Koulouria Thessalonikis
These typical greek breadrolls are best enjoyed warm and fresh out of the oven! But they are so tasty that it will not take long anyway before they are all finished….
Ingredients
- oil with neutral taste (like canola oil)
Dough
- 300 ml water lukewarm
- 1 packet dry yeast approx. 7g
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 500 g flour
- 1 tbsp salt
Crust
- 500 ml water lukewarm
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 250 g sesame seed
Instructions
- Put 300 ml water, the dry yeast and 3 tbsp sugar in a bowl. Mix this well, and then wait 5 minutes, until it starts foaming / fizzing.
- Add the flour and the salt, and mix this until it forms a dough. Take the dough out of the bowl, and knead it for at least 15 minutes, until it becomes elastic / springy.
- Grease the inside of the bowl with some oil, then place the dough back into the bowl and cover it with a wet dishcloth. Wait 30 to 90 minutes until the dough has doubled in volume.
- Pour 500ml water in another bowl. Stir in the sugar until it is fully dissolved. But the sesame seed in a different bowl. Preheat the oven to 220°C. Cover two baking trays with baking paper
- Rub some oil on your working surface (with a paper towel). Then shape the dough into a cilinder, and cut it into 10 equal pieces.
- Roll each piece into a 30cm long rope. Moisten the ends with some sugarwater and attach them to eachother. Then, first dip the koulouria in the bowl with sugar water, followed by dipping them in the sesame seeds. After that, put them on the baking paper with the sesame side up.
- Bake the koulouria for 17-20 minutes, until the crust is golden brown.
- Let them cool down a bit and eat them as is (the way they are sold on the streets of Thessaloniki, Greece) or cut them in half and put some sweet or savoury topping on it.
Notes
This recipe was developed for the summer 2021 edition of VEGAN Magazine by the Nederlandse Vereniging voor Veganisme (Dutch association for veganism). The Dutch version of the recipe can be found here: https://issuu.com/veganisme/docs/vegan_magazine_nr_129_-_zomer_2021/18