Kosovo - leqenik (corn bread)

Don't feel badly if you are not too sure about the exact location of Kosovo. This tiny land-locked Balkan republic only declared independence on this date (February 17th) in 2008.

Much longer-standing is its cuisine though, with a close resemblance to Albanian food, and sharing many dishes with other countries throughout this part of south-eastern Europe and into central Asia.

Somun, or pita bread, is one of the most sold breads. Often used for breakfast, in some cities, you can find somun baked with eggs and suxhuk (a spicy sausage) on top. 

Corn bread is also very popular in Kosovo, called leqenik there, and usually filled with spinach, or cheese, but it may be eaten without any filling as well.

I thought I would share with you another spinach corn bread which I have developed that is very similar.

SPINACH CORN BREAD

1/2 cup maize flour (this is the fine pale yellow flour, not polenta)

1/2 cup self-raising flour (OR use plain flour with baking powder)

2 eggs

2 tablespoons oil

1/2 cup sour cream or yoghurt

pinch salt

grind of nutmeg (optional)

125g frozen spinach, thawed

1 clove garlic, crushed

1/2 cup grated sheeps cheese OR cottage cheese/ricotta

In a large bowl, mix all ingredients together and spoon into a greased 20cm pan or loaf dish. Bake in a preheated 190C oven for 30 minutes or until done when tested with a skewer. Serve with main course or cut into pieces and toast lightly.

Lithuania - Rye bread

Lithuania is the southernmost country of the former Soviet Baltic States. From a repressed region to an emerging country, Lithuania has always valued it hearty dark rye breads, or rugine duona. When travelling in this country, in the mid-1990s, just after the Soviets had withdrawn, we enjoyed many of these almost black breads.

There are many rituals and belief associated with it. Read more here...

 

February 16 is Lithuanian State Re-establishment Day, commemorating the declaration of independence from Russia and Germany in 1918.

This is a bread I have made for many years. It was called this wherever I first found the parent-recipe, so 'peasant' is not meant to be derogatory, simply to underline that it is a homespun, heritage-style recipe.

You will find the dough is more 'slippery' to work with because of the high proportion of rye flour, but it is so delicious when baked that you won't think twice before making it again.

PEASANT RYE BREAD

3 teaspoons instant coffee
2.5 cups warm water
3 tablespoons treacle or golden syrup
1/4 cup olive oil

3 cups rye flour
approximately 2 cups white or wholemeal plain flour
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup gluten flour
1 tablespoon dry yeast
2 cups fine dry breadcrumbs, toasted until very dark
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 tablespoon caraway seeds (optional)

Dissolve the coffee in the water. Add treacle (or golden syrup) and oil. Toast the breadcrumbs until dark brown but not burnt.

In a bowl place the dry ingredients, keeping back 1/2 cup white flour, and mix well. Pour in the liquid and mix to a soft dough, adding more flour as needed. Knead well to a smooth dough, place in a greased bowl, cover and leave to rise for around one hour until doubled. Punch down, shape into two long oval loaves, and place on greased trays, cover and leave to rise again for thirty minutes. Slash tops with a sharp knife and glaze with a mixture of coffee and water, or espresso coffee.

Bake in a preheated 190C oven for 30-45 minutes until loaves sound hollow when knocked on the bottom. Cool on a rack. Serve sliced thinly. The last few slices may be kept, dried and crumbed to add to the next batch of dough.

However not every Lithuanian bread is dark. To see the lighter side go to Clouds Magazine.

Serbia - Cesnica celebration bread

February 15 commemorates the beginning of the Serbian revolution against Ottoman rule in 1804, and the country's first constitution in 1835.

Serbian cuisine combines elements from adjoining countries: Greece, Balkan countries, Turkey, Austria and Hungary. Bread is vital and if you visit a Serbian home you may be welcomed with bread and salt.

A popular Christmas bread is Cesnica, often highly decorated, and shared by breaking the bread apart. Watch these videos for the authentic way to make this bread: the baking and the sharing.

This bread is also known as bozicni kolac, Christmas bread, or money bread as a coin is hidden in the dough before baking. Whoever gets the coin will be lucky for the entire year. In some families, the bread is made without eggs or dairy (and probably served for the fasting meal on Christmas Eve - badnje vece) others make a sweeter version with raisins 

However, as many of these breads are made with a basic bun dough recipe – sweeter, lighter, richer that everyday bread – I thought I would begin with my recipe and then add directions for a lovely cinnamon-sugar pull-apart bread.

