• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • about Dom in the Kitchen
  • contact me
  • pr & demo’s
  • Private Dining

Dom in the Kitchen Homepage

Recipes from my Lincolnshire kitchen

  • Home
  • Chicken Thighs
  • Bread
  • Cakes
  • Eggs
  • Vegetarian
  • Everything else

pa amb oli with homemade mallorcan rustic rye bread

8 September 2021 by Dominic Franks

This pa amb oli with homemade mallorcan rustic rye bread is inspired by my love of the island of Mallorca. As regular know, The Viking and I make a regular summer pilgrimage to the Spanish island of Mallorca and for many years we’ve tended to stick to the simple life.  We stay in my aunt’s beautiful apartment and whilst we go for long drives into the beautiful villages in the mountains we tend to keep it quite basic as this is a proper break for us and relaxing means getting into a groove of doing nothing.

doing nothing

It’s actually quite a skill.  Neither of us are ‘lay by the pool’ type of people, in fact generally I can think of nothing worse than a pool surrounded by sun-loungers with other peoples sweaty bodies lying too close to mine (unless i’ve instigated it of course…) and so perfecting the act of nothing to do doesn’t come easy but the routine of a few lengthy games of scrabble, sitting in a cafe by the sea, listening to the sound of the world spin by is an ideal scenario for us… if we’re clever this can actually last all day between a few strokes in the sea and more cafe con leche than you can imagine is healthy that by the time the coffee turns into vodka, lime and soda we’re more relaxed than we could ever be… follow this with some gorgeous food and you could prick me with a fork because I am done…

pa amb oli with homemade mallorcan rustic rye bread

We basically ate plates of this nearly every night instead of an actual meal.  Like many peasant dishes it was inexpensive but superbly easy and many people order it with layers of cheese and iberico ham laid on top but with The Viking being a vegetarian we would go for a mixture of the cheese, grilled vegetables and tortilla options and they were so good.  It’s an amazing starter for sharing with large groups but they are also very much like a pizza so would work as a main course too and there are just so many options of toppings to chose from.  Rye bread is also very low in gluten.  It’s not quite gluten-free but for some people it may be a nice alternative to high-gluten breads…

for the rustic rye bread

a type of rustic rye bread is the traditional bread used for this dish but I simply couldn’t find an authenticated recipe for the bread we ate or the bread used for pa am oli, all the information I could find was that the dish uses a ‘rustic mallorcan country rye bread’ so this is what I made.  As usual i’ve used my favoured ‘low-knead’ method as this is how I feel confident making bread but feel free to use any method of your choice, the recipe is the same… I have to say this bread is spectacular and tastes very much how I remember the bread tasted in Pollenca.

this is enough for two loaves, simply half the amounts for one loaf but then as I always say, why make one when two is just as easy and delivers double the points!

ingredients

400g strong white bread flour
400g rye flour or wholemeal rye flour as it is sometimes known
3 teaspoons fact action dried yeast
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons caster sugar
600 ml water
olive oil to knead

place all the dry ingredients into a bowl and stir together, then add the water and bring together with a rubber spatula until you have a sticky shaggy mess – cover with a tea towel and set aside for 10 minutes

after 10 minutes, drizzle a little oil onto your work surface, rub around with your hand and then using your oiled hand lift the shaggy mess from the bowl and place it onto your oiled surface

drizzle a little more oil into the bowl and rub this around the inside of the bowl with your oiled hand and set aside

now knead the dough 10 times and then place it back into the oiled bowl, covered with a tea towel, for another 10 minutes

repeat this 2 more times, each time you will feel the dough getting softer and silkier and it will begin the puff out too

after the last time, place the dough back into the bowl and stretch cling film over the top of the bowl and set aside for at least an hour or until the dough has doubled in size

after an hour pre-heat your oven to 220C or as hot as it will go and place an oven proof pan in the bottom of the oven

oil your work surface and then scoop out the risen dough onto the oil. You want to knock it back with your knuckles and fold it over envelope-style a few times.  If making two loaves, cut it in half and shape each half into a ball and set aside on a baking tray lined with parchment, for another 30 minutes

spritz each loaf with water, then sprinkle on a little rye flour and rub gently with your hand.  Slash each one with a sharp knife.  Quickly open the oven and pour a little cold water into the tray in the oven and then place in the loaves and bake in the oven for 10 minutes on 220C followed by 20 minutes on 180C.  They will be done when they are risen and golden and sound hollow when tapped on the bottom

set aside on a wire rack to cool

for the toppings

  • any selection of fresh vegetables such as courgettes, beef tomatoes, red peppers or aubergine
  • 2 or 3 cloves of garlic
  • 2 extra beef tomatoes – very ripe
  • olive oil
  • a traditional mallorcan or spanish cheese  such as iberico or manchego  – if you can’t get hold of this try a nutty cheddar or strong double gloucester

slice your vegetables quite thickly and then set aside – halve one of your tomatoes

in a large bowl pour in two tablespoons olive oil.  Add a selection of fresh torn herbs such as rosemary, thyme and oregano, salt and pepper

place the cut veg into the bowl and smoosh around with your hands until the veg are nicely coated

place a griddle pan on the heat until smoking hot.  Turn down the heat to medium and then carefully and relatively quickly griddle your veg. They only need a couple of minutes on each side.  They need a little crunch.

