Now that everyone’s madly baking sourdough, here’s a nice idea for using up any leftover loaves!
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Whenever we have leftover sourdough, I slice it thinly and pop it into a 100C oven for two to three hours. We started doing this last year as a way of using up old bread, but it’s now become so popular, especially with Small Man, that I’ll often bake a loaf specifically with this in mind.
I recently watched Yotam Ottolenghi making Dakos – a popular Cretan dish comprising hard barley bread rusks topped with tomatoes and olive oil. I was inspired to try something similar with our “crunchy bread” (as it’s known here).
I started with really ripe baby plum tomatoes…
…and some of our marinated feta…
The hard rusks were drizzled with a little extra virgin olive oil…
…then topped with the tomatoes, a sprinkling of salt and pepper, a little dried oregano and small chunks of feta. A good drizzle of more extra virgin olive oil finished it off…
This is one of those dishes where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The dried out bread provides an essential crunch – I’ve tried this with regular sourdough toast and it just isn’t as addictive. The tomatoes have to be very ripe and the double drizzle of oil seems to add just the right mouthfeel. Serve with a spoon – you’ll need one to scoop up the topping as the bread cracks.
I’ve now eaten this for breakfast three mornings in a row! Drying out old sourdough in the oven sounds a bit boring, but it’s amazing what a versatile product we end up with as a result. It’s definitely a better thing to do with stale bread than feeding it to the chickens!
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PS. A headsup to anyone after an enamel roaster to bake bread in – Peters of Kensington currently has them on sale for $27. But be quick, the blue ones have already sold out!
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
Looks like the perfect breakfast to me. Two problems for this household–no stale bread and a gas oven that doesn’t like to sit at 100C so I’ll have to stick to toast. I like using labna (that I make by straining Greek yoghurt) instead of feta..
Liz, I baked in a gas oven for years and never thought I’d like electric, but now I’d never go back! Possibly for that very reason – it can hold steady at low temps, which lets me confit things overnight for hours at 90C. LOVE labna! :)
I love this idea, Celia. We never finish a loaf of bread with just the two of us. Dakos it is!
Maureen, this might be good for the new healthy diet – we don’t buy Kettle chips anymore, because the boys are happy to eat this! :)
After hunting all over the City of Adelaide yesterday for one of these enamel roasters , even at a camping shop, “voila”… open up my email to your blog this afternoon and there you are! …Order put in, paid for and will be winging its way to me shortly. Thanks Celia :) – And I do like the look of the snappy SD, though my Feathered Ladies would merely glance with an air of disdain at missing out.
Blessings
Julie
Hooray! I’m glad you saw it in time to pick one up, Julie! If you’re going to use it to bake bread, know that it can get grotty because of the high temps, but it works perfectly well nonetheless. I don’t even bother washing mine (so lazy!), I just empty out the crumbs and semolina before putting in the next loaf! :)
This looks great- I’d pair it with a nice winter soup – since it is in the single digits here and below.
Heidi, that’s the perfect time to have the oven on low for a couple of hours. Hope 2015 has started brilliantly for you, dearheart! x
Looks delicious, Celia. I have been drooling over your Sour Dough bread . I use excess starter to make SD crumpets. Just mix 1 cup of starter with 1/2 teaspoon carb soda, 1 teaspoon of sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Cook in crumpet rings in well oiled pan. Mine take 7 minutes. Smaller ones in egg rings.
That’s a great idea, thank you! We’ve only ever made yeasted crumpets:
https://figjamandlimecordial.com/2011/02/18/crumpets/
Dakos are great – they are sold by the bag full in Cretan bakeries and have a long shelf life. They are usually round half shells, in imitation of turtle shells, the meaning of the Greek word Dakos. They are only one type of a variety of dried (usually barley) rusks that generally go by the name of Paximadi. I did a post on Dakos a while ago: https://americanfoodieabroad.wordpress.com/2014/09/26/dakos/ However, I never thought to use the ends of sourdough – something to do!
Turtle! Now the name makes sense! Thanks Debi, your post was really interesting! :)
Great idea… just a better bruschetta :)
Liz, I think that’s right! Only crunchier! :)
Lovely idea for left over bread! :)
Thank you – it really is! Once we make the rusks, they disappear within days! :)
Yes! We do this all the time for brekky Celia! We also top them z’ator or make garlic bread to go with our pasta or casseroles! Waste not-want not!
Ooh Lina, za’atar and garlic – both great ideas, thank you!
I can imagine that is very satisfying – not just to be able to do but to eat as well. Nice olive oil and ripe tomatoes on good crunchy bread sounds like a good late night snack – say after a movie .. Yum yum
Jan, it’s so crumbly – a plate and spoon are a necessity! :) Good thing to do with Patsy’s surpluses! :)
Anything based on an Ottolenghi recipe has to be awesome! Sounds like a yummy way to use sourdough.
