Greek Bread - Psomi

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GREEK BREAD - PSOMI

Greek bread has always played an important part in the Greek diet.
Psomi has been the main staple, especially in frugal times, when the Greeks would survive on a chunk of bread with either cheese and a few vegetables or a bean soup and use the bread to dip in.

Today, a laid table is not complete without the bread basket brimming with fresh, crusty bread. The Greeks will go out of their way to buy a good fresh loaf, with everyone having their favourite bakeries and a good relationship with their baker. They will still prefer a fresh whole bread.

Sliced packet bread has still not made an impact in Greece. Occasionally people will buy a slightly dry, sliced bread to use in toasted sandwiches, otherwise it is still hard to find sliced bread to use in fresh sandwiches. It is just not a snack that has been adopted here in Greece.

Tsoureki Bread

There are many different
types of bread,
as well as special
Greek bread recipes that
are only made for
certain times of the year
such as Christmas and Easter.

Before households had their own ovens, Greek housewifes would make up several batches of their own Greek bread recipe at home, maybe once or twice a week, put the ready to be baked dough into a wooden carrying board (that normally had sections for each loaf), and carry it off to the local baker to be baked in his oven. Hours later the women would return to collect their baked loaves.

The bakers oven became the focal point of village life, even acting as a communal kitchen, as the women brought in not only their breads to be baked, but also their individual casseroles to enjoy long slow cooking in the embers of the bread oven when the days baking was done.

Batch of Greek Bread

In some villages today,
you will find the bakers
will still take in food
to be cooked in
the old traditional way.

Even today, when life is easier, bread still has an almost religious significance in parts of Greece.

Do not be put off by the idea of how to make your own bread. There is nothing better than the aroma of home made baking bread wafting from the oven and it is so much tastier than shop bread. You also know there will be no preservatives and other chemicals in your own bread. Healthier and tastier, what more could you want.

Kali Orexi

Greek Bread Recipe

Tsoureki - Greek Easter Bread

Grilled Bread

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