This carob and whole wheat bread is a delicious Greek traditional bread with a chocolaty flavor. Some added walnuts make it even healthier!
One could claim that carob is the "Mediterranean chocolate" because of its mildly sweet and chocolaty flavor. And you may not be able to make this extraordinary easy chocolate mousse cake - torte with it but you can surely make a delicious bread! This carob and whole wheat flour bread with walnuts is more on the savory side, though it has a good amount of grape syrup added just to intensify its flavor. From what I've heard, carob was the thing that kept many Cretan people from starving during WWII and the occupation of Crete by the Nazis. Carob is a very nutritious food, rich in antioxidants, minerals, and vitamins. It has a sweet, chocolaty flavor but without any caffeine or theobromine (a substance toxic to some mammals, like dogs). It was widely used in Greece during periods of famine, but as with many foods that sustained the people at those times, it became somewhat unpopular when that period ended and was used as feed for the pigs. Fortunately, it has made a come-back in the recent years becoming more and more popular, mostly because of its health benefits and its pleasant taste.
Normally, when you bake bread, you want to use bread flour because of its high gluten content that results in a chewy, fluffy texture. So I tried this carob bread with a mix of whole wheat and bread flour, but to my astonishment, it's much better with all-purpose flour instead of bread flour. And I can't say if it's the carob flour, the olive oil, the grape syrup, or the combination of the above, but this bread stays soft and pillowy for up to 4-5 days (or even more!) as long as you keep it well-sealed in a zip log bag. Moreover, it tastes even better after the first day, maybe because the chocolate flavor has some time to mature and develop.
The most important lesson I've learned from this carob and whole wheat bread is that scoring does not work with all bread (haha!) Most of the times, I don't pay much attention to the appearance of my bread, since flavor is the one thing that concerns me the most, but also because most loaves are beautiful anyways, whatever their shape. In fact, the more imperfections and "hard" edges a bread has, the more beautiful it is to my eyes. The only exception I can think of is braided bread, in which symmetry is a factor we should take into consideration. Anyway, after kneading this bread, I let it puff up and when it was ready for the oven I scored it carefully with a sharpened knife and threw it in the hot oven waiting for the incision to expand and create the most amazing design… But nothing. Nada. Niente. Rien. It just puffed-up a little more but without any dramatic changes to the surface and intricate, fractal designs along the scoring! My guess is that carob flour has something to do with it since it makes this bread extra soft and pillowy. This is the reason I ended up with the slices you see in the pictures which resemble tiny black T-shirts! 🙂
What can you do with this carob bread?
Eat it plain for a healthy snack!
My favorite way to eat it is with a big piece of Greek Gruyere or cheddar cheese. But it is also great for sandwiches! And why not try it with this chicken sandwich with olive oil & balsamic sauce?
Slather on some soft butter and a good amount of strawberry or peach marmalade!
I am thinking of making French toast with it, but I hadn't had the chance so far.
Some notes/tips:
- This bread is even more delicious after the first day.
- Store it wrapped with cling film and inside a zip log bag, to keep it fresh for many days!
- If you don't have grape syrup (petimezi) you can use maple syrup, molasses, honey or agave instead.
- Don't get tempted to use bread flour. It is much better with all-purpose flour.
- Do you know you can make carob treats for your best friend? While chocolate contains levels of theobromine which is toxic to some animals, carob contains no theobromine and no caffeine, so it is used to make "chocolate" treats for dogs.
Similar recipes:
Chickpea starter Cretan traditional bread (eftazimo)
Quick beer and olives bread (no-yeast)
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📖 Recipe
Carob & whole wheat flour bread with walnuts
Ingredients
- 2 cups (250 grams) all-purpose flour
- 2 cups (250 grams) whole wheat flour
- ¾ cups (70 grams) carob powder/flour
- 1 envelope (8-9 grams / 1 tablespoon) active dry yeast
- 1 to 1 ½ teaspoons (5-8 grams) fine sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly grated pepper
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ¼ cup grape syrup, or maple syrup/molasses/honey
- 1 cup chopped walnuts (you can increase this up to 2 cups)
- 1 ½ to 1 ⅔ cups (360 - 400 grams) warm water (the temperature of your body, not hot)
-
- One loaf pan approximately 10 x 4 inch (25cm x 11cm)
Instructions
- Oil and flour or line with baking paper your baking pan.
- In a large mixing bowl mix ½ cup flour, the yeast, and 1 cup water and keep in a warm place until bubbly (this is to make sure that the yeast is active).
- Add the rest of the dry ingredients, the olive oil, the grape syrup, and ½ cup water and knead well by hand or using a mixer with the dough attachment. You may need to add some additional water.When the dough is elastic and no longer sticky, cover with a wet towel and leave it in a warm place until doubled in volume (about 1-3 hours).
- Knead a little more, and flatten out the dough with your hands or with a rolling pin. Sprinkle with the nuts, roll and shape the bread into a loaf.Transfer to the baking tin and let it rise until almost doubled in volume.
- When the bread is almost ready, preheat your oven to 356°F (180°C).Bake for 50 - 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Let on a rack to cool.Eat!
Kelsie | the itsy-bitsy kitchen says
I had no idea about carob's history. That makes me love it even more! This bread sounds delicious. Have a great weekend!
Makos says
It's currently my #1 favorite bread 🙂
Have a great weekend too, kelsie!
Christina says
If l ommit the walnuts, should l flatten out the dough or skip this step?
Makos says
Hi Christina, yes you can skip this step! 🙂
Papantonopoulos Panos says
Dear Makos,
have tried to send y a message but I have lost it before sending it!
