Chickpea-leavened Bread, and the Glorious Zaytinya Book

The devastating killing of the WCK volunteers in Gaza has overshadowed the joy and triumph I wanted to express for the events celebrating the book's publication

Many Greek women still believe that bread rises by divine intervention.

If you tell them that a batter of flour and water will ferment from the various airborne microorganisms if left for a few days, they refuse to believe it.

This, more than any bread, is surrounded by superstition. Discussing my various tries to create a reliable recipe with fellow journalists in one of the last magazines I worked for, I remember the secretary looking at me with horror. She took me aside and told me me that if I seriously wanted my eftazymo to succeed, I should keep it secret, not tell a soul, otherwise it was bound to fail.  

Adapted from my Foods of the Greek Islands.

This delicious, fragrant bread is leavened using fermented chickpeas rather than the piece of starter dough that is part of most traditional Greek breads. The word eftazymo means “kneaded seven times,” but it does not actually describe the process of making the bread. Many scholars believe that the first part of the word is not efta (seven), but instead a phonetic variation of the prefix auto, referring to bread that rises by itself, without sourdough.

The only baker who makes this chickpea starter bread commercially, on a large scale, is Yannis Argyrakis from Chios. He had invited me into his workshop there but warned me that he wasn’t going to reveal his secrets. “It’s like a diamond bracelet that you can’t let everybody know you have,” he told me.

Traditionally, the starter is made from a handful of whole or coarsely crushed chickpeas that are soaked in warm water and kept at a constant warm temperature for 7 to 12 hours, until a thick froth forms on the surface of the water. This froth, sometimes without the chickpeas, is then mixed with flour.

Village women usually begin the process of making eftazymo in the afternoon, placing the peas in a covered clay pot that they nestle under lots of blankets. One woman from Cyprus told me that she wraps a woolen shawl around the well-sealed jar of crushed chickpeas and water and holds it between her thighs all night long (!)

Other women get up a couple of times in the middle of the night to add warm water to the bowl or jar of chickpeas, especially during cold winter nights.

Fortunately, today we have the means to keep the chickpeas at a constant temperature—either in a low oven or under an electric blanket—and that, as I found out, is the key to the success of the starter.

Makes one 10-inch bread, or two smaller loaves

STARTER

1 ½ cups chickpeas, preferably organic

2 cups all-purpose flour

BREAD

2 1/2–3 cups All-purpose flour

½ cup whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon coarse sea salt or kosher salt

About 2/3 cup slightly warm water, or as needed

Nigella seeds (optional)

Make the starter: Place the chickpeas in a large bowl and add water to cover by 4 inches. Let stand for at least 6 hours, or overnight in warm weather (see NOTE).

Place the chickpeas and their water in a blender or food processor and pulse, to coarsely grind them.

Return the chickpeas to the bowl and add warm (100°F) water to cover by 2 inches. Set the oven on low (warm) and place the bowl inside, or surround the bowl with an electric blanket.

Let stand for 12 to 18 hours, or until a thick foam forms on the surface of the liquid.

In a large bowl, combine the chickpea foam with 2 cups white flour. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in the oven set to its lowest temperature or under the electric blanket for about 3 hours.

Remove the starter from the oven or blanket and let stand for 4 to 5 hours more, or until tripled in size.

To make the bread place 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, the whole wheat flour, and salt in a food processor and pulse to combine. With the motor running, pour in the starter and 1/2 cup water and process for about 30 seconds. Let the dough rest in the processor for 15 minutes. Process the dough for about 2 minutes more, or until smooth and a little sticky (add a little water if the dough is too stiff).

Oil an 8- or 9-inch round pan and a piece of plastic wrap. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead for 3 to 4 minutes, adding a little more all-purpose flour as needed until the dough is soft and elastic.

Shape the dough into a loaf and place in the pan. If you like, place the dough in a 6-cup cake pan and slash it deeply with a wet knife at 1-inch intervals. Cover with oiled plastic wrap and place in the oven set to its lowest temperature. Let rise for 2 to 3 hours, or until doubled in size.

Remove the plastic wrap and sprinkle the dough with the nigella seeds.

With the bread still inside, preheat the oven to 400°F. Bake for about 25-35 minutes.

Wearing oven mitts, take the bread out of the pan and place it directly on the oven rack. Bake for 10 minutes more, or until it sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom. Let cool on a rack before slicing.

NOTE: These days even organic chickpeas seem to take much longer to ferment, but do not despair; they always ferment eventually, often after 5-6 days in cold winter days

To make savory chickpea biscuits, break off pieces of the bread after it cools completely and place them on the oven rack. Bake for 45 minutes more in a low (180°F) oven, until completely dry.

The devastating killing of the young, hardworking WCK volunteers in Gaza has overshadowed the joy and triumph I wanted to express for the events in Miami, NY and DC for the glorious Zaytinya book’s publication.

 Already a NYT bestseller, the book seems to be loved by everybody! I am truly proud to have written the introduction and I cannot thank enough José and his brilliant team for treating me like royalty during the whole US trip!

Marcela Valdes’ thoughtful, wonderful piece in the NYT Magazine describing Zaytinya behind the scenes captures the essence of José Andres’ way of creating and sustaining the taste that people love at Zaytinya, and his other restaurants, while also giving his soul to his magnificent humanitarian work.

He surrounds himself with great, talented people from all over the world who guarantee the beloved restaurant’s consistency.  Hilda Mazariegos, the kitchen’s soul, who has been with Zaytinya almost since day one, started as line cook twenty years ago, to become an executive sous chef. I missed Hilda so much and the kitchen’s inspiring atmosphere as I haven’t been to the US since 2018.

Fortunately, I talk at least once a week with my dear friend, Zaytinya head chef, Michael Costa, co-author of the book, who is a rare person, a tireless worker, dedicated to continue José’s vision.

As Valdes’ piece explains, “he had no experience cooking Greek, Turkish or Lebanese food when he was hired, in 2010, to begin what would be an 11-year run as Zaytinya’s head chef. “Hilda trained me,” he explained over lunch. When he told Andrés that he was nervous about his inexperience, Andrés said not to worry: The way Zaytinya worked, it wouldn’t matter. “It took me a really long time to understand — like really, really understand — what he meant by that,” Costa said. “It’s a village of talented people who have contributed over the years, documenting and standardizing what we do so that we can be consistent.” READ more.