Beth, it’s nice not having to waste it! And agree, anything by Ottolenghi is absolutely brilliant!
I do this but don’t call them dakos (sounds exotic). When they are out of the oven try rubbing the surface with a cut clove of garlic before you drizzle the oil. Garlic = good in my book :) P.S. Sadly still not sign of the envelope of white powder!
Sally, I’ve resent! And garlic is a wonderful idea, thank you!
Dakos is truly delicious and such an easy snack to make! I always had a think for the barley rusks, I will definitely try it with sourdough!
I’ve been trying to find some barley flour to give it a go! :)
What a great idea Celia & one that I’ll definitely try. With just the 2 of us, we usually end up with some extra. I’m just picturing all different variations of this, like garlic butter on top & using the bread for dunking in something like say a mussels sauce…oh the possibilities.
I’ve only once used a gas stove & it seems that all I ever did is burn up pot holders & catch my sleeves on fire. Maybe it’s best that my only option is electric here.
Di, it’s a great dipper for all sorts of things too! And yes, maybe electric is best – I loved my gas oven, but it was always a wee bit scary.. :)
Leave off the feta for me and tumble or squish on some avocado and this is a marriage made in heaven! Breakfast? How do you do anything productive for the rest of the day after you just had perfection for breakfast! I think I would have to spend the next hour swooning and basking in the bliss :).
Yum yum yum – I’d love them with avocados!! :)
What a wonderful idea for leftover bread, it’s something that we have often! Another option besides bruschetta, the crunch in this version speaks to me. Once I get my garden fresh tomatoes in the summer I will be eating this often (though trying to avoid the issues I had last year by eating too many tomatoes)!
Gretchen, my youngest son just eats them straight, hand over fist. Since I started making them, we haven’t been buying chips or crackers. I think your kids might love them! :)
Celia there is a Southern Italian dried bread that you eat in a similar way. I can’t remember what it’s called but I suspect would have come out of hard times. You actually put the bread (it’s a much bigger piece) under a little water first to soften and then add the tomato, salt, garlic and olive oil. So good!
Brydie, I used to see that for sale in the bread shop, but never knew what they did with it! Good to know, thanks!
Marinating feta is on my to do list for tonight so I just re-read your post from 2009. Unbrined cheese won’t keep as long will it? Can you freeze feta? I bought some cheaply and the use by is coming up fast!
Jo, I don’t think unbrined cheese keeps as long – the brined feta has about a 2 year fridge life. Don’t know if it freezes, sorry!
Thanks Celia.
Hi Celia, I have been reading your blog for ages but this is the first time I’ve commented — and the reason is: clay bakers! I bought a Romertopf in November, and have used it several times, following your recipes, with great results. But the best part is baking bread in it — I love how quickly the second rise happens, and also not having to have the oven blasting away while it pre-heats. My first loaf had a really thick crust, which I didn’t like, but subsequent loaves have been better; maybe because I turned the heat down a little after 30 mins. Anyway, just wanted to say thank you — for the clay baker revelation, and for your blog generally.
Nicola
Nicola, I’m so glad you’ve been happy with it! We love our Romies but I don’t tend to use it for bread – how great that you’ve been able to perfect a loaf in it! Thanks for reading along! :)
delicious!!! Jan x
Thanks Jan! They really were!
Sounds wonderful to me and very simialr to my favourite Spanish breakfast!
I want to go and live in Spain with you. I want to smear my crunchy rusks with paprika infused lard, then top it with vine-ripened tomatoes and feta. Yes, please, that’s what I’d like. :)
[…] help but think…what if I added mussels to that… and then made up some of Celia’s Dakos to dunk in the sauce? Then there are times when you’re not sure where you’re going […]
I must’ve missed that episode! I’m obsessed with Yotam. He’s my foodie crush :)
It might still be on catch-up, Nagi! :)
Sounds good to me! Will keep it in mind for around August when I’ll be starting to harvest tomatoes.
Jean, it’s a great way to use up leftover sourdough! :)
Yum! What a delicious idea! We use all our crusts and left overs to make bread crumbs. Best bread crumbs I’ve ever had!
Those ripe tomatoes look wonderful. I do love the sound of dakos. Never heard of them before but with some basil, this could be bruschetta. Having these for breakfast sounds like a lovely way to start the day xx
Charlie, it’s very different to bruschetta because of the rusks! :)
I make lots of breadcrumbs with leftover sourdough, but I like the idea of rusks – we can only use so much breadcrumbs :)