Dan Lepard is in San Sebastián bringing his bread baking knowledge to this Basque region of Spain, along with cake making.
The collaborative project: Loaf in a box, is a pop-up bakery housed in specially converted shipping containers placed on the Paseo de Francia for the duration of the summer.
On 14 July 2012, the Loaf in a Box brought us a video feed for zopako, a well fired, cooked to hard, bread to be used with and within soups: specifically sopa de ajo.
Sopa de ajo is a garlic and bread soup, literally a meal in itself. Bread, crackers and almonds are often used as a thickening agent or picada in Spain, that also adds richness and, surprisingly, creaminess without the dairy.
Back to the zopako (pronounced tho-pack-o), Dan's video shows exactly how to make the bread, his using 1/4 teasp of yeast, mine using 20g sourdough starter.
I bottled the deep, dark bake, as I don't really like flour too much on top of a loaf. So without the protection, I baked the loaf simply a little longer and dryer.
It really should be a blackened sourdough.
Inside, the sourdough zopako has a pleasing, familiar, acid taste, with firmness of bite you would find with stale bread - yet this one is fresh out of the oven.
A mixture somewhere between a cracker and a bread.
A lovely one to add to the sourdough repertoire.
Written recipe on Dan Lepard's column at the Guardian newspaper: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/jul/13/basque-soup-bread-recipe-garlic
3 comments:
That looks interesting, Gill - sort of like a rusk, I'm thinking.
Just looked at the recipes on the Guardian link. No, not like a rusk at all, is it! More like a very crusty loaf and the soup looks delicious, too - I think I might give both recipes a try for lunch this weekend. Plus I need to refresh my starter :)
Hi Odette, and welcome to blogger comments!
I wasn't sure what a sour loaf made with 00 flour would be like. Or if it would work out.
The answer is very good indeed!
Post a Comment