Johannes bread: pods, flour and syrup

1. A pod with different kitchen rolls

Johannes bread, in Greek charoupi, you will meet Crete as a pod, flour and syrup. The regional tourist website pays attention to this cultivation. ^[I02] In the kitchen they are three different products: flour influences a dough, syrup brings moisture and sweetness and an entire pod first requires processing.

The dark colour makes the comparison with cocoa tempting, but Johannes bread has its own taste. Think of a roasted, sweet impression rather than an exact chocolate substitute. How explicit that taste is, differs per product and processing.

2. Bread and pastry flour

Start with an existing recipe specifically developed for Johannes bread flour. Those who experiment themselves can first replace a small part of the ordinary flour and note the change in structure. A complete replacement does not give a predictable result: a product that colors dark does not have to wear a dough in the same way as wheat flour.

Read the ingredients of a johannes bread biscuit. The product name does not mean that the bread consists only of johannes bread. Wheat, barley, oil and other ingredients can form most of the recipe. A brown product is therefore not automatically gluten-free.

3. Syrup at the table

Use Johannes bread syrup first in a small amount on yogurt or over a piece of bread. Taste next to honey and petimezi. The three can taste all three sweet, but differ in smell, thickness and aftertaste. They are not self-evident one-on-one replacements in a baking recipe.

For a savoury tasting snack you can combine some roasted carrot with a very small amount of syrup, lemon and olive oil. Add the syrup to the end: concentrated sweet products can quickly darken during hard baking.

4. Buying without big promises

Ask if you buy flour, extract or a compound syrup. Store according to the package and use dry, clean tools. Review Johannes bread mainly as an ingredient; its presence does not automatically make cake, biscuit or syrup a particularly healthy product. The flavor and full composition are more useful than the word "flavored superfood'.