Have read yr problems with scoring carob bread and as I have good to very good results with scoring it since 6 months now, I would like to share my experience with you .
Essentially I also use petimezi but there are two basic differences compared to yr recipe:
1. I use only sourdough (prozimi) that I prepare with a mix or Rye and Hard Wheat flour.
2.I use since 3 months more Rye flour than wheat flour in the recipe and everybody finds the taste , texture and humidity inside superior.
My recipe uses more or less 30-40% carob flour and the rest is half and half rye and wheat flour (wheat flour I use is half hard and half all purpose but sometimes I use zymoto-Durum flour instead of all purpose)
I add 2 cups of water or less (depending of the hydration level of my sourdough). Essentially I start with 1 cup+ of waterI prepare a tough dough just grossly mixing the flours, then let this mass to relax 30 minutes before adding sourdough (autolysis before adding sourdough and salt!) . Then I add the semi-liquid "pasty" sourdough and 3-4 soup spoons of petimezi and work the dough for a few minutes till mixing well all together and having a uniform dark dough. Then let it relax for 20-30 minutes then add salt and mix for 5 more minutes then let it relax for another 30-60 minutes.. Already it starts a bit inflating but it needs further working. Then I work the dough by stretching it 4-6 times in cross directions and I make of it finally a stretched round ball that I let grow in a big "bol" covered to allow it to inflate 1-2 hours.
It patently doubles and I cut in two pieces-2 round breads shall be taken.
I work these two pieces by stretching -enveloping and cross-stretching again 4 times. Then I form two stretched balls that I place inside the "kesedakia" or the glass pyrex "bols" and cover them and leave them to start inflating for 1 hour. Then I usually cross-score with a knife or decorate with scissors cuttings and then I then cover the scored bread's surface with a bit of "niseste" or white flour as decoration.
Then I cover with the pyrex lid OR , if I use yogurt clay pot , I place a second kessedaki over it as a lid
instead of a lid.
I leave these two prospective breads typically 4-6 hours to inflate (I monitor the situation ). OR I leave then to inflate sometimes overnight in the refrigerator as "slow inflation with sourdough produces much more tasty bread and crust.
I always take a satisfactory to very satisfactory open crust result nicely decorated already before entering the oven.
When I enter them cold from the fridge in the oven directly, I usually do not preheat the oven to 240 oC.
If the dough was not in the fridge overnight then I preheat before baking.
Bread cooks with the cup (lid) then I get off the lid for the last 20 minutes to create a crunchy crust .
It is a wonderful bread to which I became addicted and unfortunately my friends too!!!
NOTE: Sourdough gives a very good -unbeatable "sweat & sour" taste that everybody fall in love with. But most important, you can keep this bread outside of the fridge for 2-3 weeks and it shall not turn rotten!!!
(I have never seen fungi till today in solely sourdough-made bread) I shall try to get next time photos to send to you in yr mail if you allow me to have it.
Panos
Makos says
Thanks for all this useful information Pano, I can tell you love to bake!
I haven't used rye yet but you have convinced me to try it! Using sourdough with the carob bread may be more time consuming but it sounds so delicious!
I laughed with the word "kesedakia", haha 🙂
Mike says
Panos -- I love your sourdough version. I'm going to try it myself, although I (infortunately) have a conventional sourdough starter, not one with rye.
But I have one confusion/question. What do you mean by "months" in "I use since 3 months more Rye flour than wheat flour in the recipe ..."
I suspect that it's a typo. But what is the correct word/meaning?
Many thanks -- Mike in San Jose, California ... and recent delighted tourist in Greece!
Makos says
Hi Mike, it's Makos
I believe Panos means " the last 3 months, I use more rye flour than wheat flour..."
Mike says
Thanks, Makos! So he's probably talking about the evolving composition of his sourdough starter? (Since later in his comment he does specify the proportions of his use of the different flours in the bread recipe.)
Soon I'll be looking for carob flour. 🙂
Makos says
Yes, that's what I think:)
Papantonopoulos Panos says
Mako,
Forgot to tell you that I use the big yogurt clay pots -kesedakia- with a diameter approximately of 14(?) cm and I line them inside with an oiled baking paper that I usually "press" inside the kesses by introducing a small casserole of the appropriate size to form the paper appropriately. Then I spray with flour then I place my dough ball inside. Bull must be of a corresponding size (Let us say to leave free 0.5-1 cm around the pot so that to allow for a limited lateral expansion while still support a considerable vertical expansion to assisted by the pressure caused by the limited lateral space left for filling. The dough pressure on the lateral walls of the kesse, typically causes the "opening-up" of the cross-scores at the top surface as pressure mounts upwards...
I believe also that the addition of hard flour (skliro alevri) helps the dough to expand without collapsing under the heavy weight of carob flour .
Please , if comments, answer-cc to me in my mail as I am not a heavy user of social media
( I am aged 70 yrs old and not accustomed to )
Makos says
will do!
Papantonopoulos Panos says
Have measured my greek clay pots (kesedakia) and their intirior diameter is 13 cm and height is 4.5 cm Therefore, using a second one as a lid (cup) you may have a bread of max dimensions 13 cm dia x 9 cm height
panos
.
Papantonopoulos Panos says
Mako,
What is to deplore, is that I cannot buy Greek carob powder (flour) in Athens!
Greece is infested of carob trees BUT flour I find in the shops comes either from Cyprus or from Spain!!!
Do y have a Cretan supplier?
Makos says
I usually find it in big super markets but I don't remember the brand...
Niki says
Could I use instead of whole wheat flour oat flour? Thank you
Makos says
Hi, no it needs the gluten from the wheat flour otherwise it will be very dense