Hellimli/Zeytinli (Halloumi bread and Olive bread)

First up, and most importantly, I’d like to say a huge congratulations to my wonderful, dear sweet friend, Fazile.  Our lovely Toplum P columnist and fab friend recently gave birth to the most beautiful, adorable little girl, Gul Peri.  She is such a darling little thing, born on Thursday 8th March 2007, weighing in at 6 pounds 9 ounces, Gul and Fazile and proud Dad, Sezgin, are all doing fine.  I send out my love and congrats to all the family including grandparents, aunties and cousins.  May she live a wonderful, happy, long life full of joy and laughter. 

It’s been much reported in the press recently about the amount of food we waste each year, food that goes uneaten, disposed of and eventually dumped in large landfill sites around the UK.  Ultimately, leading to more gassy omissions causing more harm to our environment.  We’ve all done it, bought a weekly shop, picked up more than we need and then found at the end of the week we haven’t cooked half of it.  Unfortunately, by this point most of the stuff has run it’s sell by and use by date and you have no other choice but to bin it.  I’ve always found this annoying, not least because there are many people around the world that go without food, starving and too poor to feed themselves or their families.  We were of course, reminded of this on last Saturday’s Red Nose appeal.  It was soul destroying and at times, frustrating to know that this is happening around the world, in the 21st century whilst individuals and large supermarket chains continue to dump food, food that could probably have been passed on to the hungry and needy.  So spare a thought for those less fortunate than yourself, and try to be a little more discreet with the way you shop.  Think about what you will buy before embarking on your shop, consider your week, plan your meals, decide the nights you just wont have the time to cook, don’t buy more than you need, buy and cook only just the right amount of food for your size family and if you have over made then there’s no harm in freezing any left overs.  Never shop on an empty stomach, this normally influences you to buy lots of fatty foods and “goodies” as I like to call them.  You might even find that spending a little time planning your weekly shop could save you time, money and even help you lost weight or just eat more healthily.   

Ok, time for this week’s recipe and one of the most popular Cypriot breads, Hellimli and its variant Zeytinli, otherwise known as Cheese bread and Olive bread.  The most important thing when making this is that you want it to be light and moist, not stodgy and heavy like a lead weight on your stomach.  If you follow the recipe you should get a deliciously moist bread.  Enjoy.

You will need:

Approximately 1 kg of strong bread flour, if you are using a traditional large round metal Cypriot tray.

2 to 3 tbsp of Olive oil

About 20g of fresh yeast or 2 sachets of dried yeast

1 tsp of salt

Lukewarm water

For the Halloumi bread: 2 blocks of Halloumi, cubed and some fresh or dried mint

For the Olive bread: About 100g of Black or green Olives, pitted and halved and 2 small onions, either pureed or very finely chopped

Preparation:

Oil your tray and set aside.

Sieve the flour into a very large bowl.  Make a well in the centre of the flour and place your fresh yeast in the middle.  Pour in some lukewarm water on to the yeast, about 50ml and melt the yeast with your hands.  (If you are using dried yeast, then follow the instruction on the packet before adding to your flour.)  Start blending the flour and yeast together, adding more lukewarm water a little at a time.  The idea is to produce a sticky mixture that looks lumpy.  Whilst adding your water add in your olive oil and salt, then either add your ingredients for Halloumi bread or for Olive bread.  Don’t add too much water.  Keep mixing with your hands to form the sticky mixture.  This is not like making traditional bread where you knead it to form a soft dough.

When the mixture is ready transfer to your oiled tray, cover and set aside to rise.  If it is a hot day this will only take about 30 minutes, so try to put it in a place that is warm.  Pre heat your oven to approximately gas mark 4 / 160*c. 

The mixture should no longer be sticky and will bounce up when pressed.  The dough is then ready to be put in the oven.  Bake for about 30 – 45 minutes.  The top will go a golden brown and form a crust and when a knife is inserted will come out clean.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly before cutting into squares.  I love to eat mine while it’s still lukewarm.  Delicious!

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