slice the bread into medium slices and grill on both sides

slice a clove of garlic in half and rub the hot toast with the garlic on one side. Then taking your ripe tomato, cut that in half and rub it on the garlic-rubbed side of toast.  Do this quite firmly until the tomato breaks apart.  I used roughly
a quarter beef tomato on each slice of bread

drizzle each slice with olive oil and then layer the toppings of your choice onto each slice –  it could be simpler

for more summer inspired recipes check these out on Dom In The Kitchen

eat and of course, enjoy!

Share this post:

Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Share on Pinterest Share on LinkedIn Share on E-mail

Filed Under: Bread, Vegetarian Tagged With: cheese, griddle pan, holiday, holiday food, loaf, mallorca, olive oil, rustic, rye bread, spain, vegetables

Previous Post: « honey cake
Next Post: foragers crumble »

Reader Interactions

Related Posts with Thumbnails

Comments

  1. Karen S Booth says

    18 July 2015 at 6:34 pm

    Thanks for adding this to Cooking with Herbs Dom, this is my kind of food, we love meals like this, simple and easy to eat, is exactly how we like it. Your sojourn to Mallorca sounds relaxing and idyllic, just what you and the Viking needed! Karen

  2. helen says

    20 July 2015 at 11:35 am

    oh wow, that all looks amazing – I think I'm going for those toppings on some french stick for my lunch!

  3. Tricia @ Saving room for dessert says

    20 July 2015 at 12:12 pm

    I just ate breakfast but now I want to eat again. I love everything about this post – the description of your vacation – the art of relaxing, these gorgeous vegetables and the cheese with herbs. I could eat that every night for dinner. In fact when we go on holiday next month – I am putting this on the menu, with a bottle of win of course! Thank you so much!

  4. london bakes says

    20 July 2015 at 3:59 pm

    This sounds fantastic – just the kind of no-fuss but delicious meal that is perfect when for those hot, lazy days of summer holidays.

  5. Bea says

    21 July 2015 at 6:26 pm

    A good bread is what I truly love!

  6. Baking Addict says

    22 July 2015 at 8:55 pm

    Hope you had a good rest in Mallorca. The bread and toppings look so tasty, I wish I could eat it off my screen!

  7. Phil in the Kitchen says

    22 July 2015 at 11:24 pm

    Now that's proper food. Lovely, lovely, lovely. I could live with that for many a long day in the sun. Sweaty bodies are a thing of the past, though.

  8. Kate Glutenfreealchemist says

    25 July 2015 at 8:25 pm

    Perfectly simple, and deliciously Mediterranean! I can see why you ate it almost every night. Hope you had a good break x

  9. Choclette Blogger says

    27 July 2015 at 8:14 am

    Sounds wonderful Dom and my sort of food to boot. I've recently started making rustic rye loaves of my own as a change to my rye sourdough, but haven't had time to blog about it yet.

  10. From Beyond My Kitchen Window says

    30 July 2015 at 12:25 pm

    OMG, I'm making a point to get to Whole Foods to buy some rustic bread. With all the fresh vegetables now at the farm this is perfect for supper in this terrible 90 degree weather.

  11. Camilla Hawkins says

    1 August 2015 at 2:19 pm

    Love this clean and simple kind of food Dom and love the term “smooth with your hands” not something I've ever read in cooking instructions before but I think we should start a movement to get it used more often:-) Thanks for a great #CreditCrunchMunch entry:-)

  12. Jen Price says

    3 August 2015 at 4:03 pm

    Delicious looking toppings on the bread there Dom, the loaf looks fantastic too. I do like a good rye bread. Hope you and the Viking both feel fully refreshed after your holiday. Thanks for linking with #BreadySteadyGo 🙂

  13. Helen @ Fuss Free Flavours says

    1 September 2015 at 5:03 pm

    A very belated thanks for sharing this with #CreditCrunchMunch the bread looks wonderful, I am giving the recipe to Ed to make as he is the bread maker!

Primary Sidebar

About Dom In The Kitchen

My name is Dominic, I am a cook, food writer and creative event producer. I write the food blog Dom In The Kitchen and also write a monthly recipe column for Lincolnshire Life Magazine and Good Taste Magazine. I also run creative event production company The Persuaders, producing global events for brands since 1997. I am based both in the small village of Belleau in Lincolnshire and the smaller village of London! Read More…

Subscribe

Get new posts by email:
Powered by follow.it
  • Bloglovin
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Archives

Tweets by @DomInTheKitchen

as featured in Lincolnshire Life Magazine

Lincolnshire Life

creatively managed by

The Persuagers
Belleau Cottage

Footer

This error message is only visible to WordPress admins

Error: No feed found.

Please go to the Instagram Feed settings page to create a feed.

&copy 2010 - 2021 | All rights reserved | Website by Peckish Digital