Cretan barley rusks (Paximadi Kritiko)

Cretan twice-baked barley rusks

Origin: Crete, Greece

From the journey of Barley.

Paximadi (παξιμάδι) is one of Crete's most ancient and beloved foods, a twice-baked barley rusk that descends directly from the hard biscuits that fed Greek sailors, soldiers, and shepherds for over two millennia. The word itself may derive from Paxamos, a 1st-century CE Roman cookbook author. The technique of double-baking bread (baking once to cook, then returning to a low oven to dry completely) was developed specifically for preservation, paximadia keep for months without refrigeration, surviving long sea voyages and winter mountain retreats. Cretan paximadia are distinguished by their high barley content, which gives them a distinctive dark colour, dense texture, and earthy flavour. In Cretan homes today they are softened briefly in water, drizzled with excellent olive oil, piled with fresh tomatoes and Cretan graviera cheese: a dish called dakos, considered one of the great meze of the Mediterranean.

Ingredients

Main

  • 300 g barley flour (about 2½ cups)
  • 200 g plain wheat flour (about 1⅔ cups)

Leaven

  • 7 g dried instant yeast (1 sachet)
  • 1 tsp sugar

Seasoning

  • 1 tsp fine salt

Liquid

  • 250 ml warm water (approximately)

Enrichment

  • 3 tbsp olive oil

Method

  1. Combine the barley flour, wheat flour, yeast, salt, and sugar. Add the olive oil, then gradually add warm water, mixing to form a firm dough. Knead for 5–7 minutes until smooth-ish (barley dough will never be as smooth as pure wheat).
  2. Place in an oiled bowl, cover, and leave to rise in a warm place for 1 hour until roughly doubled.
  3. Preheat oven to 200°C (390°F). Shape the dough into 16 small oval rolls or disc shapes. Place on lined baking sheets and bake for 20–25 minutes until golden.
  4. Remove from oven. Allow to cool slightly, then cut each roll in half through the middle (creating two thin discs from each roll) with a serrated knife.
  5. Reduce oven to 120°C (250°F). Return the halved paximadia, cut side up, to the oven. Bake for 50–60 minutes until completely dry, hard, and deeply golden-brown. They should be fully desiccated: no give at all when pressed.
  6. Cool completely on a rack. Store in an airtight tin.

Notes

To serve as dakos: briefly dip a paximadi in cold water for 5–10 seconds until just softened at the surface but still crunchy. Place on a plate, drizzle generously with excellent Cretan extra-virgin olive oil, top with grated fresh tomato, crumbled feta or grated graviera, a pinch of dried oregano, and a pinch of salt. This is one of the finest simple dishes in the world.

The Gastrographer

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