BASIC BUNDOUGH

1/4 cup melted butter (65g)

l egg

1/4 cup castor sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon dry yeast

l cup lukewarm water and milk mixed together

2.5-3 cups plain flour

Place the flour in a bowl and add salt and yeast and mix together well. Mix the butter, egg, sugar, salt and yeast into the milk-water mixture. Add enough flour to make a soft dough. Mix well and knead until well incorporated. Cover and leave for an hour or until doubled, punch down then use to make the pull-apart loaf.

Cut the dough into small pieces about the size of a small egg and roll each into a ball. Dip each ball into  melted butter, roll in a mixture of castor sugar and cinnamon, then arrange in a couple of layers in a springform cake tin. Cover and let rise for thirty minutes (or until doubled) then bake in a preheated 190C oven for around 40 minutes or until golden. Remove from tin and cool on a rack.

The bread comes out of the oven, fragrant and golden, ready to eat almost immediately.

 Break the bread apart to serve. Sometimes breads like this are called 'monkey bread' - possibly because of the way people use their hands to tear it open.

And of course you can spread it with butter or jam or anything you like. For a savoury version, after dipping the balls in butter, they can be rolled in grated cheese and chopped jalapenos, or herbs or spices.

Iran and Japan: Barbari bread and curry bread

Two countries share this date for their national day. Although on opposite sides of the world with very different cultures and cuisines, of course like people worldwide, for each country, bread is important.

For Iran, February 11 is the anniversary of the 1979 victory of the Islamic Revolution. Most people know that the older name for Iran is Persia, and that Persian food draws on ancient recipes as well as its rich produce.

As in many cuisines throughout the Middle East and Central Asia, bread is often baked in tall cylindrical brick ovens, the pieces of dough being dabbed onto the furnace-hot walls and baked for just minutes before being ready to take out and eat. There could hardly be better and tastier form of 'fast food'.

These breads are often very long and can be torn into pieces to share around the family. Barbari (above) means "of or related to Barbars" in Persian. Barbars are a group of people living in Khorasan near Iran's eastern borders.

This type of bread is perhaps the most common style baked in Iran. It is served in many restaurants with Tabriz cheese, made from ewe's milk and similar to feta cheese. It is also called Tabrizi Bread because of its connections with the City of Tabriz.

Japan celebrates its National Foundation Day on February 11 too. This is because Jimmu, Japan's first emperor, was crowned on this date in 660 BC.

Although the Japanese diet does not use much bread - relying on rice and noodles for  its carbs - an unusual and popular bread is kari pan, or curry bread. To make this just take some plain yeasted bread dough and roll out rounds about 15cm in diameter. A spoonful of curry is then placed in the centre and the dough is sealed up. But being Japanese, it doesn't end there.

The roll is then coated with beaten egg and panko breadcrumbs and then either deep-fried or baked. Little wonder it is such a popular food in Japan! Crispy, crunchy and with a spicy savoury filling. To get a better idea, and the confidence to try it for yourself, watch this video.

This blogpost also provides a good explanation about kare pan.

Grenada - Fry bakes

This tiny (344 square kilometre) eastern Caribbean island today celebrates its independence from the UK in 1974.

Mention Grenada and most people think of nutmeg as this is a 'spice island'. Cinnamon, cloves, ginger, mace, allspice, orange and citrus peels, and wild coffee are used by the locals in their dishes.

Interestingly, the cuisine does not largely rely on breads, although a sort of puri is used to wrap servings of dhal-type dishes.

One quick bread that is popular is 'fry bake' the name basically explaining it all. These can be made from a scone-like dough, or else yeasted bread dough. See this video using pizza dough.....

In each case the dough is allowed to rest or rise (depending on the type used) then cut into pieces which are rolled out, then fried.

FRY BAKES

4 cups self-raising flour

good pinch of salt

1 teaspoon castor sugar

1 tablespoon oil or butter

water

Oil for frying

Place flour, salt, and sugar in a large bowl then drizzle in the oil and add water to make a soft dough. Knead lightly then leave covered for about half an hour. Divide the dough into 10-12 pieces and roll into balls. Heat about 3cm of oil in a deep pan or small saucepan to 175C - not too hot.

Roll each ball of dough to 10cm then add one at a time to the hot oil. They will sink, then begin to float. When browning on one side, turn carefully over and brown the other side. Drain on paper towels.

Makes 10-12.

