Paximadia
The Cretan travelling bread, baked twice until stone hard so it could survive months in a ship's hold or a shepherd's hut. It is made with barley flour, which gives a dark colour and nutty flavour. Paximadia are not eaten dry — they are sprinkled with water or oil until the surface softens. This is what dakos is made from. The key is the second bake: several hours at very low heat, which dries rather than browns.
Your own work in that: 15 min.
- Dough 20 min
- Rising 150 min
- First bake 45 min
- Cutting 15 min
- Drying 300 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneKnead a dense dough
Dissolve the yeast with the honey in the water, add both flours, the oil, salt and anise and knead 10 minutes. The dough will be heavy and sticky — barley flour has little gluten and never turns elastic like wheat. That is correct.
Ingredients: 400 g barley flour · 200 g strong bread flour · 380 ml water · 7 g dried yeast · 60 ml olive oil · 1 tbsp honey · 2 tsp salt
Heavy and sticky — barley has little gluten.Rise two hours
Cover and leave somewhere warm for 2 hours. Barley dough rises slowly and less than wheat — it grows by half, not double. Do not wait longer, or it starts to sour.
Ingredients: 400 g barley flour · 200 g strong bread flour · 380 ml water · 7 g dried yeast · 60 ml olive oil · 1 tbsp honey · 2 tsp salt
Shape rings
Divide the dough into 3, roll ropes 40 cm long and join the ends into rings. The traditional ring makes later cutting into even pieces and drying easier — air circulates on all sides.
Ingredients: 400 g barley flour · 200 g strong bread flour · 380 ml water · 7 g dried yeast · 60 ml olive oil · 1 tbsp honey · 2 tsp salt
Rest half an hour and score
Move the rings to a lined baking tray, scatter with sesame and leave 30 minutes. Meanwhile heat the oven to 200°C. Just before baking score each ring in 4 places, about every 10 cm, halfway through. The cuts mark where to slice after the first bake.
Ingredients: 1 tsp anise · 2 tbsp sesame seeds
Bake the first time
Bake 40–45 minutes at 200°C, until dark brown and hollow-sounding when tapped underneath. This is an ordinary bread bake — at this point the paximadia are still soft inside.
Ingredients: 400 g barley flour · 200 g strong bread flour · 380 ml water · 7 g dried yeast · 60 ml olive oil · 1 tbsp honey · 2 tsp salt
Cut while warm along the scores
Wait 10 minutes and cut the rings along the scores, then split each piece in half horizontally — each ring gives 8 rusks, 24 in all. Warm bread cuts easily; once cold, barley bread crumbles under the knife.
Ingredients: 400 g barley flour · 200 g strong bread flour · 380 ml water · 7 g dried yeast · 60 ml olive oil · 1 tbsp honey · 2 tsp salt
Warm, along the scores — cold it crumbles.Dry for hours at very low heat
Lay the pieces cut side up on racks and dry 4–5 hours at 80°C, with the oven door propped ajar with a spoon. This is drying, not baking — at higher heat the surface browns and hardens before the centre has a chance to dry.
Ingredients: 400 g barley flour · 200 g strong bread flour · 380 ml water · 7 g dried yeast · 60 ml olive oil · 1 tbsp honey · 2 tsp salt
Eighty degrees, door ajar — drying, not baking.Cool in the oven
Switch off the oven and leave the paximadia inside until completely cold, ideally overnight. They should be stone hard right through — break one to check the centre is not damp.
Ingredients: 400 g barley flour · 200 g strong bread flour · 380 ml water · 7 g dried yeast · 60 ml olive oil · 1 tbsp honey · 2 tsp salt
Before you start
How to eat them
Paximadia are moistened under the tap for 2–3 seconds, or sprinkled with oil. After a minute the surface softens and they can be eaten with tomato, feta and oil as dakos, or crumbled into a salad.
Wholemeal barley flour
Cretan paximadia use wholemeal barley flour, found in health food shops. Two parts to one of wheat gives structure; barley alone makes rusks too crumbly.
Months in a tin
Well-dried paximadia keep for up to six months in an airtight tin — that is exactly what they were for. If they take on moisture, dry them again for an hour at 80°C.
