Bread Life and Storage Tips

What's With the Dark Crust?

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What's With the Dark Crust?
At Mediterra Bakehouse, we bake traditional bread; our 2 kilo (almost 5 lbs.) Mt. Athos Fire Bread is made in the same way as traditional bakeries in Europe. These large loaves are made to last a long time, as they were in Europe. Baked in village ovens once a week, they had to last until the next bake. We love large loaves! The bigger the better. The ratio of crust-to-crumb gives you the perfect bite in every piece. It is not uncommon to have one of our European customers call from out of town and order 5 or 6 of these bog loaves. As far as we are concerned, the darker the crust on this loaf (also on our Farm Bread and Sourdough), the better. We love darker crust for 2 reasons: First, the caramelizing of the dark crust gives a sweeter and nuttier taste. Second, the dark crust gives a better balance to the breads that are sour. When a crust is too light, a sour taste can dominate a loaf of bread. We also know that a loaf of bread can be over-baked. Ultimately, you are your own judge. Try our dark crust for yourself!

What is Traditional Bread?
In our village on the island of Chios, located in the North Aegean Sea, there are many village bakers who make traditional bread. We learned by working alongside these bakers; watching and listening. We found a consistent pattern: Cold water, unblemished flour, very little or no yeast and time-honoured techniques such as slow fermentation (up to 18 hours), brick ovens (some with 50,000 lbs. of fire brick), hand kneading (not to damage the structure) and starter (levain) so clean and fragrant it fills a room. This is what we built our bake house on—we bake our bread like the village bakers.