Our Tomato-salad Bread

With the leftovers of the tomato-onion-caper-olive-oil-and-herb salad instead of water we create a delicious lagana (flat bread)

Often during the summer I make a chewy, somewhat heavy and delicious flat bread using, instead of water, the leftovers of our tomato-onion-and-caper salad.

This was an ideal leftover salad to mash, as it had fresh thyme and some tangy purslane sprigs. I added a few onion rings and a tablespoon of capers.

I like to vary and experiment with the breads I bake, as well as with the various savory biscotti —the bread slices I dry in the oven.

Brian Levy

recently posted a recipe for grissini with mashed spinach, which reminded me of the green biscotti I used to make using mashed nettles that I collect and blanch in the spring. I keep the pulp in the freezer and use it all year round.

We love our tomato-salad-bread and often make it in the winter, when large vine-ripened tomatoes are not available. I use a combination of the all-year flavorful cherry tomatoes, upping their taste with a few sun-dried ones (See the recipe’s Note).

Keep in mind that I am no professional baker or chef, just a home cook. I have been cooking our everyday dishes with my mother and grandmother since I was 11 years old.

I seldom use very precise weight or volume for the various doughs I make; and I do bake quite often. I know that the stainless-steel bowl of my KitchenAid holds about 6-7 cups of flour, and the larger, glass bowl almost 8. I usually drop in a combination of flours —heirloom emmer (if I happen to have some), strong, yellow bread flour —what Italians call ‘pasta flour’— and of course whole-wheat, and about 1 cup barley flour if I am lucky to have some.

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Strangely, while barley was traditionally the basic flour on Kea and the other Cycladic islands, these days I have to order it from Athens, while our supermarkets recently carry buckwheat flour(!) Seems it is the latest fashionable grain…

In my regular breads I usually add 2-3 tablespoons carob flour —we will talk more about carobs in another post. I enhance the bread’s flavor with my favorite aromatics: ground coriander and anise seeds, plus maybe some mahlep.

But when I add mushed leftover tomato salad instead of water these aromatics are not needed.

An old, and strangely flattering photo of me bringing a tomato-topped lagana to the table. And below our garden’s first tomatoes of the year.

Tomato-salad Bread

Yields 2 laganes (focaccia-like flat breads)

2 cups fine semolina or pasta flour

3 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1 cup barley flour (optional) or 1 more cup whole wheat flour

3 teaspoons instant dry yeast

2 teaspoons salt

3 1/2 teaspoons mixed ground coriander seeds, caraway, and mahlep (optional)

1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper (optional)

2 ½ cups tomato-onion-caper pulp (see NOTE)

4 tablespoons olive oil, and more for the bowl and to drizzle on the bread

About 1 cup spring water (non chlorinated), or more, as needed

TOPPING (optional)

2 cups coarsely grated or shaved graviera, or aged cheddar cheese

2-3 beefsteak tomatoes cut into very thin slices, or several cherry tomatoes, halved

Good pinch Greek oregano or rosemary and/or freshly ground black pepper

Place flours, yeast and spices in the bowl of a standing mixer and toss with a spatula. Make a well in the center and add 2 1/2 cups tomato pulp and the olive oil.

Fit the bowl to the mixer and work with the dough hook on low for 2 minutes. With the motor running add water as needed to make a soft dough and work it for 6 minutes or more, occasionally stopping to turn the dough over with a large spatula.

It should still be wet and somewhat sticky, but start to come off the sides of the bowl. If too dry, add a little more water, if too wet add a few tablespoons all purpose flour.

Lightly oil a large transparent or semi-transparent bowl, as well as a piece of plastic wrap. Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and shape into a ball. Transfer to the oiled bowl, cover with the oiled wrap and let rise until double its volume: about 1 hour or more.

(When the dough has expanded to about 1 1/2 times its size you may transfer the dough to the refrigerator, and leave it overnight and up to 24 hours. It will continue to rise very slowly. Before proceeding further, bring to room temperature).

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and halve with a spatula.
Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper, drizzle the paper with olive oil, and place one piece of dough on each. Drizzle the top with olive oil, wet your fingers and press the dough, making dimples and streching the dough out to fill the baking sheet. Cover with oiled plastic and let the laganes rise for another 30 minutes — they won’t rise much.

Preheat the oven to 450°F (230 C).

Spread the cheese over each of the breads, to cover the surface. Press with your palm so that the cheese sticks on the dough, and top with tomato slices. Drizzle very lightly with olive oil, sprinkle with oregano or rosemary and/or finishing salt and freshly ground pepper.

Turn on the broiler and place the first baking sheet 5-6 inches from the flame. Bake for about 6 minutes, until the tomatoes start to sizzle and the cheese melts.

Move the bread to the bottom of the oven, and slide the other baking sheet into the vacated space, close to the flame. After 5-6 minutes, turn off the broiler and lower the heat to 375°F.

Transfer the second bread close to the bottom of the oven, below the first, and continue baking for another 15 minutes, changing once more the positions of the breads — always at the lower part of the oven. Check that the first bread is well browned on top and bottom; if not, bake it a bit longer. When done, transfer to a rack to cool, and bake the second bread a few minutes more.

Let cool for 5-10 minutes before you slice and serve.

NOTE:

To make the tomato pulp with summer, vine-ripened tomatoes, puree in the blender 2-3 medium tomatoes with 1 small onion, and 1 tablespoon drained and rinsed capers.

In the winter, soak in 1/3 cup warm water, 5 good quality sun-dried tomatoes (NOT the ones kept in jars with olive oil) for about 20 minutes. Transfer the tomatoes and their liquid to the blender, together with 8-10 large cherry tomatoes, 1 small onion and 1 tablespoon drained and rinsed capers.