I was very happy to discover a recipe for Koulouri on Le Pétrain. Koulouri is a Greek bread I fell in love with ever since I went to Athens. It is originally a bread shaped as a loaf stemming from Cyprus. But in Athens it is commonly sold having the shape of a thin doughnut, and somehow, it is the Greek Bretzel, a bread anyone could eat any occasion, a casual and handy snack. They are sold in bakeries and on the street, even very early in the morning in front of nightclubs.
Nevertheless, Koulouri is totally different from Bretzel, and even from doughnuts although they have a similar shape. Koulouri is a light brown bread covered with sesame seeds and has a slightly sweet taste without being buttery or salty like Bretzels.
So I had to try to bake some myself. The recipe from Le Pétrain is for the Cypriote loaf shape bread, but I just followed it and made several rings out of the dough. I left out the cumin though, because I didn’t remember tasting it when eating Koulouri in Greece.
In the end the bread tasted good but it wasn’t quite the same than what I had in memory; in fact the sweetness was lacking. I tried to think of a reason it tasted different. Maybe the cumin is essential for the recipe after all, I thought? Or I should have put some sugar for the sweetness? Also, I felt I put a little bit too much yeast since I could still taste it in the finished bread.
Nevertheless the Koulouri made my day and I savoured them with a Greek salad (Horiatiki) and some wine of course.
But if anyone could give me a recipe for the genuine Koulouri rings which are being sold in Athens I’d be thankful.
Kali Orexi!