In Turkey, this smooth bread enriched with olive oil and honey is a traditional bakery’s essential.
As it happens, Ekmek means bread in Turkish.
Today, follow Éric Kayser's steps and (re)discover this bread, which will pair perfectly with savoury or sweet flavours.
The ingredients:
500g of wheat flour.
100g of sourdough starter.
10g of salt.
7g to 8g of fresh baker’s yeast.
225g of water.
75g of honey.
40g of olive oil (+ some for the greasing)
The utensils:
A mixing bowl if you knead by hand or an electric stand mixer.
A thermometer.
A brush.
A dough scrapper.
A dough cutter.
A blade lame.
A oven rack.
A greaseproof paper.
The timings:
Kneading: more or less 15 minutes.
1st rising: 2 hours.
Rest: 30 minutes.
Proofing: 2 hours.
Baking: 20 minutes at 230°C.
The recipe:
*Kneading by hand*
At first, pour the water in a mixing bowl. A water at 25°C / 30°C (a little bit more temperate than for a kneading with a mixer).
Then, add small fragments of fresh baker’s yeast.
Now, add the flour, the salt and finally the sourdough starter.
Start to mix with your hand.
Add the honey and keep on kneading, taking care of grabbing all the ingredients on the sides and the bottom.
Once the kneading is homogeneous, add the oil.
And knead, again, with strength (taking and strangling the dough).
Repeat this gesture until the oil is completely absorbed.
Then, start to blend air in the dough by throwing it in front of you and turning it.
*Kneading with a mixer*
Add the flour, the salt the water, the sourdough starter, the fresh baker’s yeast and the honey in the mixing bowl.
Knead for 5 minutes at low speed, then for 7 minutes at high speed.
Add the oil and continue to knead for another 3 minutes.
Dust your mixing bowl with flour.
Form a nice ball and cover the dough with the cloth.
Leave it to rest for 2 hours.
Slightly dust the table with flour.
And divide the dough in 3 equal portions.
Form balls.
And leave them to rest for 30 minutes covered with a cloth.
Gently get rid of the air in the doughs.
Form balls and flattening them a bit with the hand because the Ekmek bread are a bit flatten than our previous breads.
Place them down on your oven rack covered with greaseproof paper.
Score them in polka.
Leave them to proof for two hours.
And bake them for 20 minutes at 230°C, 240°C.
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