, resting in between.

First Rise - either method

Drizzle the bowl with olive oil and turn the dough a few times so that it is greased with oil. Cover the bowl with a clean towel and leave it to rise for about 90 minutes or until doubled. In the summer it may take less time.

Deflate the dough and turn out onto a worktop lightly dusted with a little flour.

Shape the bread into a ball. Spread the dough out to make a rectangular shape. Fold one end in and then the other end over it like a letter. Flip over and use your hands to shape the dough into a ball. Cup in your hands and place in a bowl or a prepped banneton to rise for the second time, covered.

Bake

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C) for at least half an hour while the loaf is having its second rise. Place a lidded pot (Dutch oven) in the oven to preheat.

Gently invert the bread onto a dough sling or piece of baking parchment. Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with the sesame seeds.

Use a razor or lame to slice the top of the loaf with a cross shape. Carefully remove the pot from the oven. Lower the loaf into the pot, cover, and bake for 30 minutes.

Reduce the temperature to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Take the lid of the hot pot and bake for another 15-20 minutes.

Lift the bread out of the pot and allow it to cool on a wire rack before slicing.