This is a difficult one to post about. I am not sure this is the actual recipe for tiganopsomo (directly translated as fried bread), but this is what I had as a child and this is what we called it. (By the way, I am completely ignoring the fact that I have not posted for over 6 months, OK?). It is basically a bread dough stuffed with feta and then fried instead of baked. Mmm, fried bread!Apparently there are lots of different types of tiganopsomo depending on which part of Greece and which family you talk to. This is one version.
I was walking through Peckham a few months ago, on my way to pick up my daughter after work (my work, not hers, before you start judging!) and I smelt the most amazing thing; someone was cooking tiganopsomo! Well, I m not sure that they were, but it smelt like it! So I called my brother for the recipe, but he couldn't remember it, so I then asked my mum, who wasn't quite sure either. I then went to a friend, whose father first introduced me and my family to the dish. Nona, who in the meantime had heard I was looking for the recipe, ad my friend got back to me within the same hour! Happy days - I finally had the recipe! What was the recipe I was given? First step; get ready made bread dough from your local bakery! Hah! In London! Oh well. I made my own. I am still not quite sure whether the dough should be used before or after the proving stage but here is what I attempted and it worked out fairly well.
Serves 4
For the Bread Dough:
250g strong bread flour
5g dried yeast
5g salt
20ml olive oil, plus extra for kneading
120ml warm water
For the filling:
200g feta
100g soft goats cheese, or any other cheese you fancy (cheddar, Gruyere etc)
a good pinch of oregano (dried or fresh) or other fresh herbs like basil or dill - whatever you like best, really
a good grind of pepper
Put all the dried ingredients for the dough in a bowl (according to a load of baking shows I saw recently, you shouldn't put the salt near the yeast,as this will kill the yeast). Make a well in the middle, add the olive oil and the water and mix. The lay out on an oiled surface and knead for a good 5-10 minutes.
Return to a bowl and let it rise (covered) for at least 30 minutes. Once risen spread it out into a long, flat shape (about 20cm wide by 50cm long). This doesn't need to be too thin, but not too thick either. If there is dough in excess, you can always make another small tiganopsomo, or bake it as a bread roll!
Crumble and mix the cheeses together with the herbs the place in the centre of the dough. Close the dough up so that the edges from the short ends meet and you end up with a long roll of dough. You then roll the dough around itself (like a snake) and place in a large frying pan with a little olive oil over a low-medium heat for 20 minutes each side (take care not to burn the dough).
Enjoy with a nice tomato salad.
