BBA #2 - Greek Celebration Bread

The second bread in the challenge is artos, a Greek celebration bread. Traditionally used as part of religious celebrations, the bread would be baked at home, then brought to the church for blessings. The basic recipe and shape of the loaf can be adjusted depending on what holiday it is for.

The first step is to make either a sourdough starter or a poolish. I haven't gotten a starter going yet (and it takes a week!), so I went with a poolish, which is easily made the night before. Quite simply, flour, water, and yeast are left to ferment overnight. Beautiful and simple! It is also incredibly sticky, as I discovered the next day.

The next day, the poolish is blended with a whole mess of ingredients - the usual salt, yeast, and flour are joined by milk, honey, spices, orange zest, and almond extract. It took a lot of stirring to combine them, because the poolish was just so darned sticky. Eventually they bonded enough that I could begin kneading. It was fairly sticky, but not too bad. I kept it going for 15 minutes or so, until I got as close as I've ever gotten to passing the windowpane test before I set it aside to rise.



The rise was uneventful, and the shaping simple with the advice the book gave. Pretty neat, actually, I don't think I've ever made a boule shape by hand. I split the dough in two as recommended by those who are further ahead in the challenge than I am. I'm glad I did, the loaves still came out to be a good size!

The second rise was a bit more troublesome - I had some trouble with my loaves drying out (Alaska is soooo dry this time of year!), and some difficulty figuring out if they were actually done rising or not. Eventually I gave up and popped them in the oven anyway. It all seemed to work out fine, with a lovely golden-brown result.

Now, to be frank, I'm not a huge fan of sweet breads, so I probably won't be making this again. I'm not entirely sure why, but I just prefer a plainer loaf. That said, I'm sure this bread is fantastic if that's your thing. I wish I'd added some raisins, but it still tastes great - especially toasted with whipped cinnamon butter.