Breads of the Mediterranean
Ten simple recipes to bake, share and keep fresh — printed, bound and packed in the box with every pair of Melipsa bags. Not a leaflet. A book you will leave open on the worktop.
A bread bag is only half the answer
You can buy a very good bag for keeping bread and still have nothing worth keeping in it. So the set comes with the other half: ten Mediterranean breads that are genuinely achievable on an ordinary weekend, in an ordinary oven, with flour from an ordinary supermarket.
Each recipe fits on a page — timings at the top, ingredients on the left, method on the right, and a Melipsa tip at the bottom telling you how that particular bread keeps. Flatbreads and thin crusty loaves need different handling from a tin loaf, and the book says so.
- Focaccia
- Pitta from Cyprus
- Ciabatta
- Greek Olive Bread
- Turkish Pide
- Fougasse
- Moroccan Khobz
- Za'atar Manakish
- Grissini
- Simit
Try before you buy
Both of these are in the printed copy. Consider them a sample chapter.
Turkish Pide
Boat-shaped flatbreads with a soft centre and pinched, golden edges.
Ingredients
- 500g strong white bread flour
- 7g fast-action dried yeast
- 10g fine salt
- 10g sugar
- 300ml lukewarm water
- 30ml olive oil
- 1 egg, beaten, to glaze
- Sesame or nigella seeds
Topping ideas
- Feta and spinach
- Spiced minced lamb
- Roasted peppers
- Tomato and cheese
Method
- Mix the flour, yeast, salt and sugar. Add the water and oil, and knead for 6–8 minutes to a soft dough.
- Cover and prove until doubled, about 1 hour.
- Divide into four, roll each into an oval and lay your topping down the centre.
- Fold and pinch the long edges up, then twist the ends to form a boat.
- Brush the edges with egg and scatter with seeds. Bake at 220°C for 12–15 minutes.
- Serve warm.
Melipsa tipBest fresh, but leftovers keep well overnight in a Melipsa bag — refresh in a hot oven for three minutes.
Fougasse
Provence’s leaf-shaped bread — all crust and character.
Ingredients
- 500g strong white bread flour
- 7g fast-action dried yeast
- 10g fine salt
- 15g olive oil
- 300ml lukewarm water
- Optional: olives, sun-dried tomatoes, herbes de Provence or chopped anchovy
Method
- Mix the flour, yeast and salt. Add the olive oil and water, and knead for 8–10 minutes to a soft dough.
- Cover and prove until doubled, about 1 hour.
- Divide in two and shape each into a flat oval.
- With a sharp knife, cut slashes in a leaf pattern, opening them out — they will spread as the bread bakes.
- Prove for 20 minutes, then brush with olive oil.
- Bake at 200°C for 15–18 minutes, until golden and crisp, and light inside.
Melipsa tipThin, crusty breads go stale quickly, so store one properly in a Melipsa bag to stop it going rock hard.
The pages nobody else prints
Most bread bags arrive with a care label and nothing else. The last pages of Breads of the Mediterranean are the ones we would want if we had bought the set ourselves:
- Keeping your bread fresh — the five habits that make the difference, and why the fridge is the wrong answer.
- Caring for your bag — how to wipe, air and store it so the wax lining lasts for years.
- Nothing wasted — panzanella, bruschetta, ribollita, migas and breadcrumbs, for the end of the loaf.
The book comes with the bags
Two beeswax-lined bread bags and a printed copy of Breads of the Mediterranean, in one gift carton.
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