KOULOURI
Koulouri Thessalonikis - Greek Sesame Bread Rings
Makes 12 , Ready in 1.5 hours
Koulouri - Greek sesame bread rings
Golden and crisp on the outside, soft and chewy in the middle, Greek koulouri is one of Greece’s most beloved street foods. These traditional Greek sesame bread rings, often sold fresh from bakeries and street carts in Thessaloniki and Athens, are simple, wholesome, and delicious. Made with kitchen cupboard staples like plain flour, olive oil, salt and sugar, and coated generously in sesame seeds, this traditional koulouri recipe brings authentic Mediterranean flavour right into your kitchen.
INGREDIENTS
For the dough:
500g plain flour
2 tspn salt
300g lukewarm water
7g dry active yeast
1 tspn sugar
3 tbspn olive oil
For the topping:
250g sesame seeds
Water
METHOD
Combine the yeast, sugar and lukewarm water in a measuring jug before covering with cling film and leaving for 10 minutes or so until it bubbles.
Add the flour, salt and olive oil into a large mixing bowl before adding the yeast mixture and knead together until smooth and elastic. Begin brining the dough together in the mixing bowl and then finish kneading it on a work surface.
Lightly coat the mixing bowl in olive oil before placing the dough back in. Cover the bowl with a damp tea towel and leave in a warm place for 30 minutes.
At this stage you can heat your oven to 200 degrees.
Remove the cover and knock the dough back. Place it on the work surface and knead it again, before diving it into 12 pieces.
Roll each piece of dough into a long sausage shape around 30-35cm in length before looping and securing them into circle shapes.
Dip the circles in some water and cover with sesame seeds.
Bake in the oven at 200 degrees for 15 minutes or until golden.