These are often made in Grenada to serve with fried fish, often shark, although they can be eaten just as a bread with other dishes, for breakfast, or as a sandwich at lunch.

  

New Zealand - cheese rolls and Maori bread

Australia's nearest neighbour, New Zealand, celebrates today as Waitangi Day, to commemorate the 1840 signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, the country's founding document,  between the Maori chiefs and representatives of the British Crown.

While much of New Zealand's cuisine follows British or other western cuisines, or else combines with Maori techniques, it has a couple of unique breads that are all its own.

One thing the Kiwis (the people, not the bird!) have all to themselves is a national favourite - the cheese roll, sometimes referred to as 'southern sushi'. On our last trip to New Zealand, we found it proudly offered on the blackboard menu at a Dunedin beachside cafe. It has to be the simplest snack served anywhere: a slice of bread spread with a mixture of cheese and onion soup mix or, simply with onion, which is then rolled up and toasted in the oven or a sandwich maker. It is served with a slap of butter, as you can see.

The other, Maori bread (rēwena, from rēwa the maori word for potato) is far more complex, combining a potato starter which results in a finely textured loaf, readily available in New Zealand.

Rēwena bread uses a pre-ferment starter, also called a ‘bug.’ It is created by boiling and mashing potatoes, then adding flour and sugar. Kumara, or sweet potatoes, may also be used. The mixture is then allowed to ferment from one to several days, depending on the ambient temperature and humidity. 

As with most sourdough breads, the starter can be maintained and used indefinitely, as long as the yeast is kept alive with regular feeding. The potato starter and fermentation lends rēwena bread its characteristic sweet and sour taste. The starter is then mixed with flour and water, kneaded, and baked- frequently in a round loaf.

Here is one recipe for Maori bread, and a Youtube video of Maori fried bread.

Sri Lanka - Pol roti

I love baking, and especially making bread. What's more I travel a lot, and always try to find the local breads - to taste, of course, but also to see if I can figure out how they are made.

So a simple mix of these elements has to be a blog about breads, but not just ones I have discovered (although there will be some of those too) but ones that fit the national day of a country.

Today is Sri Lanka's national day - Independence Day since 1948 when the country achieved autonomy from the UK.

One bread that many Sri Lankans enjoy is pol roti (coconut bread) a flat bread often enjoyed at breakfast with a hot, hot curry.

These are super-easy to make (well, even accomplished Sri Lankan cooks don't have endless time at breakfast!) and cook quickly. In Sri Lanka every kitchen has a dead-flat cast-iron pan on which all these flat breads are cooked, but in western countries these may not be in every kitchen. So I found an alternative and it works better than the authentic one (and yes, I do have one of those too).

Here's my recipe using my trusty Cafe Press (electric sandwich toaster). If you choose to use this, make sure yours has flat plates.Or you can use a heavy cast-iron frypan or pancake pan.

Pol Roti (makes six small ones)

1 1/2 cups plain strong bread flour

3/4 cup desiccated coconut

good pinch salt

1/4 cup oil

140ml can coconut milk

extra water if needed

Place the flour, salt and coconut in a bowl and mix together. Pour in oil and coconut milk and mix together until the dough comes together (which it will do easily) adding more water if necessary. Cover with plastic and let rest for 30 minutes if possible.

Cut into six equal pieces and roll each into a ball. Oil the kitchen bench or a board and roll out each piece thinly to about a 15cm round. Preheat cafe press or pan and place one or two breads on the base. If using the cafe press you will not need to turn the breads as it cooks both sides at once. You can lift the lid a little towards to end to allow the bread to puff. 

If using a pan and the bread begins to puff, encourage it by holding a spatula  or teatowel gently on top until it does.

Enjoy these with curry or with almost anything you like. Enjoy!

Watch a video of a Sri Lankan chef making pol.

PS: After I posted this I checked another book, Flatbreads and Flavors, a favourite of mine by two amazing people, Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid, who have written a number of cookery books for many regions of the world. Each one is meticulously researched by one or the other of them on extensive field trips to the areas they are writing about.

And, yes, you guessed it! I found a different recipe for pol there. This one was almost a batter, and even more surprising, I could see from the notes I had written in on the recipe, I had cooked it. According to the date I had also put there it was in 1996!

(NOTE: to those purists who - like I used to be - feel it is almost sacrilege to write in a book, I have now rationalised it as 'this is my book, my research notes, and it's the best place to keep them'.)