History of Greek Food

Cyclades islands faced acute fuel shortage, thus the oven was traditionally heated with dried brushwood meticulously picked from the countryside. Sheep manure was also used as fuel.  On the other hand, the ovens in Crete and Pelloponese are heated with olive wood since olive cultivation is widespread across these regions. Ovens in central Greece are heated with oak wood and wood of the beech tree.



Traditionally, food demanding the higher temperature, such as bread, was baked after the ashes and embers are pushed aside or swept out of the oven. The remaining heat was not wasted: food baked in lesser temperatures followed, and after that it could be used for preparing rusks and drying fruit and nuts.

Today wood ovens do a lot of meat roasting and less bread making.

Large ovens are more fuel-efficient. For this reason many old agricultural houses have really large constructions. They were used for baking large quantities of bread and barley rusks few times a year or for cooking for large groups of people.

A second, smaller oven was occasionally built for regular use.

Outdoor ovens are usually placed in the yard of the house, oriented to take advantage of prevailing winds for better dissipation of smoke.

 However, Greeks keep up another  old tradition; they pay a few euros to a professional  baker to put pies, meat and other dishes in his oven.

A crunchy wonderful crust is one of the foremost features of wood-oven baked loaves.

Mix flour, starter, tomato, salt and 3/4 of water together in a large bowl.  Knead for about 4-5 minutes. The dough will look very dry, so add more water and knead again.  If the dough is too wet, add a tablespoon or two of flour, if it is dry add more water. In any case, knead for another minute or two, until the dough barely sticks on your fingers.
Spray the inside of a  bowl with olive oil, place the dough into the bowl and cover it with a a piece of plastic wrap and a towel.
Let it rise all night.
Next morning, sprinkle the dough with some flour, knead it gently for 3-4 minutes and flatten it using your hands. Add the olives and the feta cheese, sprinkle with thyme and knead the dough into a small round circle.
Spray the inside of a baking dish with olive oil, then sprinkle some flour and place the dough on it. Let it rise for 1 hour and bake it until golden brown (preheated oven, 180C).